Leveraging the SDGs to Grow Markets and Drive Development
By Natalie Africa, Senior Director, Private Sector Engagement, Every Woman Every Child, United Nations Foundation On January 16th the Business and Sustainable Development Commission launched its groundbreaking report on global development entitled Better Business, Business World. A year in the making, the report outlines the business case for sustainable development, demonstrates the enormous economic and […]
The Role of Business in Building a Human Economy
Eight billionaires own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who form the poorest half of the world’s population. An Economy for the 99 Percent, a new report by Oxfam, shows that the gap between rich and poor is far greater than had been feared. New and better data on the distribution of global […]
Delivering the SDGs through Ethical Trade
ETI’s newest guide on ethical trade and the SDGs shows how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are relevant to ethical trade and workers’ rights, particularly SDG8 on decent work and sustainable development, as well as other key goals. It also sets out the relationship between the SDGs, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human […]
The Unilever Global Development Award, supported by Business Fights Poverty
The Unilever Global Development Award, supported by Business Fights Poverty, recognises businesses that can demonstrate positive impact against one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Awards close on 17 February 2017, 5pm GMT. Don’t miss the deadline! To find out more and apply, click here. Adopted on 25 September 2015, […]
On the Ground in Africa: Embedding Responsible Investment Practices
Interview with Marjorie Mayida, Chair, Old Mutual Africa’s Responsible Investment Committee As a long-term investor and responsible steward of the assets it manages on behalf of its customers, Old Mutual Africa is on course to becoming the leading responsible investor on the continent, where it has offices in Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Old Mutual […]
Why Business and Social Protection are Not Contradictory but “Two Sides of the Same Coin”
Longstanding (mis-)perception of the distinctiveness of business ambitions and Social Protection (SP) goals has inhibited identification of joint opportunities to leverage synergies for effectively addressing needs with market based solutions. This discussion is increasingly relevant for protracted (often chronic displacement) crises caused by conflict or weather induced disasters that create and exacerbate existing vulnerabilities among […]
Four Ways Business Can Support Lasting Change in Youth Unemployment
Youth unemployment in the face of the growing youth population bulge is a problem on a massive scale. Raleigh International works in rural areas of countries where the problem is particularly severe. Without a doubt, this is one area where business has a critical role to play. We can only be successful through meaningful partnerships, […]
Business on a Mission: How to Build a Sustainable Brand
By Andy Last, Co-founder, Salt Readers of Business Fights Poverty have seen story upon story of businesses stepping up their efforts to be a force for good in the world. Yet trust in business and business leaders remains low. Why is this? If businesses are doing more to do good, why doesn’t that translate into […]
The Year Ahead and the Need to Rethink Collaboration
2016 convinced me of the need to collaborate more deeply than ever: to deliver on the bold future envisioned in the new Sustainable Development Goals; to protect past progress made towards equality—now threatened by the politics of division; to tackle the deep social exclusion that has at least in part driven the political turbulence of […]
Top 10 Discussions of 2016
2016 saw our 100th online discussion, with over 1,300 comments posted over the course of the year! Online discussions have played a central role in our new Challenges as a way for members to share insights on the Challenge question. From next year, we will be upgrading our discussion forum to make it easier to […]
Empowering Today’s Women for the Women of Tomorrow
Interview with Johanna Ryan, Social Performance Director, VisionFund International Johanna Ryan will be speaking at a dinner hosted by Women Advancing Microfinance UK on Tuesday 31st January 2017 in London. She will talk to us about the work VisionFund International does and the impact it’s having on the lives of women. Tickets to the event […]
Recycled Loans Recycling Plastic
Lendwithcare began supporting entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe, through Microfinance Institution Thrive, one year ago. I was able to visit the country recently and met some of the entrepreneurs that I – and 80 of you – had supported in June 2016. I met the Nokutenda group which comprises four women entrepreneurs all running different businesses. By […]
Poverty Alleviation Through Qarz-e-Hasan (Interest-free Loans)
Akhuwat, Lendwithcare’s microfinance partner organisation in Pakistan, is one of the largest interest-free microfinance organisations in the world. Shakeel Ishaq is the Lendwithcare co-ordinator there, and is responsible, among many other things, for collecting and uploading the entrepreneur profiles onto the Lendwithcare website. In this blog he describes one of his field visits to a […]
Building Resilience Among Micro Entrepreneurs in the Philippines
The Philippines ranks third in the list of countries in the world where a natural disaster is most likely to occur, after the Pacific islands of Vanuatu and Tonga. Although it is also prone to earthquakes, flooding and droughts, it is typhoons that strike the Philippines most frequently. The state weather bureau PAGASA estimates that, […]
Financial Products and Training: The Winning Formula?
It is now widely accepted that a key component of financial inclusion, that is providing poor and low-income people with access to appropriate and affordable financial services, is financial literacy. This, of course, makes perfect sense. After all, what is the good in providing the tools if the recipients do not fully understand how to […]
Public-Private Partnerships Critical to Fighting AIDS
Interview with Dr. Huma Abbasi, General Manager, Global Health and Medical, Chevron, and Mark Viso, President and CEO, Pact December 1, 2016 marked the 28th World AIDS Day – observed to commemorate those who have struggled with the disease and those who continue to fight against it. Despite huge advances toward ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic, […]
Why Small Businesses are Vital to Building Urban Resilience
A record-breaking 272 mm of rainfall fell on Chennai, India on 1 December 2015, leading to a two-week flood which displaced 1.8 million, claimed over 300 lives and caused well over $7 billion in economic losses. Due to the flooding, some 14,000 individual Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) experienced a total of $250 million […]
Lightening the Load of Women’s Unpaid Care Work
We’re excited to announce a three-year partnership with Unilever’s Surf brand that aims to recognise, reduce and redistribute the amount of time spent by women and girls on unpaid care work. In some parts of the world women and girls currently spend as many as six hours a day on unpaid care work – a […]
Corporate Volunteers from Syngenta are Honoured at First Ever VSO Volunteer Awards
A team of volunteers from global crop science company, Syngenta, have won an award for transforming the lives of marginalised farmers in Bangladesh. Team Leader, Anna Maria Klimza, picked up the award on behalf of her colleagues at a prestigious event in London earlier this month, hosted by leading international development charity, VSO. This award […]
A Call for More Entrepreneurs to Focus on Toilets
Entrepreneurs are everywhere these days, not just in the purely for-profit world but also those looking to create social, as well as financial, gain. As the international development community grows, entrepreneurial thinking is becoming ever more mainstream, with social enterprises demonstrating how to create businesses that deliver social benefit. As Naveen Jain, technology and spacecraft […]