The Battle against Snail Fever: The Business Sector’s Perspective
It is safe to say that most people aren’t familiar with schistosomiasis, or for that matter, many of the maladies the World Health Organization collectively refers to as neglected tropical diseases. The second most prevalent parasitic infection after malaria, schistosomiasis affects more than 200 million people – approximately half of whom are children – who […]
A Manifesto
Twelve years after starting Acumen, we’ve learned a lot about poverty. On the one hand, we’ve seen that patient capital works: from nine ambulances to 1,000 answering 2 million calls; from a solar torch prototype to bringing light to 14 million. That’s impact that matters. On the other, we’ve learned the real costs of growing […]
UK Government must increase investment in agriculture to end global hunger
We Parliamentarians of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agriculture and Food for Development are calling on the UK Government, and specifically the Department for International Development (DFID), to invest in agriculture to combat the hunger that 925 million people around the world are undernourished face every day. Our latest Parliamentary Report, on “Home Grown […]
What are the most promising Base of the Pyramid business models in Latin America?
Housing, education and banking, increasingly through mobile technology, are three of the fastest growing areas for private companies doing business with the Base of the Pyramid. Thanks to creative and also profitable new business models, low-income Colombians living outside the formal banking system are buying homes and appliances like fridges and washing machines on credit, […]
Business and the Post-2015 Agenda in the Asia-Pacific
I am working on behalf of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on a project which might be of some interest to members of Business Fights Poverty. As you know, attention is now increasingly turning towards the development of a post-2015 agenda for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs identified eight global development objectives […]
Rethinking Development Finance
The House of Commons International Development Select Committee (IDC) has recently launched a new inquiry into development finance, as part of a broader inquiry into the future of UK development cooperation. The Committee would welcome the views of Business Fights Poverty members on this subject. You can post your comments below, or submit your written […]
Camfed and Pearson launch partnership for girls' education
We are delighted to announce a pioneering new partnership between Camfed and Pearson to transform educational opportunities for girls in Zimbabwe and Tanzania.The Camfed-Pearson partnership has been awarded a grant under the prestigious Girls’ Education Challenge, launched by the UK’s Department for International Development to give one million of the world’s poorest girls the chance […]
Camfed and Pearson launch partnership for girls’ education
We are delighted to announce a pioneering new partnership between Camfed and Pearson to transform educational opportunities for girls in Zimbabwe and Tanzania.The Camfed-Pearson partnership has been awarded a grant under the prestigious Girls’ Education Challenge, launched by the UK’s Department for International Development to give one million of the world’s poorest girls the chance […]
Why Job Creation Is King in Africa, Just Like Everywhere Else
At the recent Africa Economic Summit in Cape Town, one of the themes of debate was the ‘post 2015’ goals, which the United Nations community will set itself when the existing Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015. I spoke at an event hosted by Business Fights Poverty where the audience seemed divided over whether these […]
Empowering women at scale requires a strong business case and partnership
Coca-Cola, like many other businesses, recognises that our business growth journey in emerging economies will only be sustainable if the benefits of growth reach all members of society, especially those who traditionally have been marginalised, including women and young people. As a business, we believe that there is no better investment than women, both to […]
Event Audio: Empowering Women through Business -Bridging the Financing Gap, Cape Town
On 10 May 2013, The Coca-Cola Company and Business Fights Poverty convened a breakfast event, taking place in the margins of the Africa World Economic Forum, to explore how to strengthen support for women entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on enabling access to finance. A compelling social, economic and business case for investing in the […]
The SunWater Project – Advanced Solar Technology for Poor Farmers
In my last article, you heard about SunWater, a project to build a radically affordable solar water pump for $2-a-day farmers that will transform small plot agriculture, create new water markets, and significantly increase incomes that will raise bottom-of-the-pyramid families out of poverty. Our target customers are small-plot farmers in India and Africa. These farmers […]
Business, the MDGs and Beyond, May 2013, Cape Town
On 8 May 2013, Business Fights Poverty and the Overseas Development Institute convened an event in Cape Town to explore the role of the private sector in shaping and delivering the post-2015 development agenda. As the world starts to explore what framework might replace the MDGs, it is important to integrate the views of those […]
Innovative Business Solutions on Clean Energy and Climate Change
We at the African Enterprise Challenge Fund are currently searching for the most innovative business solutions aiming to impact the rural poor in the following three focal areas; access to affordable clean energy, technologies which facilitate climate change adaptation financial and information services connected to clean energy and adaptation to climate change. Mozambique is a […]
Supporting entrepreneurship in FE colleges
Rod Bristow, UK president of our education business, spoke at yesterday’s Future Possible conference in London, organised by the Gazelle group of entrepreneurial further education colleges. Speaking on the same bill as UK education minister Matthew Hancock MP and John Cridland from the Confederation of British Industry, Rod set out the twin challenges we face: […]
Innovative Business Solutions on Clean Energy and Climate Change in Mozambique
We at the African Enterprise Challenge Fund are currently searching for the most innovative business solutions aiming to impact the rural poor in the following three focal areas; access to affordable clean energy, technologies which facilitate climate change adaptation financial and information services connected to clean energy and adaptation to climate change. Mozambique is a […]
Strengthening Inclusive Business Ecosystems
Before we started our recent research on Project Nurture, we had thought of the partnership as a relatively straightforward, three-way relationship among The Coca-Cola Company, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and TechnoServe. Between 2010 and 2014, Coca-Cola and the Gates Foundation would contribute $11.5 million to TechnoServe, which would in turn build the capacity […]
How Using Mobile Payment Systems Can Increase Your Revenue And Help You Keep Track Of Sales
In several developing and emerging markets, the use of mobile phones to make financial transactions (‘mobile money’) is now widely accepted, including by those at the base of the economic pyramid (BoP)*. The largest telecoms provider in Africa, MTN, transfers close to $208 million across their networks every month, according to its CEO Themba Khumalo. […]
Pearson hosts brainstorming on affordable learning
Pearson HQ on The Strand here in London was the site on 9 May for a brainstorming session on the challenges facing affordable learning in the developing world. A keynote by Charles Leadbeater, a thought leader on innovation, was followed by discussion of how to make the most of mobile technology to make learning affordable […]
Laying the Foundation for Sustainable Change
In eastern Uganda, the members of the Kainja Mango Farmers Association once let their mangoes fall to the ground and rot. Buyers considered the local variety, the Sena, to be too low-quality for pulping and juicing. As a result, farmers never cultivated mangoes as a cash crop. Project Nurture, a partnership with The Coca-Cola Company, […]