How Can We Produce Enough Protein to Feed 10 Billion People?
Accessible, affordable, healthy and sustainable protein is critical to human nutrition and economic development. Yet academic analysis shows it will be impossible for a global population of 10 billion – a figure expected around 2050 – to consume the amount and type of protein typical of current diets in North America and Europe if we want to […]
Food System Failures in Our Age of Abundance
Twelve-year-old Lena is growing up poor and malnourished on Chicago’s West Side. She buys Blue Juice and Hot Chips from the corner store on her way to school. She and her classmates can afford the flavoured sugar water and salty starch, but this cheap “food” that fills up her stomach provides no nutritional value. Lena […]
The ‘Purpose Paradigm’: Solution or Scam?
In his recent interview at the BSR Conference 2018, Anand Giridharadas, author of “Winners Take All,” questioned the ability of sustainability professionals to change the world. “The kind of do-gooding, philanthropy, CSR, impact investing, social enterprise…that are essentially within a market frame”, he argued, “are intrinsically limited because..they are about changing the world in ways […]
Business Fights Poverty Oxford 2019: Embedding Purpose into Business
As my colleague, Zahid, discusses in his recent article, there is a clear and deepening frustration amongst some with the rhetoric of “purpose”. For those of us who believe in the power of business to do good, this is an opportunity for some honest self-reflection. The key is “authenticity”; the recognition we need to move […]
‘Total Stakeholder Value’: Is This a New Purpose that Can Drive Necessary, Systemic Change?
‘Total Stakeholder Value’: is this a new purpose that can drive necessary, systemic change? A new book, The Mature Corporation – a Model of Responsible Capitalism explains how Back in 2011, I wrote a piece for the Guardian, and argued that the sustainability agenda had largely ignored people; the human systems that are fundamental to […]
Top Stories of 2018
It’s been another busy year at Business Fights Poverty, including with the launch of 6 new reports on Education for Sustainable Development, Transformative Partnerships, Intrapreneur Ecosystems, Refugee-Inclusive Business, Advocacy Partnerships, and Low-Cost Education – all co-created through our Challenge-based approach to collaboration. Thank you to all our members and Content Partners who participated in these Challenges, and also to all […]
How can we build the skills and knowledge that are vital to achieving sustainable development?
Education is at the heart of human progress and central to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It enables people to build better lives for themselves and their families. It is also fundamental in equipping businesses and society to tackle social and environmental challenges. If sustainable development is important, so are the skills and knowledge […]
Most Millennials Will Only Work For Purpose-Driven Firms
The most attractive companies to today’s talent are driven by purpose, according to London Business School (LBS) experts. “Maybe we will stop talking about purpose in 10 years’ time because it will just be ingrained in any organisation as a taken-for-granted – that any company that wants to be successful must pursue purpose,” said Alex […]
How to Mobilise Finance for Corporate Social Impact? Involve your CFO!
At the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), we work every day with our member companies who are pushing the boundaries of business as usual to create positive social impact. Their social impact strategies are not seen as a ‘nice-to-have’ – they are about making the core business work better for employees, society and, […]
Strategic Leadership Education for Inclusive Finance: A Discussion with Professors from the Harvard Business School
Founding Professors Discuss Executive Education Program in Inclusive Finance The HBS-Accion Strategic Leadership in Inclusive Finance Program is “right at the center of gravity of our mission.” The HBS-Accion Program on Strategic Leadership in Inclusive Finance is a Harvard Business School Executive Education program developed with Center for Financial Inclusion. The program is led by faculty co-chairs Kash […]
Beyond Certification: The Systemic Impacts of Sustainability Standards
In recent years, understanding of the impacts of sustainability standards has been increasing. ISEAL members have invested significantly in monitoring and evaluation systems, and various organisations have commissioned research into the impacts of standards and certification. A growing body of evidence points to the positive changes that can occur when farms, forests, fisheries and other […]
International Retail Therapy Creates New Jobs
“Bpeace is aiming to prevent poverty and violence and that is what I’m trying to do, too.” Martha Estrada knew she had a solid business, but she needed advice. Enter Nat Love, an experienced retail executive from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who was looking for a meaningful mentorship experience. He was introduced to Bpeace through his […]
Are you a Small Business Working in Frontier Markets? An Opportunity to Showcase your Approach and Influence How You Get Support
Invitation to share your experiences: We invite you to share your experiences of barriers and drivers of doing business in frontier markets and to help shape how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are better supported by the UK Government and other organisations in doing their international business. By filling in our online survey, you will […]
Towards Solving the SDG’s Funding Gap: UNEP FI’s Positive Impact Initiative
UNEP FI’s Positive Impact Initiative proposes a new approach: social, economic and environmental impacts have an as-yet under explored potential to generate financial revenues: impact-based business models can be developed, with the delivery of positive impacts as a driver of sustainable business growth and long-term enterprise value. This could be game-changing: by making it cheaper […]
Making Supply Chains Work for Women
BSR is pleased to launch a new video that sets out why and how companies should work to drive gender equality in global supply chains. We invite you to take a moment to watch it below. There are many opportunities for companies to promote gender equality in supply chains—through their own actions, by enabling business partners, and by influencing industry peers […]
Partnerships – All Talk and No Action?
Partnerships can be costly and complex, and often they don’t deliver their intended goals, but this is not because there is anything inherently wrong with the approach. The usual problem with partnerships is that they are too rarely used effectively. And, they are often over-hyped: they are seen by some as a panacea for the […]
Finance for All: Wedded to Fintech for Better or for Worse
The marriage metaphor appropriately captures the link between technology and financial inclusion as we launch “Finance for All 2018: Wedded to Fintech, for Better or Worse,” a new report on what financial inclusion stakeholders see as crucial risks facing financial service providers in emerging markets who work with those with little or no access to […]
It’s Time to Move: 5 Ways We Can Upgrade Our SDG Navigation Systems
We invite you to visit the streets of New York during the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the annual meeting where leaders from across the world, from all sectors and all impact domains, come together to expedite their progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These leaders and their entourages converge on the same stretches of […]
The 6 Market Gaps the Finance Sector Must Address to Help Meet the SDGs
On 30 September 2015, the global community, represented by all 193 member states of the UN, adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Three months later, world leaders charted a new course in our battle against climate change with the Paris Agreement which – for the first time – brought all nations into a common cause […]
Toilets, Not Poverty Traps
Cambodia has made remarkable progress in developing its sanitation. The proportion of households having access to toilets leaped from 23% to 68% in the last 10 years. Since 2011, iDE has been involved, training hundreds of entrepreneurs to manufacture and deliver attractive low-cost toilets for their community. Combined with our sanitation marketing demand-creation efforts, these […]