The Social Enterprise Landscape: Good News First or Bad?
The ‘Root’ to Women’s Empowerment
Growing up in rural south-east Nigeria, as the first born child in my family, I assisted my mum in her small business as she struggled to make a living. When the opportunity to go and live with my aunt in eastern Nigerian arose, I was excited; I thought I would be relieved from the hard […]
How the Mobile Phone is Enabling a New Social Enterprise Economy
Do you remember that old mobile phone that you traded in years ago? Chances are, your phone may be helping power a new social revolution for millions living in poverty around the world. Most of the phones in use have only basic call and texting functions. But that is enough to enable mobile business models […]
IDB’s SCALA Program Shares Lessons on Engaging Micro-distributors
Small-scale retail, or what is often called the “traditional trade” is essential to reaching low-income consumers. The thousands of shops, kiosks, or tiendas that line the streets in many developing countries often account for the majority of retail sales and are the face of brands in most low-income communities. Although many companies, particularly in the […]
Building the Social Enterprise Eco-System in Thailand
In South East Asia, 95% of coral reefs are endangered. In Thailand the richest quartile of the population own around half of the country’s income, whilst the poorest quartile have less than 10%. Only 38% of the population are educated to a secondary level and social and environmental problems are rife. The Thai Social Watch […]
Helping Companies Create Positive Outcomes, Step-by-Step
“All corporations seek to differentiate themselves and look for new ways to create value. But when many traditional routes have been exhausted, how does an organisation change the way it does business?” This fundamental question is at the heart of the recently released Practitioner’s Guide: Steps to Corporate Investment, Innovation, and Collaboration (now available in […]
Tackling Slavery in Supply Chains – What Can We Do?
The ILO estimates that there are approximately 21 million people enslaved around the world at present – these will include many people who are in bonded labour, those trafficked and kept against their will in enslaved situations – but slavery also exists in global supply chains. Modern Slavery can also take the form of exploitation […]
Catalysing Impact Investing in East Africa
FSG’s newest office, located in Mumbai, houses our inclusive markets team, which works to develop and scale inclusive business models to create new opportunities and better lives for the global poor. Learn more about our inclusive markets approach. While East Africa has demonstrated robust growth over the past years, poverty is still widespread. Across the […]
Innovations in Safe Water for Millions
Unsafe drinking water is a global problem that affects more than 660 million people every day. And yes, we know there are low-cost solutions that have been proven to work in rigorous scientific studies – for millions of people with the least access to safe drinking water. Evidence Action is a social enterprise that develops […]
5 Reasons Social Enterprises are Applying a Gender Lens
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Acumen There is article after article about why businesses and investors should seek new ways to be more inclusive of women in their business models. But what we’ve learned at Acumen, where we invest in business that solve problems of poverty, is that leaders of social-purpose businesses are already doing this, […]
NGOs Applying Lessons of Market Dynamics
I’ve encouraged all types of mission-driven organizations to explore applying any business principles toward social goals, and NGOs can benefit from a number of lessons from Shared Value, Lean Startups, Behavioral Economics, or Social Enterprises. However, my point in focusing on market dynamics crowd sourcing insights on needs and value is to zero in on […]
The Secret Sauce in Shared Value
As an enthusiast for new solutions to old problems I wonder: Are you as excited as I am by relatively recent developments of social enterprises, shared value, behavioral economics and/or lean startups for social change? Or do you skeptically forecast which of these business approaches might just be fads? Even for skeptics, there’s a fundamental […]
Beyond Dialogue: Corporation and Social Enterprise Partnerships
On April 12th, Acumen and the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship hosted a workshop in Oxford, England with representatives from large corporations and smaller social businesses from around the globe. At the workshop, entitled “Beyond Dialogue,” we asked: How can we build business models that truly serve the poor through collaboration among corporations and social […]
Investing in Social Enterprise to Fight Poverty
Rupert Scofield will be speaking at a dinner hosted by Women Advancing Microfinance UK on Tuesday 10th May in London. He will talk to us about the work FINCA does and the impact it’s having, in particular in the social enterprise and innovation space. Tickets to the event are available here. Ahead of the event, […]
Can Social Enterprises Fill the Aid Gap?
The scale of social enterprises varies around the world, and there is no place where they have had such a long history or have grown to be quite as sophisticated as in Bangladesh[1] and largely without a supportive policy framework. With the country moving towards middle income status and aid money expected to dry up, […]
Connecting Corporations and Social Enterprises
By Sheena Raikundalia, Senior Consultant, Intellecap Kenya-focused entrepreneur Moka Lantum, Founder and Managing Director of Microclinics, is preparing for pitch to a large pharmaceutical company. The Nairobi-based healthcare management company provides patient and clinic management systems to peri-urban and rural clinics. The software developed by his company, tracks commodities in clinics and enhances, availability, accessibility, […]
New Survey Launched on Inclusive Business Policy
How can governments more effectively support inclusive businesses? Give us your input. The G20 Global Platform on Inclusive Business (GPIB) invites you to participate in the GPIB Inclusive Business Survey. The survey is open to any company that is working with people living at the base of the pyramid (BOP) – companies implementing an “inclusive […]
Clarity Matters in Inclusive Business
Inclusive businesses are commercially viable core-business models that provide at scale innovative and systemic solutions to the relevant problems of the poor and low-income people. While inclusive business is becoming increasingly popular, there is still a lot of confusion about what it is, how it addresses the poor, and how it works. Inclusive business models […]
Unlocking Solutions with Inclusive Business Innovations
Over 300 representatives of companies, social enterprises, and governments Asia-wide will gather next week at ADB for the 2nd Inclusive Business Forum for Asia. The forum, organized by ADB and 8 development partners, is one of the year’s most significant regional events on inclusive business in Asia. ADB defines inclusive business as a private sector […]
iDE: Reaching 20 Million More People
Since 1983 iDE has leveraged the power of business to help rural entrepreneurs work their way out of poverty. From our first social enterprise in Somalia to our more recent businesses from Vietnam to Latin America, we have helped more than 23 million people gain access to a technology or service. We strive for tangible, […]