Inclusive Business In Asia – Abuzz With Potential
Photo: Selling fish in Myanmar Asia, the most populated continent, is well used to fast growth. But as the call for inclusive growth gets stronger, attention is turning to inclusive business. During April and May the team at the Practitioner Hub for Inclusive Business have been in touch with a host of contributors across the […]
In Defence of Fair Trade
The School of African and Asian Studies – SOAS – has just produced a coruscating critique of fair trade. The research report is based on field work among wage workers on coffee and flower farms in Ethiopia and Uganda. It finds ‘unambiguously’ that Fairtrade has made no positive difference to wage workers. It finds that […]
Working For The Common Good
Fairtrade’s new Workers’ Rights Strategy has thus far focused on increasing the benefits of Fairtrade for workers on large commercial farms. However, we also recognise that many small producer organizations and their members also employ waged workers and that the number of such workers is increasing as a result of the growth of Fairtrade and […]
Announcing the 2014 Design Expo Schedule
We are one week away from the start of the 2014 Design Expo! Running from 9 to 13 June, the Design Expo is an online celebration of products, services and business models transforming the lives of poor people. The Design Expo is a collaboration with iDE UK and is being supported by the UK’s Department […]
A 'Coopetitive' Business Model For Financial Inclusion
“Same: Same, but different” – We have all seen this printed on t-shirts across the world. It is a similar story here in Nepal with the shared access mobile financial services platform “Hello Paisa” – that is now beginning to scale up. The Hello Paisa platform is currently live with 8 partner banks – and […]
Haiti: Leading in the Production of Quality Apparel
Three high-level business leaders just did what others might think is too risky and counterintuitive. Joey Adler, the CEO of Diesel Canada and founder of the OnexOne Foundation; Richard Coles, the owner of Multiwear, one of Haiti’s leading apparel manufacturers; and Rob Broggi, a former hedge fund executive, created a company to demonstrate that Haiti […]
Announcing the Business Fights Poverty Design Expo 2014
A creative revolution is underway around the design of products and services that transform the lives of poor people. But perhaps the most exciting activity is around combining design innovation with business model innovation, so that social impact can be achieved on a massive scale. With 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty, it is […]
How Haiti is Becoming a Leader in the Production of Quality Apparel
Three high-level business leaders just did what others might think is too risky and counterintuitive. Joey Adler, the CEO of Diesel Canada and founder of the OnexOne Foundation; Richard Coles, the owner of Multiwear, one of Haiti’s leading apparel manufacturers; and Rob Broggi, a former hedge fund executive, created a company to demonstrate that Haiti […]
Everything You Wanted to Know About Inclusive Business
The eLab provides an introduction to managers who are tasked and set to create business with low-income communities. It is designed in a way that fits every managers schedule, while providing the most important insights every IB manager should be aware of. Let’s review these two propositions! Insights The eLab consists of 6 modules. Each […]
Solving the World’s Water Issues
The Challenge of Scale – It’s about Markets
The SEEP Network is a global network of practitioner organizations dedicated to combating poverty through promoting inclusive markets and financial systems. Members are active in 170 countries and engage with nearly 100 million households worldwide. From September 22-25, practitioners and thought-leaders from around the world will gather outside Washington, DC to discuss the challenges and […]
Launching the 2014 Inclusive Business eLab
Successful inclusive businesses create real value for people living in poverty and companies. Think of BASF: the chemical company produces vitamin A and other micronutrients – ingredients urgently needed to eradicate malnutrition and enable healthier, fitter lives for billions of people.* But company and customers are only two parties in a dense ecosystem of players […]
Economic and Social Prosperity Must Go Hand in Hand
Big Business, Bigger Impact
“Let us bring the invisible heart of markets to those the invisible hand of markets has left behind,” said Sir Ronald Cohen during the Skoll World Forum opening plenary on Wednesday night, stressing that business and social good go hand-in-hand. Of particular interest to me within that paradigm was a session called “Big Business, Bigger […]
Building an Impact Investing Market
When the UK’s Department for International Development launched the Impact Programme, just over a year ago, we knew we were moving into new territory. Today, the Impact Programme launches two new reports: The Annual Report 2013 and The Impact Programme Market Baseline Study. The 13 Year Programme is at the vanguard of the UK Government’s […]
Why Are So Few Inclusive Businesses Getting To Scale?
We at Monitor Inclusive Markets believe that inclusive businesses – businesses that engage the global poor as either customers or suppliers – can vastly improve the lives of millions who are suffering the consequences of global poverty. That is why we were so disappointed when in 2011 we surveyed 439 such firms in Africa and […]
Multinational Mining: Think Global, Procure Local
Last week, the global mining community gathered in Toronto for the 80th annual PDAC Convention. When PDAC first hosted the CSR Event Series, it reflected the growing focus of the international mining sector on corporate social responsibility. This year, however, marked the first time that the subject of local procurement was discussed, mirroring a shift […]
Challenges Facing SMEs in South Africa
The challenges of running a small business at the Base of the Pyramid are numerous and under estimated. I decided to write a blog post to raise awareness on these challenges and prepare those of us that work in support of micro entrepreneurs to do so more effectively. At the Micro Franchise Accelerator (MFA) in […]
An Open Letter to Larry Page
Dear Larry, In your recent conversation with Charlie Rose at TED, you said you’d rather hand over your cash to Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, Solar City) instead of donating it to a philanthropic organization. I understand the sentiment. The nonprofit sphere has generally proved itself incapable of solving many of society’s most intractable problems. In […]
Getting Ready for Success at the BoP
Having supported companies to enter BoP markets over the last decade, the European BoP Learning Labs and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have learned about best practices in inclusive business innovation, marketing, last mile distribution, financing, partnering, and measuring results. To share their insights, the Learning Labs and WBCSD teamed up in 2013 […]