Can A Non-Agricultural Company Transform The Agricultural Value Chain?
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Stanbic Bank IBTC are large, well-established international companies in India and Nigeria respectively. One is a technology provider and the other a bank – and yet both are aiming to transform agricultural value chains. But how, you may ask. And more importantly, why? These questions are explored in two new […]
Get to Know the Winners of the CHANGING Markets Award
The 16th IBF in Istanbul ended with exciting news: the announcement of the jury-elected Winners of the CHANGING Markets Award! They are true champions in developing markets for green and inclusive growth. But what exactly is a green and inclusive business? Get to know the winning business models and discuss the strengths and also the […]
Inclusive Business for Women Entrepreneurs
Women make up half the world’s population, but in many cultures and countries, women entrepreneurs face enormous challenges accessing opportunities – in education, business, and capital. Audry Maulana asks: What does the term “inclusive business” mean for some of the women attending IBF 2013? “Inclusive business is not charity,” even if the aim for many […]
A Muddled Path to Sustainable Production & Consumption
It’s no question that the world needs more sustainable habits of developing and consuming products. But in emerging economies, whose role is it to make this happen? “It is possible to create a village, a community of people that would use green energy and live in sustainable way by using natural materials and products,” remarks […]
A Muddled Path to Sustainable Production & Consumption
It’s no question that the world needs more sustainable habits of developing and consuming products. But in emerging economies, whose role is it to make this happen? “It is possible to create a village, a community of people that would use green energy and live in sustainable way by using natural materials and products,” remarks […]
Impact Investing for Green and Inclusive Business
Green and inclusive businesses need finance – impact investing can provide this. Discuss with us along seven hot topics why impact investors and green and inclusive businesses are a perfect fit and how they could be better matched – from new kids on the block to the super-heroes in the field. Green and inclusive businesses, […]
Developing Markets for Sustainable Growth
“Our business is profitable because it is inclusive” was how Javier Flores, green and inclusive entrepreneur from Peru, framed his success when he described the benefits of integrating social and ecological aspects in his business’ bottom line. Over 250 participants from more than 70 countries gathered for two days at the 16th International Business Forum […]
A Bright Future for All – Building Business Responsibly
Every day, when watching the news and checking the social channels, we see pictures and read stories of famine and floods, droughts and demonstrations, confronting us with the effects of increasing resource scarcity, climate change, food security, civil unrest and poverty. We see the increasing numbers of people left behind. Many wonder how on earth […]
The Role of Business in Tackling the Sanitation Crisis
Approximately 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, of which nearly 1 billion practise open defecation. The health issues that result are a major source of human suffering while the associated economic issues keep communities, and nations, trapped in poverty. Diarrhoeal disease that is in a large part a result of inadequate sanitation, unsafe […]
Fighting Poverty: What's in it for Business?
It’s time to discuss the business opportunities in serving poor consumers. The Case for Ending Poverty You may feel, as I do, that poverty is humankind’s greatest shame. But there are numerous practical considerations, too: the horrendous waste of human talent; the prospect that the end of wide-scale poverty might lower the level of conflict […]
Fighting Poverty: What’s in it for Business?
It’s time to discuss the business opportunities in serving poor consumers. The Case for Ending Poverty You may feel, as I do, that poverty is humankind’s greatest shame. But there are numerous practical considerations, too: the horrendous waste of human talent; the prospect that the end of wide-scale poverty might lower the level of conflict […]
How to Solve India’s Poverty Crisis
Economic debate swirls around the question of how to end poverty, and no wonder: today there are still 2.7 billion people living on $2 a day or less. How should a nation that contains nearly one in three of the world’s poorest people address this very real problem? At one extreme among Indian observers, Nobel […]
Creating a Runway for Multinationals with Impact
Five years ago, Steve Bachar and I decided to create a venture capital fund that would only invest in companies capable of achieving three goals: Transforming the livelihoods of at least 100 million customers living on $2 a day or less; Generating at least $10 billion in annual revenues; and Earning sufficient profits to attract […]
Going About the Business of Creating Social Change
There’s an inescapable buzz around the role of business in international development. Everywhere I go—from Bangladesh to East Africa, from the flurry of activity of the UNGA or CGI in New York to the WEF Annual meeting in Davos—it’s a topic that has risen to the very top of the development agenda. To be clear, […]
Sumitomo Chemical and the Market for Bednets
When I first learnt about the partnership of Sumitomo Chemical and A to Z Textile Mills Ltd. in Tanzania it seemed like pure success. In 2007, I was working on the UNDP report “Creating Value for All”, and the story about local manufacturing of mosquito nets was one of my favourite case studies. Sumitomo Chemical, […]
The Challenges of Going to Scale
In our latest BIF insider “Scaling Inclusive Business – Why do some successful IB pilots fail to scale”, Jack Newnham identifies and examines seven broad reasons why some inclusive businesses do not go to scale. The publication draws on a range of examples (mostly not related to BIF), illustrating which hurdles could and could not […]
The Story of How Big Business Can Fix the World
Writing Everybody’s Business took us on a two-year journey through the world of business. We met people in boardrooms and on the front-line of operations – in mines, factories and farms, in data centres and distribution hubs. We saw first-hand how big corporations are taking on some of today’s toughest challenges, mobilizing the vast resources, […]
Market & Social Impact Research: A Dual Approach
Having worked in the local sustainable energy sector for the last seven years, I cannot stress enough how important it is to conduct both market and social impact research. Yet most organisations tend to focus on one or the other. Enterprises and charities founded in countries where they operate, especially when they are led by […]
Market & Social Impact Research: A Dual Approach
Having worked in the local sustainable energy sector for the last seven years, I cannot stress enough how important it is to conduct both market and social impact research. Yet most organisations tend to focus on one or the other. Enterprises and charities founded in countries where they operate, especially when they are led by […]
Does Scaling Up Compromise our Social Mission?
When charities concentrate on measuring the impact of their work it is easy to justify certain inefficiencies or not reaching scale, but a business wouldn’t have that attitude. That’s why SolarAid have chosen a business based approach; our mission to eradicate the kerosene lamp from Africa requires that we get solar lights to people at […]