Tea Companies See Returns After Investing in Worker Empowerment
CARE International has written about the business case for empowering women producers before; but the financial justification for inclusive business goes much further than that. This week, CARE International published “A Different Cup of Tea: The Business Case for Empowering Workers in the Sri Lankan Tea Sector” which demonstrates that companies investing in one worker […]
Achieving Scale
Scale is the single biggest unmet challenge in development and impact investment today. IDE, the development organization I founded, has helped some 20 million people living on a $1/day move out of poverty, but this is a drop in the bucket compared to the 2.7 billion people still living on less than $2/day. About the […]
The Future is Yours
Every day, when watching the news, we see pictures 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 we are going to address all these challenges. […]
It's Africa's Time: Encouraging Inclusive Business Models in Africa
While Africa’s challenges are well documented, there’s an increasing recognition that the continent is on an upward trajectory. And yet Africa’s wealth disparities are amongst the biggest in the world and over the long run this will undermine economic growth, productivity and the development of markets. Economic growth alone is not enough. As a result […]
It’s Africa’s Time: Encouraging Inclusive Business Models in Africa
While Africa’s challenges are well documented, there’s an increasing recognition that the continent is on an upward trajectory. And yet Africa’s wealth disparities are amongst the biggest in the world and over the long run this will undermine economic growth, productivity and the development of markets. Economic growth alone is not enough. As a result […]
6 Ways Businesses Can Be Inclusive and Socially Responsive
The big question that us development professionals who are working at the intersections of development and business faces today is whether private sector led growth can be inclusive and socially responsive. Our experience on that count is mixed. Businesses obviously promote economic growth, jobs and other associated social benefits. However, the business models generally tend […]
5 Steps to Developing a More Efficient and Ethical Supply Chain
It has been less than three months since the most recent factory collapse occurred in Bangladesh, and the fashion community has taken many steps to prevent such future tragedies since the collapse. For those of you who are looking to become part of the solution, here’s a quick guide to building a healthy value-chain based […]
Product Paternalism – Consumer Choice at the BoP
Women’s empowerment means voter choice, partner choice, healthcare choice, reproductive choice, career choice, and consumer choice. Who would argue that a shovel, seeds, and a watering can are not useful and important products to sell in impoverished communities? Or school supplies, study aids, pens, and paper? Or a mattress to lift children off a dirt […]
Need or Want? Creating Demand at the Base of the Pyramid
Understanding what poor people purchase with their very limited resources, and why, is notoriously difficult. Those of us reading or writing about this are unlikely to have ever experienced anything like the life situation that drives these decisions. We can enter a poor person’s home and wonder why they have a television, when they are […]
Need or Want? New BIF Insider on Creating Demand at the Base of the Pyramid
Understanding what poor people purchase with their very limited resources, and why, is notoriously difficult. Those of us reading or writing about this are unlikely to have ever experienced anything like the life situation that drives these decisions. We can enter a poor person’s home and wonder why they have a television, when they are […]
Leveraging the Potential of Green and Inclusive Businesses
The greatest global challenges of today – poverty, pollution, and climate change – are closely linked. People living at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) are the most vulnerable to environmental pollution and suffer most severely from the consequences of climate change. Achieving green and inclusive growth has become an urgent and challenging priority in […]
Event Audio: Base of the Pyramid Consumers – Getting the Right Product to the Right People
Stoves, water purifiers, off-grid power, nutritious foods – so many innovative products and services are being developed for base of the pyramid (BoP) markets. But companies developing these products have to be innovative and creative in the face of several challenges: low purchasing power, traditional consumer preferences and logistical problems (such as inadequate infrastructure) that […]
Marketing GravityLight for the Base of the Pyramid
By Caroline Angus, Associate, On Purpose GravityLight ticks multiple boxes: An innovative form of off-grid lighting? Tick. A light to help eliminate harmful and hazardous kerosene lamps? Yes. A light independent of batteries –their limited lifespan, capacity and issues of disposal? Check. A light that doesn’t rely on the weather? Yup. A light that brings […]
Social Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid Across Latin America
Cocoa Life and Verification: A Circle of Learning
By Mil Niepold, Senior Mediator, Consensus Building Institute My job is to listen, and to encourage others to be excellent listeners. Listening means being open to hearing what people need and want, what works and what doesn’t. Listening gives others, especially those who haven’t been heard, a voice, and this is key to creating and […]
Mixing Business and Social- What Really is a Social Enterprise?
Of course we all know what a ‘social enterprise’ (SE) is in a developing country. It’s obvious, surely? It’s, um, a business that does good things for people, and also makes money. Don’t nit-pick! This is all about dynamism, creativity and innovation. Well, OK, point taken. But nagging doubts remain. What sorts of good things? […]
The Future of the BoP Domain: Where is Our Missing Community?
The BoP domain is at a crossroads. We have seen that successful enterprise development can play an important role in alleviating poverty. These are clearly exciting times for the BoP domain. But we also lack sufficient humility. Indeed, we still have a long way to go, and few are openly discussing the lessons learned and […]
Large Companies and Collaboration for Inclusive Business
Time for Training: After a decade of learning, an executive BoP course comes online
11 years ago, CK Prahalad and Stu Hart published “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.” The article and consecutive book have sparked enormous interest among companies, followed by experimentation, trials, and sometimes, success. However, it quickly became clear that developing inclusive business was far from trivial. The usual management tools did not always […]
Mixing Business and Social: What Really is a Social Enterprise?
Of course we all know what a ‘social enterprise’ (SE) is in a developing country. It’s obvious, surely? It’s, um, a business that does good things for people, and also makes money. Don’t nit-pick! This is all about dynamism, creativity and innovation. Well, OK, point taken. But nagging doubts remain. What sorts of good things? […]