Travelling to Meet Changemakers
It was an inspiring and very humbling experience for me to visit social entrepreneurs, to see their work with my own eyes and to learn from their struggles and successes. It was in 2012, when I participated in a tour of Journeys for Change in India, that I realized that watching videos and reading about […]
A DFID Perspective on the Private Sector
An Interview with Alistair Fernie, Head of the Department for International Development’s (DFID) Private Sector Department. The interview was conducted by the Business Call to Action. Alistair Fernie has been head of the Department for International Development’s (DFID) private sector department, based in London, since 5 August 2013. Prior to that he spent four and […]
Enterprise: Focusing on the Next Generation
UNICEF refers to early childhood (pre-natal to eight years old) as the “years of wonder.” In no other period in human life is the brain so responsive to changes in the environment and so able to learn, grow, and develop. Billions of highly integrated neural circuits in the brain are established through the interaction of […]
Top 10 Blogs of 2013
The core strength of Business Fights Poverty is its vibrant community. In other words, you. 95% of our daily stories come from members. The sheer volume of amazing content led us to completely redesign the site earlier this year (read all about the changes here). The energy and enthusiasm of the community to share authentic […]
Top 10 Discussions of 2013
In January 2013 we launched our new discussion forum, with regular live panel chats. We also co-hosted Google Hangouts with Ashoka and webinars with the Business Call to Action and others. Most recently, we were excited to host a Google Hangout with Paul Polak, one of the true gurus in this field (click here to […]
HOW-TO BOLDLY AND BRAVELY BET ON YOURSELF
To describe itself to itself and to attract new converts, it is common these days for the nonprofit sector to talk in terms of investment – obscuring the legal and legitimate lines between grants and donations versus opportunities to make money by doing good (often called impact investing). Equally confusing, both financial investments and social […]
HOW-TO STAND UP YOUR PROFILE IN CIVIC COURAGE
What motivates a social entrepreneur? What motivates you? After the hard analysis is published and the heady policy goes unread, compassion motivates me. As philosopher Peter Singer notes, “We have to decide to what extent we shall live for ourselves, and to what extent for others.” Economic development means human development, and human development requires […]
Exploring the Boundaries of What a Business Can Achieve
Three innovative start-up companies are pushing the boundaries of what business can achieve in delivering social goals through a commercially sustainable model. Each is building a sustainable business model with dual social and commercial returns in a space previously assumed to be occupied by donors, NGOs or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) departments. A few years […]
Exploring The Boundaries Of What A Business Can Viably Achieve
Three innovative start-up companies are pushing the boundaries of what business can achieve in delivering social goals through a commercially sustainable model. Each is building a sustainable business model with dual social and commercial returns in a space previously assumed to be occupied by donors, NGOs or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) departments. A few years […]
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 […]
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 […]
HOW-TO USE AMBIGUITY TO PIONEER CHANGE
Despite crushing student loans and a miserable job market, this Millennial Generation is the most socially conscious, most globally aware and most actively committed to careers of conscience to come along in decades. College students and young professionals are eager to confront some of the world’s most intractable problems — a deteriorating environment, implacable poverty, […]
HOW-TO FIGURE OUT YOUR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
“We gain something profound when we stand up for our beliefs, just as part of us dies when we know that something is wrong, yet do nothing….We don’t have to tackle every issue, but if we avoid them all, if we remain silent in the face of cruelty, injustice, and oppression, we sacrifice part of […]
Getting to the Bottom of…Toilet Innovation
Danielle Batist, Communications Associate at Ashoka UK More than a third of the world population does not have access to a clean toilet. 1.1 billion people defecate in the open. On the first UN-recognised World Toilet Day on 19 November, two social entrepreneurs explain why “everyone should give a shit”. When the UN Deputy Secretary-General […]
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 […]
Intrapreneurship – A View from the Bridge
You’re on the Titanic. You see the iceberg. What do you do? You could just enjoy the party. After all, it’s probably too late to do anything so one might as well have fun. Alternatively, you could quickly make for the lifeboats and plan an escape while you still can. Or you could climb up […]
5 Tools to Help Social Intrapreneurs Drive Change
What do Rosa Parks, Rachel Carson, Lech Walesa and a group of gay men at a New York bar in 1969 have in common with social intrapreneurs? According to David Grayson, Director of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield University, they are all change agents – people who pushed against the status quo […]
7 Trends Shaping Africa’s Youth Employment Challenge
In 2001, Charles Maisel started a social enterprise because he saw potential in the young men who sit on the roadside in South Africa’s townships waiting to be hired for a day’s labor. He then flipped the problem into a solution. Charles understood the barriers: the short-term and unreliable nature of employment in the informal […]
The Business Call to Action Annual Event 2013
The Business Call to Action (BCtA) held this year’s Annual Event on September 19th in New York City, in conjunction with the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, and in advance of the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Event convened close to 150 people—including representatives from BCtA member and non-member companies, […]