SABMiller launches first ever cassava lager in Mozambique
SABMiller plc, one of the world’s largest brewers, today announced the launch of the first ever commercial-scale cassava-based beer. The beer, ‘Impala’, will be brewed in Mozambique by SABMiller’s local subsidiary, Cervejas de Moçambique (CDM). The launch marks the latest step in SABMiller’s ambition to create a portfolio of high-quality, affordable beers made using locally-sourced […]
Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund Launches New South Sudan Funding Window
‘South Sudan: Wide open for Business’ read a recent headline on the Africa Business magazine. Juba and indeed South Sudan is bustling with activity. Driving through the capital city and to areas as far as Rock City, one can feel the developing vibrant business environment. The overwhelming response at the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund launch […]
Global business leaders call on peers to ‘do well by doing good’
Some of the world’s leading business people gathered together in Melbourne and Sydney this week to explore how corporations can create a more economically inclusive future for the world’s poor. The Business for Millennium Development (B4MD) Creating Shared Value Summit was an opportunity to set a global trend for inclusive business. Speaking at the Melbourne […]
Engaging the Private Sector to Advance Agribusiness, Food Security, Nutrition in Africa
Blog: The business of global hunger Last week saw around 400 business and development community delegates from 50 countries come together in Johannesburg to discuss how to foster inclusive growth in the agri-food sector by engaging the private sector (download the press release). The AgriBusiness Forum 2011, co-hosted by the UNDP and the European Marketing […]
The World Bank and IFC launch the 2012 Doing Business Report
By Pauline Zalkin, Business Fights Poverty Did you know that Morocco is the most improved economy in ease of doing business this year? Or that Korea has entered the top 10 economies for ease of doing business? Would you have guessed that Singapore leads the pack as the number 1 easiest country to do business? […]
A New Private Sector Partnership to Share Business Skills
By Stephen Jordan, Founder and Executive Director, U.S. Chamber BCLC Over the last few years, BCLC has been working on different products to help companies manage their community engagement more effectively. At the recent Global Corporate Citizenship Conference (http://bclcglobal.uschamber.com), BCLC unveiled two products to do just that: our Business for Good Map and the International […]
Business Critical: Understanding a Company’s Current and Desired Stages of Corporate Responsibility Maturity
“An MOT and an advanced driving test all in one go” Legal & General are proud sponsors of, and contributors to, the Stages of Maturity research and this discussion paper, published by David Grayson and Ron Ainsbury from the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield University. It’s been a while since the Corporate Responsibility […]
Driving Private Sector Innovation to Fight Hunger
Business and food go hand in hand. Researching and developing new technologies that improve the quality of a seed or reduce the amount of time a farmer spends harvesting crops is largely done by the private sector. Private companies process, package, transport and market foods to all of us every day. So there’s no question […]
Transforming African Smallholders into Rural Entrepreneurs
Prices of certain basic food commodities have risen sharply in recent years. According to a 2011 World Bank report on food prices, global wheat prices have risen most, doubling between June 2010 and January 2011. Maize prices are about 73 percent higher. Increased food prices have had an adverse impact on food security worldwide: the […]
The Business of Addressing Global Hunger
Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are facing dire food crises. According to the ONE Campaign, the famine in Somalia could kill 750,000 human beings unless donors intervene. Meanwhile, in 2008, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that approximately 32% of Africans are undernourished. The private sector, in partnership with donors, may […]
Wallpaper Over Malaria
To most people, wallpaper serves an obvious purpose: to decorate homes. But in rural villages across the developing world, an innovative type of wallpaper may soon help protect families from malaria. Malaria is among the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases, claiming the lives about 1 million people every year, according to the World Health Organizations. […]
Doing good by doing well: Shaping a sustainable future
Public pressure to tackle social issues isn’t just a threat to success–it’s also an opportunity for companies that know how to pick issues that are ripest for their leadership. Several trends are creating a new set of challenges for corporations. For example, even as a global company facing resource scarcity must create more efficient products […]
Jo Wackrill and Jessica Scholl: True Business Leaders see the Possibilities in Challenges
By Jo Wackrill and Jessica Scholl In a compelling blog last month, IBLF’s Chairman Mark Foster said: ‘Now is the time for today’s business leaders to step up with confidence to engage with the challenges the world faces and lead the way to smarter, more inclusive and more responsible growth’. It is in seeing the […]
Report: How can the private sector tackle global chronic disease?
IBLF has released ‘Many Healthy Returns’, a special report and action framework on the role of business in tackling global chronic disease (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes).
Spanish fashion chain Zara takes action on sweatshop labour in Brazil
Mark Foster: The Business Sector’s Pivotal Role in Growth
The current debt crisis has been portrayed in apocalyptic terms. The downgrading of the US’ triple-A rating, the paralysis of the political systems and the deficit of leadership in both US and Europe are depicted as marking the end of the era of growth. Cut public spending too deep and too fast, and recovery will […]
Launch of Private Sector Toolkit for Working with Youth – United Nations and Restless Development
Business at the Base of the Pyramid: Blog by Susan Olsen, Inter-American Development Bank
Paul Polak, Founder, iDE: At Least a Million
For many years I have been a vocal advocate for what I call the “Don’t Bother Trilogy” in the practice of design, which states: 1. If you haven’t had good conversations with at least 25 customers before you start 2. If the product or service you design doesn’t pay for itself three times in the […]
Jo Wackrill: Six Essential Mindsets for Long-Term Leadership
Today, there is widespread consensus that short-termism on the part of business leaders is not serving society, the environment or even business itself. In response, there have been many calls for ‘responsible’ leadership. These are a reminder that ethics, integrity and high business standards are essential characteristics of business leaders if they are to regain […]