Cocoa Life and Verification: A Circle of Learning
By Mil Niepold, Senior Mediator, Consensus Building Institute My job is to listen, and to encourage others to be excellent listeners. Listening means being open to hearing what people need and want, what works and what doesn’t. Listening gives others, especially those who haven’t been heard, a voice, and this is key to creating and […]
Technology Boosting Economic Opportunity in Rural Ghana
Almost half of the world’s people live on less than $2.50 a day. In my country, Ghana, nearly 30 percent of the population and almost 60 percent of those under 25 survive below this grim poverty line—facing stark daily choices between spending on food, healthcare, education and shelter. In a world where the wealthiest one […]
Revolutionising the Rice Industry in Mali
When I was growing up in Ethiopia, Cameroon and Mali in the 90s, my friends and I talked about creating companies that addressed problems in our communities. However, we always thought that first we’d have to become financially solvent ourselves. The perception that planting the seeds for a formal business requires a degree of financial […]
Celebrating the Tenth Annual Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards
On Wednesday, we celebrated the tenth annual Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards. Looking back over the last decade of the Awards, I am extremely pleased at how they have helped to recognise how great business journalism can showcase successes, highlight challenges and support broad economic growth within Africa. A strong independent media have a critical […]
Listening to New Voices in International Development
The global development discussion, like global development itself, often appears to be a one-way street: experts in the developed world discuss different strategies for uplifting the world’s poorest communities. It is a worthy but limited conversation, and too often does not include the perspectives of those on the receiving end of development policy. This needs […]
Worldwide enterprise knowledge-sharing is key to tackling youth unemployment
Over the next decade 1.2billion young people will enter the job market globally. But potentially only 300million jobs will be available. The youth unemployment debate has topped UK agendas in recent months. While there has been a slight decline, almost 1 million 16-24 year olds were out of work as of June 2013. Unemployment is […]
Mixing Business and Social- What Really is a Social Enterprise?
Of course we all know what a ‘social enterprise’ (SE) is in a developing country. It’s obvious, surely? It’s, um, a business that does good things for people, and also makes money. Don’t nit-pick! This is all about dynamism, creativity and innovation. Well, OK, point taken. But nagging doubts remain. What sorts of good things? […]
Trade Facilitation: Everyone’s a Winner
For a container to pass between OECD countries, it takes on average 5 customs documents, 10 days and 735 euros, whereas between African countries it requires twice as many documents, takes 3 times as long and costs at least twice as much. The Trade Facilitation Deal that will be discussed at the WTO Ministerial in […]
Finance and human rights – strange bedfellows?
“Finance and Human Rights are really in their early stages of their bedfellowness.” Professor John Kinley in his opening remarks at the recent UN Forum on Business and Human Rights The context The Simandou Mountains that stretch across the tiny country of Guinea hold one of that country’s best chances for economic progress and for […]
Innovation Leaders: 3 Questions for Non-profit & For-profit Innovation Leaders
I returned home to Boston after a 10 day conference “intensive” – the Council on Foundations in Chicago, the World Healthcare Congress in Washington, D.C. and the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford – looking forward to a Patriot’s Day holiday to recover and enjoy a beloved Boston tradition, the Marathon. Of course, […]
Innovation Leaders: 3 Questions for Non-profit & For-profit Innovation Leaders
I returned home to Boston after a 10 day conference “intensive” – the Council on Foundations in Chicago, the World Healthcare Congress in Washington, D.C. and the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford – looking forward to a Patriot’s Day holiday to recover and enjoy a beloved Boston tradition, the Marathon. Of course, […]
The Future of the BoP Domain: Where is Our Missing Community?
The BoP domain is at a crossroads. We have seen that successful enterprise development can play an important role in alleviating poverty. These are clearly exciting times for the BoP domain. But we also lack sufficient humility. Indeed, we still have a long way to go, and few are openly discussing the lessons learned and […]
Pearson launches scheme to fund education entrepreneurs in India
Pearson, through our Affordable Learning Fund, today launch a partnership with innovative funding firm Village Capital to support and invest in education entrepreneurs in India who are serving some of the world’s less privileged students. Applications are now being invited for the autumn programme, which will see 16 India based education start-ups taking part in […]
Large Companies and Collaboration for Inclusive Business
How To Start Your Social Change Career
Social entrepreneurs are made, not born. Starting a social change career is a do-it-yourself activity. Before we can be status quo disruptors, we need to learn to be disruptive forces in our own lives. “You have to start your career thinking about who you want to be as a person. There is no substitute for […]
Mo Ibrahim’s Recipe to ‘Deliver Africa’s Promise’
Alice Allen, Head of Advocacy, Care International UK What do you get if you combine the youngest participant in the 2012 Olympics (13), ‘making agriculture sexy’ and the establishment of a business corruption index? The answer? Africa delivering on its promise and fulfilling its economic and social potential, according to the Sudanese-born, global mobile communications […]
Time for Training: After a decade of learning, an executive BoP course comes online
11 years ago, CK Prahalad and Stu Hart published “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.” The article and consecutive book have sparked enormous interest among companies, followed by experimentation, trials, and sometimes, success. However, it quickly became clear that developing inclusive business was far from trivial. The usual management tools did not always […]
Preventing another Rana Plaza: Mapping the Path Forward
This week American stakeholders announced the formation of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and signatories to the European Fire and Building Safety Accord released their Implementation Plan. While both agreements represent steps in the right direction, to address the root causes of the Rana Plaza disaster, both initiatives must take further measures to build […]
Best Practices from a Small Nonprofit on the Big CSR Trend
Can tea and running shoes help the poorest of the poor? Well, no. Not exactly. But if you put corporate social responsibility (CSR) into the mix, you have a recipe for a unique business strategy that supports sustainable development. Trickle Up, a U.S.-based, nonprofit, global poverty alleviation organization focused on helping the poorest of the […]
Coffee Farmers: Turning Competitors Into Colleagues
Erik Mandell, a Contributor to Mercy Corps’ Global Envision Blog, Interviews Rick Peyser, Director of Supply Chain and Community Outreach for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. If coffee farmers can’t adequately feed their families, they’re unlikely to be able to take care of the plants that produce the high-quality coffee beans importers want. That’s one […]