The National Initiative for Human Development in Morocco
The National Initiative for Human Development (NIHD)[1] in Morocco promotes inclusive business as an important tool for development. Four factors seem to be especially crucial for the NIHD’s success as an inclusive business policy: Its high visibility as an overarching policy framework, its participatory approach, its collaborative governance and its clear implementation responsibilities. The National […]
Land in Investment – Navigating the Risks and Opportunities
Investors, fund managers and companies are currently reconsidering how to manage issues associated with the development of land. In the last year, land conflicts have hit the share price of a publicly-listed rubber company in Asia; forced asset owners to divest from agricultural projects in sub-Saharan Africa; generated losses of up to US$2 million a […]
5 Things Changemakers Can Learn From Muhammad Yunus
It is unlikely that the 15-year-old Muhammad Yunus, who visited North America on a Boy Scout trip a half century ago, ever imagined returning 57 years later to receive the United States Congressional Gold Medal. He was awarded such an accolade earlier this year because he’s had a profound influence on the way the world […]
Top 10 Blogs of 2013
The core strength of Business Fights Poverty is its vibrant community. In other words, you. 95% of our daily stories come from members. The sheer volume of amazing content led us to completely redesign the site earlier this year (read all about the changes here). The energy and enthusiasm of the community to share authentic […]
Top 10 Discussions of 2013
In January 2013 we launched our new discussion forum, with regular live panel chats. We also co-hosted Google Hangouts with Ashoka and webinars with the Business Call to Action and others. Most recently, we were excited to host a Google Hangout with Paul Polak, one of the true gurus in this field (click here to […]
Islamic Microfinance: Does Faith Matter?
Does an association with faith encourage more prompt repayment of microloans and are the staff of faith-inspired microfinance institutions more motivated? After recently returning from a visit to Pakistan, where I was analysing the operations of an Islamic microfinance institution, I am tempted to answer yes to both questions. The microfinance institution in question is […]
Systemic Impacts: Early signs from the Innovations Against Poverty programme
Systemic impacts are the ultimate goal of almost any donor-funded initiative that supports business in development. In the case of Sida’s Innovations Against Poverty (IAP) programme, that means that Sida’s money not only supports the individual inclusive businesses that receive grant funding (helping them to reach the poor with their products, services and business models), […]
Making Loans and Transforming Lives in Pakistan
It may be Christmas right now but it was quite fitting that as the holiest month in the Muslim calendar, Ramadan, drew to a close earlier this year lendwithcare.org celebrated the successful inclusion of our first Islamic Microfinance partner, Akhuwat in Pakistan. Like ‘traditional’ microfinance, Islamic microfinance is the provision of basic financial services to […]
Financial Inclusion in Zambia: Self-Made Women
Emma Chase worked in Zambia for 6 months to establish the relationship between MicroLoan Zambia and LendWithCare. This blog looks back at her time in Zambia. My first few weeks were spent getting to know the organisation and coming up with procedures for the partnership which sees local groups of women gain funding from backers […]
Improving Access to Financial Services
2.5 billion people around the world lack access to financial services such as savings accounts, access to loans, insurance and bank transfers. According to the Centre for Financial Inclusion: “Access to a range of quality financial services at affordable prices, delivered with convenience and dignity, can change the course of an individual’s, family’s, or business’s […]
Waste Not Want Not: £240m on Unwanted Christmas Gifts
People in Britain will waste more than £240 million* on unwanted presents this Christmas with one in four people saying they panic buy presents, according to a survey commissioned by micro loan website lendwithcare.org. With each ‘panic buying’ adult spending an average of £46.25 on wasted gifts and almost three quarters of buyers (75%) unable […]
Inclusive Business as a Tool for Development in Morocco
The National Initiative for Human Development (NIHD)[1] in Morocco promotes inclusive business as an important tool for development. Four factors seem to be especially crucial for the NIHD’s success as an inclusive business policy: Its high visibility as an overarching policy framework, its participatory approach, its collaborative governance and its clear implementation responsibilities. The National […]
Stop Britain Wasting more than £240m on Unwanted Christmas Gifts Says Microloan Site lendwithcare.org
People in Britain will waste more than £240 million* on unwanted presents this Christmas with one in four people saying they panic buy presents, according to a survey commissioned by micro loan website lendwithcare.org. With each ‘panic buying’ adult spending an average of £46.25 on wasted gifts and almost three quarters of buyers (75%) unable […]
What Can We Learn from Inclusive Business Start-Ups?
There is clear potential for business to fight poverty, but it’s not an easy journey for entrepreneurs trying to start a business that can benefit poor people. The high risk and uncertainty both in the markets and in the business models makes it difficult to find the capital necessary to turn ideas from concepts into […]
Bringing ‘Smart Insurance’ to India´s Poor
Anjali Devi has come a long way from her home in rural Punjab to the public hospital in Mohali, the capital of the district. The three hour bus ride to the hospital has led her and her husband get up early in the morning to make sure that they can make it back home the […]
Remembering Graham Mackay
Graham Mackay, the visionary leader who drove the growth of SABMiller into the world’s second biggest brewer and the only African-originated multinational corporation, died yesterday aged 64. After joining South African Breweries 35 years ago, Graham moved quickly up through the business, ultimately to the position of Executive Chairman of SABMiller plc in July 2012, […]
Amanda Bowman: Clinton Global Initiative’s Top Five Trends in Employee Engagement
Wow. New York was busy last week. Capitalising on the UN General Assembly meetings, many other organisations took the opportunity to bring people together to forward their agendas. IBLF was involved with several events – the UN Private Sector Forum, The Global Business Coalition on Health, a Business Call to Action private breakfast, the UN […]
4 Success Factors for an Inclusive Financial Sector
The potential of Inclusive business models to contribute to poverty eradication and sustainable development is well known – and is increasingly gaining attention among governments and policymakers in general. But many inclusive businesses are facing constraints, hindering them to reach a larger scale. They typically include a lack of information, rules, financial resources, and structure […]
“It´s Inclusive Business, stupid”
Of course, we do not know if Bill Clinton, provided he would run for president today, would frame his presidential campaign like this. But what we know is that today governments and donors would do good in promoting inclusive business and they have a number of policy options at hand to do so – as […]
Financial Inclusion and the Financial Sector Deepening Initiative (FSD) in Kenya
The potential of Inclusive business models to contribute to poverty eradication and sustainable development is well known – and is increasingly gaining attention among governments and policymakers in general. But many inclusive businesses are facing constraints, hindering them to reach a larger scale. They typically include a lack of information, rules, financial resources, and structure […]