Meeting the Challenge of Expanding Inclusive Business
Opening Plenary New Member Commitments High Level Panel Event Photos Most of us interested in inclusive business have heard the success stories: Coca-Cola has generated $550 million in additional revenues by integrating local entrepreneurs into their beverage distribution chain in markets across Africa. Vodafone – one of the world’s largest telecommunications firm – now reaches […]
Jo Wackrill and Jessica Scholl: True Business Leaders see the Possibilities in Challenges
By Jo Wackrill and Jessica Scholl In a compelling blog last month, IBLF’s Chairman Mark Foster said: ‘Now is the time for today’s business leaders to step up with confidence to engage with the challenges the world faces and lead the way to smarter, more inclusive and more responsible growth’. It is in seeing the […]
Report: How can the private sector tackle global chronic disease?
IBLF has released ‘Many Healthy Returns’, a special report and action framework on the role of business in tackling global chronic disease (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes).
The AECF and its anticipated impact as a market shaping, pro-poor innovation fund
A thought leadership paper by Corin Mitchell and Hugh Scott of KPMG Development Advisory Services. The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) supports innovative business ideas, in the areas of agribusiness, rural financial services, and renewable energy that are commercially viable and will have the biggest development impact on rural Africans. The AECF is explained in […]
Monitise Granted Licence to Bring Mobile Money to Nigeria
Monitise plc, the technology company delivering mobile banking, payments and commerce networks worldwide, is set to build Nigeria’s first mobile shared financial services platform after being granted a Mobile Payment System Provider licence to provide mobile money services by the country’s Central Bank. The Monitise technology platform is designed to be shared by various banks […]
The Socio-Economic Impact of Newmont Ghana Gold Limited
Earlier this month, Professor Ethan Kapstein launched his latest report quantifying the impact of business on development – this time on Newmont Mining in Ghana. (See my previous blog about his studies on SABMiller, Standard Chartered and Unilever). The impact of mining on local communities and the wider economy has been the subject of much […]
Microfinance Voices//10 Questions with Ranya Abdel-Baki
The Gateway is pleased to announce our latest Microfinance Voices article, 10 Questions with Ranya Abdel-Baki is now online. This article focuses on how MFIs in the MENA region have been affected by the “Arab Spring”. As protests have shaken up the region both politically and economically, MFIs are working not only to survive institutionally […]
Spanish fashion chain Zara takes action on sweatshop labour in Brazil
Mark Foster: The Business Sector’s Pivotal Role in Growth
The current debt crisis has been portrayed in apocalyptic terms. The downgrading of the US’ triple-A rating, the paralysis of the political systems and the deficit of leadership in both US and Europe are depicted as marking the end of the era of growth. Cut public spending too deep and too fast, and recovery will […]
Launch of Private Sector Toolkit for Working with Youth – United Nations and Restless Development
Hiring a Corporate Volunteering Consultant? Here’s what to expect.
Your consultant should be intelligent, experienced, and competent. Here are a few pointers to help you choose the corporate volunteering consultant who can meet your company’s needs. Most of our readers work in the field of Corporate Citizenship, CSR, Corporate Community Investment and Corporate Volunteering. The majority are directly responsible for their company’s employee volunteering […]
Business at the Base of the Pyramid: Blog by Susan Olsen, Inter-American Development Bank
Paul Polak, Founder, iDE: At Least a Million
For many years I have been a vocal advocate for what I call the “Don’t Bother Trilogy” in the practice of design, which states: 1. If you haven’t had good conversations with at least 25 customers before you start 2. If the product or service you design doesn’t pay for itself three times in the […]
Fashion Forward Running Apparel to Create Jobs in Kenya
Below is the press release for a non-profit called Kourage that I’ve built over the last 3-years. Back in 2008, I was a PhD candidate studying comparative political economy, specifically the economic and political effects of export-processing zones. I always felt ‘fair trade’ companies got it wrong, that they are so westernized, focusing all operatings […]
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 […]
Jo Wackrill: Six Essential Mindsets for Long-Term Leadership
Today, there is widespread consensus that short-termism on the part of business leaders is not serving society, the environment or even business itself. In response, there have been many calls for ‘responsible’ leadership. These are a reminder that ethics, integrity and high business standards are essential characteristics of business leaders if they are to regain […]
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 […]
Hybrid Value Chains: new opportunities for business growth while tackling development challenges?
By Michael Jarvis, World Bank Institute Can social entrepreneurs forge a more productive collaboration with corporations? One that is good for business growth but also tackles development challenges? Bill Drayton and Valeria Budinich suggest just that in a new article in Harvard Business Review. They introduce the concept of hybrid value chains (HVCs) based around […]
Amanda Bowman: Employee Engagement in Disaster Response – It Can be Done
I was last in New Orleans in 1998 – long before Katrina devastated the city and from a personal perspective, when my two teenage daughters were still toddlers. This time, I was in town earlier this month to participate in a meeting of the Global Corporate Volunteer Council. Nearly 20 managers responsible for their companies’ […]