In a Hungry Africa, We Cannot Wait for Pigs to Fly
Poverty and hunger often go hand-in-hand. But in my country of Uganda, farmers are generating a revolution that is overcoming both, and it is based on pigs. In the past 30 years, the number of pigs raised in Uganda has increased from about 200,000 to 3.2 million pigs. Today, more than one million Ugandan farmers […]
The Holy Grail of Inclusive Market Development
There is something satisfying knowing that when you buy your ethically sourced tea or coffee you are making a contribution to a movement that is helping to improve the lives and businesses of millions of poor producers. I can’t say I’ve ever got the same fuzzy feeling whilst serving my kids Malawian pigeon peas for […]
Brewing up Success for Tanzanian Coffee Farmers
By Ciara O’Sullivan, VSO VSO volunteer Joseph Ochuma is an Agronomist working with Karagwe Development and Relief Services (KADERES). KADERES is an NGO based in the Kagera region of North West Tanzania. Joseph started his current placement in 2012, although he was not new to VSO having previously volunteered at VSO Malawi working with the […]
Empowering Women Through Access to Water
By Hanneke Willenborg, VP Global Dishwash, Unilever Access to clean water is both a lifeline and an opportunity. As more and more communities around the world face water scarcity, the burden of collecting water increasingly falls on the shoulders of women and girls. It’s estimated that globally women spend 200 million hours every single day […]
New Generation of Business Leaders for Africa
Do you remember some of your most productive learning moments as an adult? They likely involved solving problems that were relevant to your life or working environment, and in a non-formal teaching environment. I vividly remember some “accelerated” learning experiences like arriving in Rwanda – my first Africa experience – with what I thought was […]
‘100 Under $100′ Tools for Women’s Empowerment
In her new book ‘100 Under $100’, Betsy Teutsch rounds up a hundred innovative yet affordable tools and practices that can make a huge difference in the lives of poor women in low-income countries. Agroforestry is among these innovations. Many of the tools featured, like childhood immunization, handwashing, and clean birth kits—are lifesaving. Others, like […]
Navigating Large Companies: Tips for Practitioners
For the theme on working with large companies on The Practitioner Hub I have assembled some tips from my hard-won experience for anyone working with a company on an inclusive business initiative. I have the perspective of an external practitioner engaging with counterparts from inside the business, but I suspect that company employees may face […]
Low-Income Millennials Present Big Market Opportunities
Hardly a day passes without a new article on how businesses are analyzing the needs, wants and spending trends of millennials. In the US alone, millennials (or Generation Y), those born between 1980 and 2000, represent 30 percent of the population. By 2025 they will be 75 percent of the workforce. The impact that millennials […]
Finding Hope and Supporting Self-employment in Kenya
My job is about finding and nurturing hope. As CEO of Kenya Youth Business Trust Mombasa, I spend a lot of time working with young people who have very little opportunities, and are struggling against barriers such as poor education and radicalism. Having been focused on just Mombasa for many years, we are now – […]
Helping Indian Smallholder Farmers Through Partnerships
Imagine you’re a farmer in rural India. You work on less than an acre of land, and your soil lacks the nutrients needed to grow a successful crop. Water is scarce outside of the monsoon season, when torrential rainfall can damage crops and wash away valuable soil and nutrients. You don’t have regular access to […]
Making Hunger History
Hunger has plagued humanity since the dawn of recorded history. It has featured in every era and every civilization. It has brought empires to ruin, and societies to their knees. In this second decade of the 21st century, we have the expertise, the technology, and the resources to feed every person, in every country. Yet […]
5 Ways Trade Can Deliver for the World’s Poor
It’s time to take the conversation about trade and poverty to the next level. Just about every day, UPS drops something at my doorstep. As a working mom with two busy boys, my store of convenience is the world as I shop online. As an advocate for women in living in poverty worldwide, I often […]
The Need to Reduce the Barriers to Global Trade
Over the last 50 years we have seen global trade prosper in line with the success of globalisation. Global trade has generated jobs and growth, created opportunities for businesses both big and small, spurred investment in public infrastructure and connected emerging markets around the world to the global economy. But today trade is not as […]
Chicago Council Global Food Security Symposium
Too often, the challenges surrounding food security are tackled by different groups of experts in siloes. As a result, they can seem insurmountable, but in practice, real world solutions are possible. Forums like the Chicago Council Global Food Security Symposium are important catalysts – helping to integrate debate, break down these siloes and canvas holistic […]
Growing Food in a Resource Scarce World
The world is changing. And those changes bring with them new structural challenges. Rapid population growth, increasingly scarce resources, food lost or wasted and climate change are putting enormous pressure on agricultural productivity which is vital for food security and livelihoods. No one will be immune from the effects of climate change. But it will […]
If You Want to Make Money be a Farmer, Not a Financier
As an investor, I’ll cut to the chase – I’m long agriculture. That’s to say I’m very optimistic about its potential despite the fact that the sector has been a disaster for the past 30 years – my own Commodities Index tells me that agriculture prices are just 75% of what they were in 1998. […]
Managing Boundaries in an Unbalanced World
The global food system is a strange and twisted thing. One in eight people go hungry while one in five is overweight. A farmer in Iowa can grow ten tonnes of grain on each hectare, while most farmers in Africa struggle to harvest a single tonne. The rich countries of the world are among the […]
The 21st Century Commodity Trader
Change in the 21st century is proceeding at a pace and a scale that are unprecedented. Last century’s strategies are no longer viable options for institutions that want to survive in this one. That said, those institutions that can transcend yesterday’s thinking and today’s boundaries can actually thrive in the 21st century. Nowhere is this […]
The Next Step for Sustainable Supply Chains
Supply chains are complicated and none more so than those of a retailer like M&S with our thousands of food, home, clothing and beauty products. Beyond our product suppliers are many processors, traders, ingredient manufacturers, wholesalers and farmers who we need to support our sustainability ambitions. Certification has been the traditional approach to managing these […]
What will the Modern Slavery Act Achieve?
This March saw the passing of the Modern Slavery Act in UK parliament. It includes a transparency in supply chains clause requiring large companies to publish an annual public statement on modern slavery. This should detail evidence of what actions they have taken to eliminate the risk and presence of in their business or supply […]