Category: Economic Development

Trade Facilitation: Everyone’s a Winner

For a container to pass between OECD countries, it takes on average 5 customs documents, 10 days and 735 euros, whereas between African countries it requires twice as many documents, takes 3 times as long and costs at least twice as much. The Trade Facilitation Deal that will be discussed at the WTO Ministerial in […]

Finance and human rights – strange bedfellows?

“Finance and Human Rights are really in their early stages of their bedfellowness.” Professor John Kinley in his opening remarks at the recent UN Forum on Business and Human Rights The context The Simandou Mountains that stretch across the tiny country of Guinea hold one of that country’s best chances for economic progress and for […]

Harnessing the Business Potential of Honey

I have recently been focusing my time on a honey production company called KEYDA, one of the two selected youth led companies on whom the business booster will be tested in the third phase of the pilot. To get a better picture of their current status and in order to assure a certain level that […]

Innovation Leaders: 3 Questions for Non-profit & For-profit Innovation Leaders

I returned home to Boston after a 10 day conference “intensive” – the Council on Foundations in Chicago, the World Healthcare Congress in Washington, D.C. and the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford – looking forward to a Patriot’s Day holiday to recover and enjoy a beloved Boston tradition, the Marathon. Of course, […]

Innovation Leaders: 3 Questions for Non-profit & For-profit Innovation Leaders

I returned home to Boston after a 10 day conference “intensive” – the Council on Foundations in Chicago, the World Healthcare Congress in Washington, D.C. and the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford – looking forward to a Patriot’s Day holiday to recover and enjoy a beloved Boston tradition, the Marathon. Of course, […]

The Future of the BoP Domain: Where is Our Missing Community?

The BoP domain is at a crossroads. We have seen that successful enterprise development can play an important role in alleviating poverty. These are clearly exciting times for the BoP domain. But we also lack sufficient humility. Indeed, we still have a long way to go, and few are openly discussing the lessons learned and […]

Time for Training: After a decade of learning, an executive BoP course comes online

11 years ago, CK Prahalad and Stu Hart published “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.” The article and consecutive book have sparked enormous interest among companies, followed by experimentation, trials, and sometimes, success. However, it quickly became clear that developing inclusive business was far from trivial. The usual management tools did not always […]

Preventing another Rana Plaza: Mapping the Path Forward

This week American stakeholders announced the formation of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety and signatories to the European Fire and Building Safety Accord released their Implementation Plan. While both agreements represent steps in the right direction, to address the root causes of the Rana Plaza disaster, both initiatives must take further measures to build […]

Best Practices from a Small Nonprofit on the Big CSR Trend

Can tea and running shoes help the poorest of the poor? Well, no. Not exactly. But if you put corporate social responsibility (CSR) into the mix, you have a recipe for a unique business strategy that supports sustainable development. Trickle Up, a U.S.-based, nonprofit, global poverty alleviation organization focused on helping the poorest of the […]

Mixing Business and Social: What Really is a Social Enterprise?

Of course we all know what a ‘social enterprise’ (SE) is in a developing country. It’s obvious, surely? It’s, um, a business that does good things for people, and also makes money. Don’t nit-pick! This is all about dynamism, creativity and innovation. Well, OK, point taken. But nagging doubts remain. What sorts of good things? […]

MY World Citizens: Technology and a Revolution in Global Policymaking

Since they were adopted by all UN Member States in the year 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have made a huge difference to the lives of millions of people around the world. The MDGs have helped to define a truly global agenda in the fight against poverty and have also provided a clear frame […]

Not All Entrepreneurs: The Microfranchise Accelerator

When I started my career, one of the first books I read about Development was the Professor Yunus famous’ book Banker to the Poor on Micro-credit and how it could play a role in eradicating Poverty. The message that I could not get out of my head is that every Human Being is an entrepreneur. […]

Engaging Business Globally on Human Rights

For a long time, the policy debates, advocacy campaigns and practice sharing about business and human rights has been concentrated in the corridors of London, Geneva and New York. In 2009, the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights (GBI) identified that awareness of how companies headquartered in emerging and developing markets can and do impact […]

Assessing Corporate Human Rights Impacts – Lessons from Kenya

When I returned from Kenya last August, one sentence particularly stuck in my mind. A Maasai farmer being interviewed about the impacts of tourism said: “Tourism is like clean water in a fast-flowing river that is rushing past, which we have no means to enter.” This view was widely shared by employees, beach sellers, community […]

What your BOP strategy is Missing: A Gender Lens

Debate on the possibilities at the base of the pyramid (BOP) is ubiquitous; nonetheless, too often regulated to a post-script is that frequently when we refer to the BOP what we actually mean is women at the BOP. It’s time to stop discussing the BOP as a single, homogenous entity and start looking more specifically […]