Cash Transfers and Gender Equality
At this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York, IDS researchers highlighted the limitations of social protection policies such as cash transfers in relation to improving the lives of women across the world. Integrating social protection policies with public services and infrastructure They argued that social protection policies can only be truly effective […]
Mind the Gap & Fix the Mix: Gender Equality in Private Equity
With more than $3 trillion in assets under management—nearly $800 billion of which is allocated to emerging markets—private equity can be a powerful source of financing, especially for innovative businesses that cannot access bank loans or capital markets. Investors and funds with stakes in these privately owned companies not only help them expand, they also […]
Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Needs to Start at Home
Here are two deeply troubling facts: Very few countries in the world have achieved true gender equality. None of the remaining countries are on track to achieve it by the 2030 target world leaders agreed upon under the Sustainable Development Goals. “It appears that more girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely […]
Avon, Diageo and M&S Join Call for an International Treaty to Protect Women at Work
On International Women’s Day, Avon, Diageo and Marks and Spencer published a letter with CARE International UK calling for an international treaty to protect women at work. The letter, set out below, was signed by Amy Greene, VP Investor and Stakeholder Relations, Avon, Mairead Nayager, Chief HR Officer, Diageo, Fiona Sadler, Head of Ethical Trade, […]
Women are Power
What do you dream about today? My dream is that Led by HER, the organization I created will no longer exist. My dream is that events like She Innovates where I’m speaking today as part of UN Women will no longer exist. My dream is that my future daughters will grow up in a world […]
Businesses for impact in the spotlight: 4 insights into transforming access to financial services in Nepal
Amit Agrawal is a Nepali tech entrepreneur and CEO of Janaki Technology Pvt Ltd, an award-winning software company that operates the digital wallet Khalti. Amit recently participated in the SPRING Accelerator programme, which helps growth-oriented businesses in East Africa and South Asia develop innovations that transform the lives of adolescent girls through human-centered design (HCD) – a […]
Highlighting the Plight of Woman Agricultural Workers in Coffee Production #BalanceforBetter International Women’s Day 2019
When Florence Njiraini’s new husband gifted her 1,500 coffee plants on the slopes of Mt. Kenya years ago, she knew almost nothing about farming. Determined to make her plot a success, she set about learning as much as she could, and soon she was employing sustainable growing practices. Njiraini is not only successful as a […]
A Transparent Cuppa – Mapping Our Tea and Coffee Supply Chains
As we enter the second week of Fairtrade Fortnight, it’s a time to celebrate our Fairtrade products and reflect on our hard work building strong relationships with our producers and working on programmes such as empowering women in the supply chain. This year, Fairtrade marks 25 years since it launched in the UK; a pioneering standard, […]
Inside IKEA: A Furniture Store on a Social Mission
The big blue and yellow storefront is unmistakable in more than 50 countries. While distinctly Swedish, IKEA has a long and rich history in Switzerland. Now it is trying to rally other companies in the country around gender equality. Will they listen? Since 1943, IKEA has transformed living rooms and the shopping experience in countries […]
Moving Towards Gender Equality: A New Index Looks at Legal Reforms to Help Women’s Economic Inclusion
Do you think the world is becoming more equal for women at work? The recently published Women, Business and the Law 2019: A Decade of Reform gives us some insight. While achieving gender equality requires a broad range of efforts over time, the study focuses on the law as an important first step to providing an objective […]
How Can We Optimise Business Impact to Solve Complex Challenges? 5 Insights from the Ice Academy
BFP: What is the Ice Academy? In 2017, the Ice Academy programme was created to support people who have refugee status get back into business and remove barriers they face entering the job market. The goal is to provide people with the opportunities and resources needed to start a business, through entrepreneurship training, mentoring and […]
The Tide is Coming in for Indonesia’s Seaweed
Along the coast of the province of South Sulawesi, villagers began farming seaweed to supplement their income from fishing several decades ago. As global demand for seaweed and seaweed products has taken off, prices have increased and many villagers have taken up seaweed farming full-time. Mangambe Daeng Siama, a seaweed farmer from the village of […]
Business Integrity Initiative: Changing the Way We Do Business in Africa?
230,000+ UK SMEs need to export to Africa without engaging in corruption. They need clean business partners and intermediaries. Is this a business opportunity for your country? If your country is anything like mine (Nigeria) where corruption is endemic, pervasive and systemic, you will know the business case for spending scarce funds on demonstrating anti-corruption […]
Get Involved: New Challenges on Gender-Based Violence, SME Ecosystems, Transformational Partnerships and Purpose
Everything we do at Business Fights Poverty is driven by a belief in the power of purposeful collaboration – the simple idea that when you bring together the right people around a clear, shared challenge, with a focus on delivering a tangible, valuable output in a clear timeframe, you create the space for generating powerful […]
Welcome to the Business Fights Poverty Magazine Issue One
The ways in which business can and should be addressing social issues are many and complex. This magazine helps you to navigate the challenges and find out about some of the leading edge thinking and topics across the space. Brought to you by a team that share a common belief in business as a force […]
Can Microfinance Solve the Finance Woes of Facebook Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh?
Research estimates the presence of over 300,000 merchant pages and 28 million Facebook users in Bangladesh today. Large companies are increasing their promotional focus in the platform, to target the right clients and benefit from the large customer base. The most promising factor, however, are not the big players, but the multitude of small businesses […]
Large Companies Have a Key Role in Strengthening Small Supplier Integrity
The project, run by Business Fights Poverty, has sought to find out how to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to take business integrity issues more seriously and adopt meaningful anticorruption compliance. They conducted an extensive literature review and complemented it with an online survey, 24 interviews, and two business roundtables in which we gathered […]
Doing Business with Integrity is an Increasingly Important Driver of Commercial Success
As the COO of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC), I see a growing number of ambitious companies capitalising on opportunities in high potential frontier markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In the post-Brexit world, these markets will become increasingly important and attractive environments in which to do business but for the unprepared […]
Building Resilient Businesses through the Ministry of Justice’s Six Principles of Bribery Prevention
The Bribery Act 2010 is one of the most robust pieces of anti-bribery legislation anywhere in the world, creating offences for those directly involved in acts of bribery, and for the corporate failure to prevent bribery. Although everyone agrees that corruption is a scourge on business and inclusive economic development, until now there has been […]
Doing Business with Integrity: An Important Driver of Commercial Success
As the CEO of Downtown in Business (DIB), a membership organisation championing business across the Midlands and North, I see a growing number of ambitious companies capitalising on opportunities in high potential frontier markets across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In the post-Brexit world, these markets will become increasingly important and attractive environments to do […]