Want to campaign for change with the private sector
Want to campaign for change with the private sector…read on Increasingly, NGOs are moving towards an approach to campaigning for social change that works with business. CARE, Barclays and Plan are recruiting for a strategic campaigner to help develop an alliance built around new international principles to responsibly link informal savings groups to financial institutions […]
My First 100 Days as an Intrapreneur
As an intrapreneur, I’m developing a new concept that I hope will enable Barclays to support our communities and contribute to growth by funding social enterprises. I like to think it harkens back to the original role that banks have always played in local communities. It could ultimately transform the “impact investing” market and build […]
The Challenge of Scale – It’s about Markets
The SEEP Network is a global network of practitioner organizations dedicated to combating poverty through promoting inclusive markets and financial systems. Members are active in 170 countries and engage with nearly 100 million households worldwide. From September 22-25, practitioners and thought-leaders from around the world will gather outside Washington, DC to discuss the challenges and […]
Want to Campaign for Change with the Private Sector?
Want to campaign for change with the private sector…read on Increasingly, NGOs are moving towards an approach to campaigning for social change that works with business. CARE, Barclays and Plan are recruiting for a strategic campaigner to help develop an alliance built around new international principles to responsibly link informal savings groups to financial institutions […]
Launching the 2014 Inclusive Business eLab
Successful inclusive businesses create real value for people living in poverty and companies. Think of BASF: the chemical company produces vitamin A and other micronutrients – ingredients urgently needed to eradicate malnutrition and enable healthier, fitter lives for billions of people.* But company and customers are only two parties in a dense ecosystem of players […]
Economic and Social Prosperity Must Go Hand in Hand
Innovation: Africa’s Great Leap Forward
In terms of innovation, Africa’s outlook is more positive than ever and the continent is leapfrogging its global counterparts in various sectors. The amplification of GDP growth in some parts of the continent (such as Nigeria) and the overall stability of African economies during the worrying economic downturn of recent years speak volumes for Africans’ […]
The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist
An illuminating read, Christine Bader’s new book, The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil is particularly valuable to anyone who has wondered what it would be like to promote sustainability or respect for human rights from within a multinational corporation. By recounting her own experiences and weaving in stories from other Corporate […]
Are Intrapreneurs the New Rock-Stars?
The past few years has seen the emergence of the ‘cult of the entrepreneur’ with growing visibility of entrepreneurs in the media; ‘celebrity’ entrepreneurs such as Sir Richard Branson and stars from shows such as Dragon’s Den in the UK (Shark Tank in the US) are receiving recognition which, in the past, may have been […]
Big Business, Bigger Impact
“Let us bring the invisible heart of markets to those the invisible hand of markets has left behind,” said Sir Ronald Cohen during the Skoll World Forum opening plenary on Wednesday night, stressing that business and social good go hand-in-hand. Of particular interest to me within that paradigm was a session called “Big Business, Bigger […]
Voices from the South and the Post-2015 Agenda
The second Bridging the Gap for African Women in business conference was held in Kampala Uganda on 6 March 2014. The conference was part of this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations organized by the charity Let Them Help Themselves Out of Poverty and aimed to engage African Women in Business in a conversation on the […]
Building an Impact Investing Market
When the UK’s Department for International Development launched the Impact Programme, just over a year ago, we knew we were moving into new territory. Today, the Impact Programme launches two new reports: The Annual Report 2013 and The Impact Programme Market Baseline Study. The 13 Year Programme is at the vanguard of the UK Government’s […]
Getting Confused Over How to Support Social Enterprises
Although a community of organisations and actors unites around the loosely defined and variously understood concept of ‘social enterprise’, providing tighter definition is important in order for government and donors to offer targeted support. As part of a recent project reviewing social enterprise activities in Kenya and Vietnam, we at ODI used the following definition […]
Intrapreneurship to Develop Talent
Intra-what…? Intrapreneurship is the emerging phenomenon of entrepreneurial employees within large companies working on a profitable innovations that create social impact. These often start as ‘side-of desk’ projects and don’t sit neatly within the established corporate structure. David Grayson of Cranfield School of Management & one of the world’s leading thinkers on this trend speaks […]
ANDE Celebrates Five Years of Supporting Small and Growing Businesses
The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) was founded in 2009 when a group of likeminded individuals recognized that a growing number of organizations were beginning to focus on small and growing businesses (SGBs). These organizations were driven by the belief that supporting this sector—businesses too large for microfinance and too small for venture capital—could […]
Why Are So Few Inclusive Businesses Getting To Scale?
We at Monitor Inclusive Markets believe that inclusive businesses – businesses that engage the global poor as either customers or suppliers – can vastly improve the lives of millions who are suffering the consequences of global poverty. That is why we were so disappointed when in 2011 we surveyed 439 such firms in Africa and […]
Multinational Mining: Think Global, Procure Local
Last week, the global mining community gathered in Toronto for the 80th annual PDAC Convention. When PDAC first hosted the CSR Event Series, it reflected the growing focus of the international mining sector on corporate social responsibility. This year, however, marked the first time that the subject of local procurement was discussed, mirroring a shift […]
Challenges Facing SMEs in South Africa
The challenges of running a small business at the Base of the Pyramid are numerous and under estimated. I decided to write a blog post to raise awareness on these challenges and prepare those of us that work in support of micro entrepreneurs to do so more effectively. At the Micro Franchise Accelerator (MFA) in […]
An Open Letter to Larry Page
Dear Larry, In your recent conversation with Charlie Rose at TED, you said you’d rather hand over your cash to Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, Solar City) instead of donating it to a philanthropic organization. I understand the sentiment. The nonprofit sphere has generally proved itself incapable of solving many of society’s most intractable problems. In […]
Getting Ready for Success at the BoP
Having supported companies to enter BoP markets over the last decade, the European BoP Learning Labs and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have learned about best practices in inclusive business innovation, marketing, last mile distribution, financing, partnering, and measuring results. To share their insights, the Learning Labs and WBCSD teamed up in 2013 […]