Category: Economic Development

How Banks Can Grow Profitably By Being Inclusive

Within Reach, a new report launched by CARE and Accenture, the global consulting firm, sets out how banks in emerging economies can grow profitably by being inclusive. At CARE we know that providing access to basic formal bank accounts has a transformative effect for those living in poverty, especially women. Decades of working in this […]

In Praise of Low Bono

I work for EY, running Enterprise Growth Services (EGS) – a programme which sends our consultants, both local and international, to help promising social impact enterprises grow. We help solar companies understand their customers better, WASH businesses build scalable franchises, and ag enterprises improve their cashflow. Our projects are full time, hands-on, mostly in sub-Saharan […]

Creating Businesses from Nothing

“Entrepreneurship is key to tackling youth unemployment”, said H.E. Joyce Kikafuna, Ugandan High Commissioner to the UK, at an event held by Grow Movement on Tuesday 17 November. The event was held to mark Global Entrepreneurship Week, the world’s largest celebration of entrepreneurs which takes place in 160 countries around the world. From networking events […]

Celebrating the Power of Mentoring

Onty Mogofu says she was “born with an entrepreneurial spirit.” As a young girl in Botswana, she started plaiting the hair of the women in her village for a small fee, taking her profits home to supplement the family income. Onty now runs a thriving events management company called 360 Events Affair, which provides training, […]

Increasing Financial Inclusion in the Garment Industry

Today, BSR and theBill & Melinda Gates Foundationare announcing a new strategic partnership to increase financial inclusion for low-income women and men working in the garment industry in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Through this partnership, BSR will help garment factories in these countries transition from cash-based payroll or traditional direct deposit to mobile wallet accounts, […]

The SDG Industry Matrix – Examples Across 7 Industries

Over the last few years I have been to many meetings where companies have been brought together to identify ways they can collaborate in pursuit of sustainable development. The conveners have been varied – corporate responsibility networks, NGOs and various international bodies. The outcome has always been the same: zero action because (despite multiple meetings) […]

Working Together Towards the SDGs

As people from around the world start to focus on how to implement the Sustainable Development Goals–the ambitious vision for ending poverty and protecting our planet– they are exploring new ways of engaging and partnering with each other to achieve greater scale and systemic impact. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which sets out the […]

The UN, Business and the Sustainable Development Goals

On 25 September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to shift the world onto a path of inclusive, sustainable and […]

Five Steps to Family-friendly Holidays

Unicef UK Whether it’s keeping cranky toddlers busy or trying to impress moody teens, sometimes travelling with children can be tough. That’s why an increasing number of companies are offering child-friendly holidays – where kids’ pools, outdoor activities and baby-sitting services offer beleaguered parents the hope of a hassle-free stay. But if we look outside […]

Making Solar Power Affordable

Author: John Converse Townsend, Ashoka Mexico’s solar energy market is booming. And that means more and more people, even those living on less than $7 per day, can afford clean electricity. The second-most populated country in the Americas is home to the fastest-growing regional solar market in the world. About 97 percent of Mexico’s population […]

Business and the SDGs – Building Blocks for Success

With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) now adopted, attention is shifting to how they will be delivered. While responsibility will ultimately fall to government, leaders across sectors now recognise that the challenges are too great and too systemic for any one of them to tackle alone, and that business’ contribution will be pivotal. There is […]

Partnerships for 21st Century Development in Africa

This year, the United Nations (UN) officially adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Rory More O’Ferrall FRSA describes how governments, civil society and industry are working together to address a complex social and development challenge. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs come into effect on January 1, 2016 and run through to the end of […]

Radical Partnerships to Give Newborns a Healthier Start

The first month of life can be dangerous. In 2013, almost three million babies worldwide lost their lives during those initial four weeks – a quarter due to infection. Many of these deaths could be prevented if the appropriate healthcare was within reach at the right time, in the right place. Newborn babies, wherever they […]

Business Supporting Development: Then and Now

The international aid charity CARE was founded 70 years ago to send ‘CARE packages’ of food and other essentials to people in Europe recovering from World War 2. And in putting together and delivering the aid packages, CARE got a lot of help from businesses… Tea was included in CARE packages sent to Britain (the […]

Setting the Stage for Green & Inclusive Growth

Where many conventional start-up enterprises fail after only two years, more than three out of four SEED Winners have not, that is the major outcome of this flagship report“, states the foreword by Ibrahim Thiaw, UNEP Deputy Executive Director and UN Assistant-Secretary-General. This success is even more astounding when one considers that these are not […]