Spanish fashion chain Zara takes action on sweatshop labour in Brazil
Launch of Private Sector Toolkit for Working with Youth – United Nations and Restless Development
Electronic money is pro-poor
Blog written by Ignacio Mas, an independent consultant on technology-enabled models for financial inclusion. He has been senior advisor in the Financial Services for the Poor program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and at the Technology Program at CGAP. Previously he was director of Global Business Strategy at Vodafone Group, and a senior […]
A New Business Plan for CDC
Blog post written for Business Fights Poverty by Rod Evison, Acting CEO, CDC Group plc CDC is the world’s oldest development finance institution (DFI), having been established in 1948. Since then it has evolved and operated in a number of different ways, but its fundamental purpose has remained unchanged: to invest in promising business in […]
Promoting Responsible Lending
www.lendwithcare.org entrepreneur Batchassi Lores who used a loan to buy a grinding mill and set up his own business. I listened to a very interesting and well balanced programme on BBC Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago called ‘The Bankers and the Bottom Billion’ about microfinance in India. It illustrated the potential of microfinance […]
The socio-economic impact of SABMiller in Ghana
Last month on this site, we profiled the prolific work of Professor Ethan Kapstein and his quest to tell the story of business’ contribution to development through hard data. For all those who have worked in this field for a while, and who have come to crave more than anecdotes and stories, the significance of […]
Bridging the Worlds of Impact Investing and Inclusive Business
Attending this month’s SOCAP/Europe conference (see my blog about the event), I have been struck by the huge potential for connecting the world’s of impact investing and inclusive business. Both are effectively about using private capital to bring about positive social and environmental change. Very often both are focused on supporting small and medium enterprises […]
Working Collaboratively to Propel Entrepreneurship: ANDE Two Years On
Alleviating global poverty is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. Despite the progress of the international community to find solutions to help end poverty, it continues to persist. Many will agree that there ought to be more innovative ways of helping the world’s poor beyond providing aid, which has proven in many […]
Acumen Fund and AECF: Innovative Approaches to Financing Pro-Poor Business
An increasing number of businesses find that investing in pro-poor business approaches yields not only bottom line rewards, but also poverty alleviation. However, employing these inclusive business models to produce such results can be challenging when short-term time horizons exist for capital investments and barriers to financial access persist for small and medium-sized enterprises. During […]
How young people can use the capital markets to generate income to business start up's
Foreword Africa’s development agenda has been on the table for decades, the more so since one African country after the other has reached the status of independence from colonial powers who had created multiple boundaries between the countries, sculpted the nascent economies of the periphery in accordance to their own economic needs in the metropolis […]
How young people can use the capital markets to generate income to business start up’s
Foreword Africa’s development agenda has been on the table for decades, the more so since one African country after the other has reached the status of independence from colonial powers who had created multiple boundaries between the countries, sculpted the nascent economies of the periphery in accordance to their own economic needs in the metropolis […]
Barclays to Provide Financial Services to Poor Communities
March 16, 2011 New York and London—Around 60,000 people in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda will soon have access to financial services through Barclays’ commitment to the Business Call to Action (BCtA) ―a global initiative aimed at supporting the private sector’s efforts to fight poverty. Barclays’ pledge is part of the bank’s three-year, £10 million […]
"Microfinance in Africa needs clear definition" by Will Derban, Barclays
Microfinance in Africa needs clear definition Blog written for Business Fights Poverty by Will Derban, Barclays Since the incidents of how some people who could not repay micro finance loans were treated in India, many have asked if Africa will face similar problems, and if so how can we prevent such occurrences. I have been […]
“Microfinance in Africa needs clear definition” by Will Derban, Barclays
Microfinance in Africa needs clear definition Blog written for Business Fights Poverty by Will Derban, Barclays Since the incidents of how some people who could not repay micro finance loans were treated in India, many have asked if Africa will face similar problems, and if so how can we prevent such occurrences. I have been […]
Standard Chartered's Social and Economic Impact in Indonesia
One of the priorities for all of us interested in harnessing the power of business for development impact is to demonstrate and communicate much more precisely just what that impact is. Stories and anecdotes just won’t do, when we need to demonstrate the case to sceptics in the development community, and within businesses themselves. In […]
Standard Chartered’s Social and Economic Impact in Indonesia
One of the priorities for all of us interested in harnessing the power of business for development impact is to demonstrate and communicate much more precisely just what that impact is. Stories and anecdotes just won’t do, when we need to demonstrate the case to sceptics in the development community, and within businesses themselves. In […]
CGAP concerned about efforts to remove Nobel Prize winner Yunus from Grameen Bank
PRESS RELEASE: CGAP yesterday released the following statement from Tilman Ehrbeck, CGAP CEO, and Vijay Mahajan, Chair of CGAP’s board, on the efforts to remove Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus as Managing Director of Grameen Bank. View and contribute to the Business Fights Poverty discussion on Muhammad Yunus and his contribution: “We are deeply concerned […]
The Business Case for Being a Responsible Business
The way we do business is changing. Customer needs and demands are developing. Emerging technologies are enabling new ways of working. Supply chains are shifting and new markets are opening up. A more deeply connected generation is emerging. Knowing more about the world presents enormous opportunity, especially for business. What is needed is a form […]
Social Intrapreneurs— An Extra Force For Sustainability
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently,” ran Apple’s 1997 ‘Think Different’ ad campaign. Once heard or read, the words—crafted by TBWA/Chiat/Day, were hard to get out of your head. And they didn’t end there. “They’re not fond […]
The Microfinance Industry is a Hack? I Beg to Differ
The recent crisis in Andhra Pradesh, India triggered a rigorous debate about the merits and viability of microfinance as a tool for poverty alleviation. Stories of over-indebted borrowers committing suicide and microfinance institutions charging exorbitant, sky-high interest rates are rampant in the media. Looking at the facts and studying the alternatives, I believe the skepticism […]