Top Resources of 2012
Whether you seek practical tools for entrepreneurs, or an overview of how inclusive businesses are grappling towards scale, there has been plenty for everyone in the highlights of 2012. On the Practitioner Hub on Inclusive Business we feature an Editor’s Choice every month. I have spent an enjoyable morning going back through the highlights of […]
My top picks of 2012
Whether you seek practical tools for entrepreneurs, or an overview of how inclusive businesses are grappling towards scale, there has been plenty for everyone in the highlights of 2012. On the Practitioner Hub on Inclusive Business we feature an Editor’s Choice every month. I have spent an enjoyable morning going back through the highlights of […]
The challenges facing women micro entrepreneurs
Lendwithcare.org, CARE International Women microentrepreneurs face many difficulties in developing their businesses: lack of appropriate skills, lack of mobility and lack of infrastructure may all pose significant challenges. In such instances the provision of microfinance to address the problem of lack of capital may have a limited effect unless steps are taken to address other […]
Jane Berry: If you are helping business, how can you achieve your charitable purpose?
This month is our one year anniversary of arriving in Zambia, to launch COTZ, an academically rigorous trial, to test the ‘ColaLife’ concept: how can we emulate Coca-Cola, to get simple medicines out to the remote rural villages where the world’s top brand seems to reach? We’ve had our share of set-backs and frustrations, but […]
Has the debate on microfinance made us forget about the poor?
Ines ©Nancy Thomas/CARE The microfinance community can be a confusing and contradictory place. Ever growing and buzzing, it is a community built upon grand ‘for’ and ‘against’ statements, a place that is bursting at the seams with facts and figures and a place, let’s face it, that leaves even the most persistent of ‘truth-seekers’ feeling […]
There is a Case for NGO Corporate Partnerships for Development Through Inclusive Business
Private Sector Engagement Coordinator, CARE Bangladesh Over the last ten years, as an integral part of CARE’s mission to eradicate poverty in Bangladesh, we have been engaging with the private sector more and more to identify and implement innovative solutions to the most pressing development challenges of our time. To our private sector partners, we […]
Microfinance over the last 10 years: Reflections and suggestions for the future
lendwithcare.org The UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Microfinance recently celebrated 10 years’ of raising awareness of microfinance and the role it can play in reducing poverty. At an event, hosted by CARE International, Dr Ajaz Khan (lendwithcare.org‘s Microfinance Advisor) reflected on the last 10 years and made some suggestions for the future. Since the […]
Prescribe or Facilitate? Exploring collective action in the fight against poverty
The role of multilateral and donor organizations in combating poverty is ever evolving alongside that of corporations. The past decade has seen increased recognition of market-based solutions. One encouraging sign? Upon taking office this summer Jim Kim, President of the World Bank, quickly invited in Michael Porter to talk about shared value concepts. At the […]
Business-NGO partnerships: not why, but how….
For some time now many of us have woken up to the fact that there is more to business-NGO partnerships than money. Money, of course, remains important in these economically tight times – NGOs certainly need all the money they can get at the moment and it’s great to see corporate philanthropy remains strong. We […]
Grassroots Business Fund Closes $47 Million Fund for Impact Investing in Asia, Africa, and Latin America
December 4th, 2012 (Washington, DC) –The Grassroots Business Fund (GBF) announces today that is has successfully closed a $47,000,000 fund, with support from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the German Development Bank, the Netherlands Development Finance Company and more than two dozen additional governments, foundations and private individuals. GBF will target businesses in emerging markets […]
Can big business sell nutritious food to poor people?
Groupe Danone, the largest global producer of fresh dairy products, has done something unusual for a massive, global food business: it has experimented with selling nutritious foods to very poor people. This move is part of a growing interest in nutrition by big businesses. If you live in North America or Europe, you’ve probably come […]
Alive & Kicking – Africa’s Ball Maker Enters New Markets
It is increasingly acknowledged that growth in manufacturing is key to reducing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The 120 – 150 jobs sustained by stitching sports balls in Kenya and Zambia, with up to 50 more to come in Ghana, is a small but significant part of that crucial trend. With ‘Balls For Africa’ currently on […]
Alive & Kicking – Africa’s Ball Maker Enters New Markets
It is increasingly acknowledged that growth in manufacturing is key to reducing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The 120 – 150 jobs sustained by stitching sports balls in Kenya and Zambia, with up to 50 more to come in Ghana, is a small but significant part of that crucial trend. With ‘Balls For Africa’ currently on […]
Fashioning Sustainability With Style
Photo: Sougha Designer Training Emirati Artisan Saima Al Mansoori Ayesha Mustafa, Founder and Director, Fashion ComPassion Fashion ComPassion was created as a retail platform for socially responsible fashion labels. Through a combination of online sales and distribution, pop-up shops and boutique exhibitions, a global marketplace is given access to the brands we work with and, […]
What I learned from Social Investors over Breakfast
I was delighted to have the chance to attend the Investor Breakfast at the ClearlySo SBC12 conference. After a career in the City, being around social entrepreneurs feels so “nourishing”. I love their energy and ideas. But I was curious about the investor experience: what are their concerns and aspirations, where are they satisfied and […]
Improving the lives of workers and producers through global value chains – what are some of the necessary conditions?
Dr Stephanie Barrientos, Capturing the Gains, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester We are all aware of companies in the North that source in developing countries. For decades, campaign groups have put them under pressure for poor working conditions in their global value chains. But what happens when the lead firms in those global […]
Unlearning to innovate: 7 steps entrepreneurs need to know when getting into inclusive business
Dr. Fernando Casado Cañeque. Director, Centre of Partnerships for Development It is typically in crisis situations when the absence of political leadership becomes most evident. In such situations, it is also when social innovation becomes most needed. However, as a concept, for innovation to be really social, it should challenge current thinking models and recognize […]
THE LAST 500 FEET
By Paul Polak, Founder, iDE, Author Out of Poverty Developing new practical and profitable ways to cross the last 500 feet to the remote rural places where poor families now live and work is the first step towards creating vibrant new markets that serve poor customers. In rural Orissa, India, the women are not permitted […]
Working Towards Responsible Labour Standards for Cocoa Growing
Child labour is both a symptom and a self-perpetuating cause of poverty. Children in cocoa growing areas often face the harsh realities of rural poverty (including scarcity or low-fertility of land, food insecurity, lack of education infrastructure, poor access to potable water, and remoteness from markets). The practice of children working on cocoa farms is […]
IFC’s “Being the Change”: Exploring the Personal Side of Inclusive Business
One usually thinks of the International Finance Corporation as a hard-nosed investor – an unlikely source of inspiration. Yes, IFC is a development institution whose purpose is “to create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives.” Yes, it is one of the largest investors in the world in companies with inclusive business […]