Benchmarking the Business of Agriculture
Smallholders have the potential to become the backbone of agricultural growth in Africa and to supply our growing demand for food. As Kato Lambrecht said in her blog yesterday, the policies and practices of governments can have a huge impact on whether or not they can realise that potential. The African Smallholder Farmers Group have […]
"Gender-Neutral" Financial Services
I recently stood in front of a group of investors and business coaches and explained the gap in investment in women-led small businesses. After the presentation, an audience member asked me whether I thought banks and investors should start biasing their services toward women. “No,” I replied, “you should unbias them away from men.” This […]
“Gender-Neutral” Financial Services
I recently stood in front of a group of investors and business coaches and explained the gap in investment in women-led small businesses. After the presentation, an audience member asked me whether I thought banks and investors should start biasing their services toward women. “No,” I replied, “you should unbias them away from men.” This […]
Sustainable Development for Artisanal Diamond Miners
What is happening today in the diamond business? A few years ago the appalling human tragedy in Sierra Leone – fuelled by ‘blood’ diamonds – was front of mind. The international diamond industry, concerned that consumers would turn against its luxury product, joined governments and civil society in the Kimberley Process to eradicate the trade […]
Poverty-Focused Innovation: How to Foster Financial Innovation by Creating Agency for the Poor
Grameen Foundation has a proud heritage rooted in one of the most successful financial innovations of our time – microfinance – as pioneered by Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank. Since Grameen Foundation’s founding in 1997, we have continued to adapt to the needs and capabilities of the global poor, focusing on how financial inclusion […]
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 […]
Getting Funds to Those Who Need it Most
When Mariam, a Syrian refugee, enters the Western Union location just outside of Tripoli, Lebanon, she isn’t walking into a typical money exchange. Instead, she is entering one of thousands of locations across the globe enabled with Western Union’s NGO GlobalPay product, through which NGOs can move cash efficiently and directly to those in need. […]
New Approaches to Financial Services for the Poor
The vast majority of poor people live and work in the informal economy. In economic terms, they are producers and consumers at the same time – not by choice, but by necessity. As such, they have to lead very active financial lives to create livelihoods for themselves, build assets, smooth expenditures and manage risks. The […]
Financing the Missing Middle: Small Business Finance in Africa
which has established a specialised small business leasing institution in Tanzania. Madeleine was one of the winners of the G20 SME Finance Challenge. She previously worked in the UK venture capital industry, and is a former McKinsey consultant. She spoke at the recent Business Action for Africa, DFID, IDS event in London. The missing middle […]
Developing the Fashion Sector in Bangladesh
Attending London Fashion Week brings you up close with the latest luxury brands’ collections, premium quality accessories & apparels and beautifully designed and crafted goods. As human needs and desires go, one could say this is quite removed from the reality of what we have come to know about what is available on the high […]
The Power of Insurance and Haiti’s Future
The Haitian people face repeated natural and man-made disasters every year – just last week a tropical depression hit the island bringing heavy rains. Haiti is not the only Caribbean country exposed to extreme weather events, but we are the most vulnerable and terribly ill-prepared. What would pass as a shower in the Bahamas leads […]
From Money to Meaning and Three Themes in Between
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 […]
Celebrating Successful Impact Investment in South Africa
Enterprise Development is at the core of SABMiller’s long-term Sustainable Development strategy, helping create jobs and develop entrepreneurial skills in poor communities around the world. Encouraging Enterprise Development is a key SABMiller sustainable development priority – and well integrated into day-to-day business – for it is enterprise-driven innovation that can act as a change-maker for […]
Tax, Transparency and a Large Step Forward…
In the autumn, Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, has a very important decision to make about whether to allow the public to know who controls 2.5 million companies in the UK, via a new public registry of beneficial ownership. Some might consider it a difficult decision but actually the […]
Youth Unemployment in Sierra Leone
The high rate of youth unemployment is one of the challenges the Business Booster is designed to tackle. Now that my time in Sierra Leone is almost over, having spent 10 weeks surrounded by locals at home, in the office and during my free time, and inspired by the theft of my laptop two days […]
The 3 Most Common Misconceptions About Business and Human Rights
Human rights remains a topic that companies may reference perfunctorily in their codes of conduct, but few really seem to understand. In their defence, this is in part because, first, best practice standards on business and human rights are often nascent at best, and, second, human rights tend to expressed in a nearly impenetrable mass […]
Poverty-Reduction Through Innovative Pro-Poor Microfinance Services
Women perform 66% of the world’s work but earn only 10% of its income and own just 1% of global property (Global Poverty Project). They are more likely than men to be poor and at risk of hunger because of the systematic discrimination they face in education, healthcare and employment. Women also experience much higher […]
Poverty Reduction Through Innovative Microfinance Services
Women perform 66% of the world’s work but earn only 10% of its income and own just 1% of global property (Global Poverty Project). They are more likely than men to be poor and at risk of hunger because of the systematic discrimination they face in education, healthcare and employment. Women also experience much higher […]
Impact Investment and Beyond – Mapping Support For Social Enterprises
There is a lot of excitement about the potential of social enterprise to deliver innovative solutions to development problems. There also is a lot of interest from a wide range of actors – donors, commercial banks, NGOs and business schools – to understand, finance and provide support to social enterprises. For example, impact investors have […]