The Cost of Cash to Ghana’s Cocoa Sector
Although he was initially skeptical about the new system, Samuel has been won over. He likes the convenience: “Mobile money is more manageable. My children are spread around at different schools. When they call and need money, because I have it on my phone, I can immediately forward it to them.” He also likes the […]
Technology and Partnerships: Force Multipliers for an Inclusive Economic Recovery
Digital technology has improved how workers get paid, expanded training opportunities and provided more real-time support for new entrepreneurs. For business owners, digital tools have increased important networks and opened access to credit so they can grow, among other benefits. As COVID-19 threatens to push upwards of 100 million more people into poverty as businesses […]
Inclusive digital payments solutions for the garment sector workers in Bangladesh
In March, when we announced the taka 5000 crore stimulus package (about $600 million) to pay workers’ salaries in export-oriented sectors, particularly ready-made garments which account for over 80% of the country’s exports, we encountered a major roadblock. Only 1.5 million of the 4 million workers were paid digitally. The rest were paid in cash. […]
Financing impact start-ups: two solutions, two challenges
Way back at the dawn of the Internet age, a shiny new thing transformed start-up finance. Until then, entrepreneurs relied on friends, neighbours and family for loans, ideas, market research, help with a variety of tasks and first customers. Now you can do all these things by talking directly to 4.6 billion people who are […]
Developing Skills and Quality Jobs for Young People
The creation of jobs for young people may now be an even greater challenge than before the pandemic hit, with competition for positions being all the more fierce once economic activity resumes. In light of the enormous shock that COVID-19 has had on our economic system, how can we think differently about what is required […]
Scalability, Sustainability and Participation in Value Chain
This is the second in a three part series, published in the lead up to Standard Chartered’s Futuremakers Forum online events 2020. Join the conversation exploring innovative ideas and tangible solutions for financing young entrepreneurs. Supporting youth-led enterprises is good for business and vital for inclusive economic growth. According to the World Bank, SMEs represent […]
Finding Innovative Ideas and Tangible Solutions for Financing Young Entrepreneurs
This is the first in a three part series, published in the lead up to Standard Chartered’s Futuremakers Forum online events 2020. To join the conversation exploring innovative ideas and tangible solutions for financing young entrepreneurs – the live event will take place on 30 July 2020. Please click here to register. Globally, more than […]
How Financial Inclusion can Build Economic Resilience in the Wake of COVID-19
COVID-19 has impacted nearly everyone around the globe, but its impacts are particularly acute for people in poverty. As governments restrict gatherings, health authorities recommend social distancing, and markets panic, the outbreak poses a disproportionate threat in the Global South. At the same time, many microfinance institutions (MFIs) face threats to staff safety and operational […]
Bringing Impact Investing to Life
Eight million people die each year because of poor or no access to proper healthcare. As COVID ravages our world fueling poverty, millions more will have less access to quality care. Patient impactful capital has an unprecedented opportunity to leap in and support well-led businesses that are improving or saving the lives of those under-served, […]
Saving Main Street in the Wake of COVID-19
Why saving small businesses matters Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy. Under the most expansive definition, small businesses account for nearly half of the nation’s employees and almost 65 percent of new jobs created. Owning a small business is also associated with faster wealth-building. Since 1990, families in which the head of the household was […]
Why ESG is Core to Long-Term Success in Venture Capital
Successful VC-backed companies have the potential to create large numbers of jobs and deliver impactful services. This is particularly true in emerging markets where the technology-enabled firms targeted by VC investors can leapfrog market constraints to enable large-scale access to essential products and services, including to under-served groups, and create a path into the formal […]
Fintech Opens New Opportunities for Private Sector to Support Cash Transfer Aid in Developing Countries
A new global network of blockchain-based community currencies, announced very recently, demonstrates how fintech is creating new ways for public and private sector partners to work together to help the most vulnerable. The two-year project will test, develop and distribute eVouchers, or Community Inclusion Currencies, held in mobile wallets on feature phones in some of […]
How Tech Investments Can Help Smallholders in India
Inequality in income and availability of work between rural and urban areas are large contributors to a country’s overall economic inequality. In India, agriculture still employs more than half of the workforce, but wages are low and with rising education levels many young people no longer aspire to take over the family smallholder farm. Instead, […]
Buy Leadership, Sell Poverty – How Finance Can Boost Value in Agricultural Supply Chains
Financial access and inclusion continue to be sold to farming communities in the world’s leading supply chains at the very price of poverty. How do we reduce this toxic trade-off, why is it taking so long and how does it impact the planet’s future? Tasneem Mayet, Business Fights Poverty Ambassador, shares insights from conversations had […]
5 Reflections on How International Donors Help Businesses Scale their Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals
The session was part of a wider Challenge supported by the UK’s Department for International Development. In this article, I summarise some of the key themes that came out during the conversation in New York. 1. The Urgent Need All participants recognized the significance of this moment – in which no country is currently on […]
How Can Companies and Investors Collaborate to Embed Purpose Authentically into Business?
“How can companies and investors collaborate to embed purpose authentically into business?” As part of our Challenge on Purpose supported by GSK, VISA and Unilever, Business Fights Poverty convened a meeting of around 30 representatives from companies, financial institutions, NGOs and development institutions to discuss this pertinent topic. The benefits of business purpose – for […]
The Role Banks Can Play in Advancing Gender Equality
BFP: Credit Suisse is this year’s host of Business Fights Poverty’s flagship event at UNGA in New York – could you tell us a little more about why a bank like Credit Suisse supports these kinds of initiatives? PD: At Credit Suisse, we believe that it is in the interest of both our organization and […]
We Finally Have an Official Climate Emergency. But is that the full picture?
We are just midway through the year and yet 2019 has already seen several unprecedented weather events from Cyclone Fani, which evacuated more than a million people in India, to the two storms that devastated the Mozambican coast. These disasters have thrown into sharp focus just how much climate change is compounding our already complex […]
To Boldly Go Where We’ve Not Been Before Doesn’t Need to be a Leap of Faith
Sometimes the future is not hard to predict – it’s totally logical. Widely cited, Star Trek’s Chief of Logic (COL), Spock nailed it when he said that “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” If we are bold and if we act now to change our organisations and our systems we […]
Business as Usual – Or Business with Purpose?
While the debate on business’ social and environmental impacts (both positive and negative) is not new, when the CEO of Blackrock, one of the world’s largest investors, and the head of Oxfam International are both talking about the potential for business to help achieve inclusive and sustainable development, it feels like we’re at a tipping […]