Partnership Vital to African Innovation
One of the biggest obstacles to innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa is the lack of access to funding. It seems innovators cannot find investors and investors cannot find innovators. We have to bridge this gap. The Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) is a platform that addresses this challenge by identifying innovators, rewarding them, assessing their […]
5 Tips on How to Navigate your Corporate Ecosystem
What would Machiavelli say about the politics of a 21st century corporation? Surely, the recent financial crisis, media phone tapping and other corruption scandals would come as no surprise. In Machiavelli’s world, ‘the means justifies the end.’ But, what would he make of the political acumen of social intrapreneurs – individuals inside large companies developing […]
Why Does Africa Need Innovation?
Africa is standing at a turning point in its socio-economic history. Never before has the continent’s economy thrived as it is today and things can only get better. While most Africans will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) by the 2015 deadline, they are determined and are implementing measures to ensure […]
Investing in African Ingenuity
The best way to build Africa’s capacity is to invest in local innovation and entrepreneurship. Africa is at a developmental turning point and Africans have stepped forward to be the leaders of the continent’s development in all facets of the economy. African innovators and entrepreneurs are creating solutions to our continent’s everyday challenges. By providing […]
How to Solve India’s Poverty Crisis
Economic debate swirls around the question of how to end poverty, and no wonder: today there are still 2.7 billion people living on $2 a day or less. How should a nation that contains nearly one in three of the world’s poorest people address this very real problem? At one extreme among Indian observers, Nobel […]
Kenya’s Running Brand Launches Kickstarter Campaign
Kenya has produced some of the greatest distance runners in the world. Since 2011, Kourage Athletics has harnessed this storied tradition by creating running apparel for athletes worldwide. Kourage is now turning to the crowdfunding site KickStarter to sell its next shirt. The campaign, which can be found here, features a red athletic vest (tank-top) […]
Why Saving is Not a Luxury
When World Savings Day was first launched in 1924 the aim was to encourage people to put their savings in a formal bank account rather than ‘under the mattress’ so that they could manage and save their money efficiently. Today, as we celebrate the 79th World Savings Day, half the world’s population, some 2.5 billion […]
HOW-TO USE AMBIGUITY TO PIONEER CHANGE
Despite crushing student loans and a miserable job market, this Millennial Generation is the most socially conscious, most globally aware and most actively committed to careers of conscience to come along in decades. College students and young professionals are eager to confront some of the world’s most intractable problems — a deteriorating environment, implacable poverty, […]
HOW-TO FIGURE OUT YOUR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
“We gain something profound when we stand up for our beliefs, just as part of us dies when we know that something is wrong, yet do nothing….We don’t have to tackle every issue, but if we avoid them all, if we remain silent in the face of cruelty, injustice, and oppression, we sacrifice part of […]
Creating a Runway for Multinationals with Impact
Five years ago, Steve Bachar and I decided to create a venture capital fund that would only invest in companies capable of achieving three goals: Transforming the livelihoods of at least 100 million customers living on $2 a day or less; Generating at least $10 billion in annual revenues; and Earning sufficient profits to attract […]
Going About the Business of Creating Social Change
There’s an inescapable buzz around the role of business in international development. Everywhere I go—from Bangladesh to East Africa, from the flurry of activity of the UNGA or CGI in New York to the WEF Annual meeting in Davos—it’s a topic that has risen to the very top of the development agenda. To be clear, […]
Pitch Lessons from a Cubicle Warrior
In the world of social good, pitching is 90% of the battle – enrolling others into the change you believe. Gandhi did this. Martin Luther King shined with his ability to create a bridge into a tolerant and diverse future. Florence Nightingale wasn’t just a nurse, but a master storyteller. But what happens when you […]
Sumitomo Chemical and the Market for Bednets
When I first learnt about the partnership of Sumitomo Chemical and A to Z Textile Mills Ltd. in Tanzania it seemed like pure success. In 2007, I was working on the UNDP report “Creating Value for All”, and the story about local manufacturing of mosquito nets was one of my favourite case studies. Sumitomo Chemical, […]
Getting to the Bottom of…Toilet Innovation
Danielle Batist, Communications Associate at Ashoka UK More than a third of the world population does not have access to a clean toilet. 1.1 billion people defecate in the open. On the first UN-recognised World Toilet Day on 19 November, two social entrepreneurs explain why “everyone should give a shit”. When the UN Deputy Secretary-General […]
The Challenges of Going to Scale
In our latest BIF insider “Scaling Inclusive Business – Why do some successful IB pilots fail to scale”, Jack Newnham identifies and examines seven broad reasons why some inclusive businesses do not go to scale. The publication draws on a range of examples (mostly not related to BIF), illustrating which hurdles could and could not […]
The Story of How Big Business Can Fix the World
Writing Everybody’s Business took us on a two-year journey through the world of business. We met people in boardrooms and on the front-line of operations – in mines, factories and farms, in data centres and distribution hubs. We saw first-hand how big corporations are taking on some of today’s toughest challenges, mobilizing the vast resources, […]
Market & Social Impact Research: A Dual Approach
Having worked in the local sustainable energy sector for the last seven years, I cannot stress enough how important it is to conduct both market and social impact research. Yet most organisations tend to focus on one or the other. Enterprises and charities founded in countries where they operate, especially when they are led by […]
Market & Social Impact Research: A Dual Approach
Having worked in the local sustainable energy sector for the last seven years, I cannot stress enough how important it is to conduct both market and social impact research. Yet most organisations tend to focus on one or the other. Enterprises and charities founded in countries where they operate, especially when they are led by […]
Does Scaling Up Compromise our Social Mission?
When charities concentrate on measuring the impact of their work it is easy to justify certain inefficiencies or not reaching scale, but a business wouldn’t have that attitude. That’s why SolarAid have chosen a business based approach; our mission to eradicate the kerosene lamp from Africa requires that we get solar lights to people at […]
Benchmarking Agriculture: Lessons from Doing Business
The proposed Benchmarking the Business of Agriculture (BBA) is a joint effort of the Doing Business and agricultural development teams of the World Bank and is partly based on the (in)famous Doing Business project. Doing Business is arguably the Bank’s highest profile publication and ranks countries’ business regulations and laws across ten key indicators, but […]