The Business of Care: Unilever Interview
The interviews with five Business Fights Poverty Lead Partners, Primark, Unilever, Anglo American, Standard Chartered and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, focussed on two areas. Firstly, how their companies are currently supporting social entrepreneurs and secondly if and how their companies are addressing the care economy through workplace policies. These lines of questioning led to […]
The Business of Care: Primark Interview
The interviews with five Business Fights Poverty Lead Partners, Primark, Unilever, Anglo American, Standard Chartered and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, focussed on two areas. Firstly, how their companies are currently supporting social entrepreneurs and secondly if and how their companies are addressing the care economy through workplace policies. These lines of questioning led to […]
Capturing Natural Goodness In Hazelnuts From Soil To Snack
As you walk around the villages tucked away in Turkey’s Eastern Black Sea hills, every sight and sound is permeated by hazelnuts, or Findik. They carpet the towering hillsides, they’re in conversations in supermarkets and gas stations, and on display behind glass cabinets in hotels and restaurants. You can understand why this is the world’s […]
Business’s Role in Advancing Women, Children, and Adolescents’ Wellbeing
Delivering a Healthier Future: Business’s Strategic Role in Advancing Women, Children, and Adolescents’ Wellbeing A clear link exists between economic prosperity and the health of women, children, and adolescents. For business, engaging in global health is not only a moral obligation but also aligns with strategic economic decisions that promote gender equality, enhance economic growth, and […]
An Agenda to Address Inequality in Sustainable Finance Decision-Making
The Private Sector and Inequality The private sector can contribute to inequalities in terms of influencing the distribution of risk and return between stakeholders. Workers assume significant risk and likewise contribute to value creation. However, their “social” or “human capital” is often undervalued and therefore rewarded much less than financial capital. Investors can also contribute […]
Mainstreaming Gender to Power Sustainable Business Growth
Gender equality is one of the essential pieces of the global prosperity puzzle. Women represent almost half of the global population and thus, also possess half of its potential. Yet inequalities faced by women are so deeply rooted and persistent, that we are lagging behind in our progress towards the gender equality targets set out […]
Gender Equality Depends on Business Becoming Co-Responsible for Care Work
A new Business Fights Poverty report illustrates that opportunities exist across the value chain for business to play a key role in supporting social innovation in this area and become co-responsible care actors. What is care? The global economic system is underpinned by many thousands of hours of “invisible” care work that is often unpaid, underpaid […]
Five Reasons Why Businesses Should Prioritise Supporting Women in Global Garment Supply Chains
As governments, businesses, civil society and NGOs take stock of global progress towards to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is important to recognize that investing in women in global garment supply chains can act as a lever to achieving the SDGs. RISE: Reimagining Industry to Support Equality is an initiative to support collaborative industry […]
Empowering Women in Cotton Farming: Building Resilience Amid Climate Change Challenges
In cotton, women play a significant role in building sustainable, productive and resilient farms. From planting seeds to nurturing and harvesting crops, women are at the beating heart of smallholder farming that is the source of much high-quality raw material supplied to global retail buyers and made into the cotton clothes we love to buy […]
Beyond Doing Good: Why ESG Makes Great Business Sense for African Fintechs
If you’re reading this, there’s a very good chance you’re already familiar with the acronym ESG. Standing for “environmental”, “social”, and “governance”, it’s a constantly evolving standard that emphasises the importance of doing business in a way that positively impacts the environment, society and stakeholders. In essence, it’s the idea that companies can grow and […]
Improving Human Wellbeing in the Coffee Supply Chain
Improving Human Wellbeing in the Coffee Supply chain: The Need for Better Data and Benchmarks Ahh a freshly-brewed cup of coffee…if just the smell of it brings you comfort at the promise of a caffeine-hit each morning, you’re not alone. Globally, we consume over two billion cups of coffee every day. And yet, how often […]
How to Improve Strategic Planning by Using Foresight Tools
The business challenges involved in preparing for the future are becoming more difficult. From the “push” side, a more complex and more entangled world means that disruption comes more often, and from more unexpected places. From the “pull” side, employees, customers, and sometimes investors increasingly expect businesses to worry about more than the bottom line. […]
Weathering COVID-19: Small and Micro Businesses in Pakistan
The COVID-19 pandemic unleashed a wave of disruption, leaving no corner untouched. While the world focused on the health crisis, a quieter battle unfolded on the streets of Pakistan. Small and micro enterprises, the lifeblood of the nation’s economy, faced an unprecedented challenge. As we delve into the depths of their struggles, it becomes evident […]
Why Doesn’t the Private Sector Talk More About Socio-Economic Inequality?
The private sector has a responsibility – and, in the long term, arguably a commercial imperative – to tackle inequalities through the levers that it can pull directly: improving pay and working conditions, tackling inequalities in recruitment and promotion, encouraging workers to unionise, ensuring that their products and services are produced and priced fairly, and […]
Prevention is Better Than Cure: €450,000 to Tackle Child Labour in Fairtrade Cocoa Supply Chains
It’s no secret that cocoa farmers in West Africa sometimes resort to child labour. Spiralling inflation, ever-higher production and wage costs and unsustainably low prices mean growers sometimes rely on children – who should be in school or playing with friends – as cheap or free labour. It’s an increasingly uphill battle. According to a […]
Green and Social Investments in the Global South will Show Returns Worldwide
If you want to predict the effects of global warming in Europe, just look to Bangladesh. Despite producing merely 0.56% of global CO2 emissions, this country in South Asia is among the most vulnerable to the climate crisis. Floods, storms, intensifying cyclones, rising sea levels: the consequences of the climate crisis are numerous and visible, […]
What Loss and Damage Means for Human Rights and Your Business
Skyrocketing prices and empty shelves have made headlines again this year and a standout factor is the escalating impact of climate change. This is bad for businesses and customers, but worst for the world’s poorest communities who produce food and goods for the local and global economy. One key issue is ‘Loss and Damage’: the […]
Now Is Time to Unite to Act for a Sustainable Future for All
As the SDG Summit in New York fast approaches, UN SDG Action Campaign Global Director Marina Ponti says that unity in action is the key ingredient to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals The world is now at the midpoint of our journey towards 2030 – the deadline set for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development […]
Five Reasons Why Fairtrade Remains the #1 Ethical Consumer Choice
Encouraging news for those of us who believe value can’t always be measured by price: consumers all over the world are staying loyal to Fairtrade as the most visible and trusted ethical label, despite the cost of living crisis. Research in 12 countries by GlobeScan for Fairtrade suggests rising food prices haven’t deterred the majority […]
How Can We Better Articulate the Benefits of Managing ESG Issues for Businesses and Stakeholders?
The increasingly interconnected world and escalating poverty and climate change challenges have led to a surge of interest in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles. While ESG has moved from a fringe topic to the forefront of business and investment strategies, questions persist about its real impact and how best to articulate its benefits. The […]