Will Millennials Change the Face of CSR?
Everyone has something to say about millennials, the generation born from 1980 to the present, including how they will shape the future of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability. Depending on who you ask, the coming of the millennials will mean either a new era of robust and transparent approaches to corporate responsibility, or the […]
Tackling Obesity and Hidden Hunger
Cancer. Stroke. Heart disease. Diabetes. These and other noncommunicable diseases are becoming leading causes of death and disease worldwide. And nutrition plays a significant role. A new report from UK think tank the Overseas Development Institute shows that globally, one in three adults was overweight or obese in 2008, an increase of 23 percent since […]
Inspiring Innovation: Healthcare Innovation Award
The hospitals and clinics of the developing world might seem an unexpected source of innovation at first glance. However it is increasingly becoming evident that the limited resources available in these environments challenge those involved in the delivery of healthcare services to find more creative solutions to the problems they face. Where there is potential […]
M-PESA: Innovating New Business Models at the BoP
M-Pesa is one of the biggest success stories in the history of serving customers at the economic bottom of the pyramid–the world’s poorest. Launched in 2007 by Safaricom, it quickly dominated the cash transfer market, and grew at an astounding rate, capturing more than two-thirds of Kenya’s adult population as customers. Users who subscribe to […]
Enterprise: Focusing on the Next Generation
UNICEF refers to early childhood (pre-natal to eight years old) as the “years of wonder.” In no other period in human life is the brain so responsive to changes in the environment and so able to learn, grow, and develop. Billions of highly integrated neural circuits in the brain are established through the interaction of […]
How M-PESA Innovates New Business Models for its Base of the Pyramid Customers
M-Pesa is one of the biggest success stories in the history of serving customers at the economic bottom of the pyramid–the world’s poorest. Launched in 2007 by Safaricom, it quickly dominated the cash transfer market, and grew at an astounding rate, capturing more than two-thirds of Kenya’s adult population as customers. Users who subscribe to […]
Pushing the Boundaries of Multi-Sector Partnerships
The simple habit of handwashing with soap is not universally practised and traditional hygiene promotion efforts have had limited impact. Research showed that fear of disease was not a key motivator of handwashing behaviour. Across key regions, a behaviour change was needed and campaigns were developed which looked at key motivations for behaviour change including […]
Improving Lives through Handwashing
Unilever’s health soap brand Lifebuoy is working with the Millennium Villages Project (MVP), an innovative model for helping poor rural African communities reach all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MVP is a community-led development approach based on an integrated package of interventions in all sectors including agriculture, health, education, infrastructure and business development. In 2012, […]
2013 DABRA Highlights
2013 DABRA Highlights from Business Fights Poverty on Vimeo. A short video showing highlights from the 2013 DABRA awards ceremony.
A New Global Partnership with Business, New York, 19 September 2013: Part 3 of 4
A New Global Partnership with Business, New York, 19 September 2013… from Business Fights Poverty on Vimeo.
ILC 4e intro Sub
ILC 4e intro Sub from Business Fights Poverty on Vimeo.
Empowering Mothers to Save Child Lives
Becoming a mother is one of life’s most joyous moments. In an instant perspectives change and the instinct to protect takes hold. Providing a safe and nurturing environment is top priority for mothers around the world. Imagine doing that in an environment where your child might not live to reach five years old. This is […]
Why Handwashing Matters
Working in almost 70 countries means I spend a lot of time traveling and meeting people. A father of small children myself, I try to start my day in the villages I visit getting to know the lay of the land with the kids, kicking a soccer ball around, or just goofing off as kids […]
Brands as a Lever of Change
There are some issues in the world that are so big, so entrenched, so important, that we cannot afford to leave them to any one type of organisation to address. Two million children every year not living to reach their fifth birthday because of diarrhoeal disease and pneumonia is one such issue. Each death is […]
The National Initiative for Human Development in Morocco
The National Initiative for Human Development (NIHD)[1] in Morocco promotes inclusive business as an important tool for development. Four factors seem to be especially crucial for the NIHD’s success as an inclusive business policy: Its high visibility as an overarching policy framework, its participatory approach, its collaborative governance and its clear implementation responsibilities. The National […]
Land in Investment – Navigating the Risks and Opportunities
Investors, fund managers and companies are currently reconsidering how to manage issues associated with the development of land. In the last year, land conflicts have hit the share price of a publicly-listed rubber company in Asia; forced asset owners to divest from agricultural projects in sub-Saharan Africa; generated losses of up to US$2 million a […]
Islamic Microfinance: Does Faith Matter?
Does an association with faith encourage more prompt repayment of microloans and are the staff of faith-inspired microfinance institutions more motivated? After recently returning from a visit to Pakistan, where I was analysing the operations of an Islamic microfinance institution, I am tempted to answer yes to both questions. The microfinance institution in question is […]
Making Loans and Transforming Lives in Pakistan
It may be Christmas right now but it was quite fitting that as the holiest month in the Muslim calendar, Ramadan, drew to a close earlier this year lendwithcare.org celebrated the successful inclusion of our first Islamic Microfinance partner, Akhuwat in Pakistan. Like ‘traditional’ microfinance, Islamic microfinance is the provision of basic financial services to […]
Financial Inclusion in Zambia: Self-Made Women
Emma Chase worked in Zambia for 6 months to establish the relationship between MicroLoan Zambia and LendWithCare. This blog looks back at her time in Zambia. My first few weeks were spent getting to know the organisation and coming up with procedures for the partnership which sees local groups of women gain funding from backers […]
Improving Access to Financial Services
2.5 billion people around the world lack access to financial services such as savings accounts, access to loans, insurance and bank transfers. According to the Centre for Financial Inclusion: “Access to a range of quality financial services at affordable prices, delivered with convenience and dignity, can change the course of an individual’s, family’s, or business’s […]