Category: Innovative Business Models

A Responsibility and a Market: Why Danone May Represent the Future of BoP Business

NextBillion.net, Senior Strategist Saatchi and Saatchi The “future of BOP business” is a sweeping, flashy claim. Yet Danone’s strategy appears to be different for all the right, non-flashy reasons. A strict focus on unit economics, clear understanding of the business’ role in social impact, and most of all, direct links between base of the pyramid […]

CARE Bangladesh’s Rural Sales Programme: Empowering Poor Women?

Base of the pyramid (BoP) approaches have been attracting a lot of attention in business and development circles lately. Although typically associated with highly publicised schemes such as Grameen’s “village phone ladies” and Hindustan Unilever’s “Project Shakti”, a number of BoP initiatives have sprung up across Africa and Asia to address a range of development […]

Resources for practitioners: inclusive business models in the energy sector

We are delighted to launch a new series of monthly Editorial Specials, in which we highlight our favourite resources on business and development. As the concept of inclusive business takes root and people move from ideas into action, an increasing number of sector-specific reports on inclusive business models have begun to come out. This month, […]

Fashion: A Catalyst for Change

The potential of the private sector to reduce poverty is well recognized; however, this has not been evident in the fashion industry. Fashion is one of the most globalized sectors, providing employment to more than 60 million people, mainly women and unskilled workers from poor economies. And it is expanding. According to Datamonitor, 2010, the […]

Five common confusions on Fundraising vs. Partnerships

A lot is happening in the world of international development cooperation and the resources available for the coming years. There are public discussions in many countries regarding the (sustainable) impact of development aid. Many (governmental) donors are cutting back their funds and many foundations have less resources to spend and therefore engage more than ever […]

Business Solutions to Enable Energy Access for All

Business solutions to enable energy access for all is the first major publication of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Access to Energy initiative. It has been released today to coincide with the launch of the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All by the United Nations’ Secretary-General, HE Ban Ki-moon. Addressing the […]

Mark Foster: Rebuilding Trust in Volatile Times

We are in a period of unprecedented volatility and dynamism. The daily news brings conflicting signals about the pace, nature or durability of any recovery and the macro-global picture is also far from clear. Economic power bases and traditional orders are shifting – and not in predictable ways. China, India and Brazil continue to develop […]

Pick of the Year: Inclusive Business Resources in 2011

It’s that time of year: best book of 2011? Best movie, best photo, best newcomer of the year…? What were the highlights on inclusive business? It’s not such a hard question to answer, because each month we pick out one highlight to be Editor’s Choice on the Practitioner Hub,hosted by the Business Innovation Facility and […]

News: 30 Million Rural Poor in India and South Africa to Benefit from Banking Services

New York, 14 December 2011—Two companies announced today they will be providing banking services to more than 30 million low-income people in India and South Africa by 2015 through their commitments to the Business Call to Action (BCtA), a global initiative that encourages private sector efforts to fight poverty, supported by several international organizations including […]

IFC and G20 Launch Global Competition to Promote Inclusive Business

When a business produces development results and generates profits, the combination can yield a self-sustaining approach to reducing poverty. ‘Inclusive businesses’ – firms that include low-income people in their business model as either suppliers, distributors, retailers, or consumers – are doing exactly that, and by doing so they open up new opportunities to the estimated […]

New Ventures to Promote Clean Energy

Photo: Curt Carnemark / World Bank More than 12 million low-income people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America will gain access to clean energy following four companies’ commitments made today to the Business Call to Action, a global leadership initiative that promotes sustainable economic and social development. The companies also expect to create approximately 42,000 […]

Creating Shared Value in India

Today India represents one of the fastest growing economies in the world, in great contrast with the debilitating poverty and economic stagnation experienced by one-fifth of its population. Such stark contrast between success and continued need has led the government of India to conclude that “inclusive growth” is a key priority for national development. It’s […]

Rushanara Ali MP: Do you know where your clothes come from?

Bangladesh is changing so rapidly – I see this every time I visit. Growth rates are at about 7% a year and it is now one of the countries identified by Goldman Sachs investment bank as ‘The Next Eleven’ (or N-11) – countries who have the potential, along with the BRICS, to become the worlds […]

Clare Melford: Four Things Progressive Companies are Exploring Now

At a recent university reunion event, I met my old tutor. His eyes lit up as I told him about the work we’re doing at IBLF with global business leaders. “Maybe some of them would be willing to be the research subjects of my latest paper,” said the renowned neuroscientist. I asked what it was […]

Facilitating Pro-Poor Growth: 50 Development Organizations Discuss their Outcomes Using M4P

By Roger Oakeley, M4P Hub Manager “M4P” is an innovative approach that focuses on improving markets and systems to reduce poverty and promote pro-poor economic growth. It offers a framework to diagnose conditions in market systems that hinder pro-poor growth and guidance on engaging with key market systems players (whether public, private, non-government or civil […]

Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group: Screw Business as Usual

Through my experiences in my life and more recently with Virgin Unite, the nonprofit foundation for Virgin Group, I’ve learnt about the power that business has to drive change, whether that is simply creating thousands of jobs and a company where people love to come to work every day, or building a company to tackle […]

Kenya-based firm to provide 100,000 small farmers with micro-loans

For more news from the Business Call to Action please click here. New York/Nairobi, 11 November 2011 – Juhudi Kilimo, a Kenya-based investment firm, announced today that it will provide some 100,000 smallholder rural farmers in Kenya—more than half of them women—with access to micro-loans and basic financial training by 2016 as part of the […]

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 […]