Paul Polak: Achieving Success at the BoP
Question: If you build a better mousetrap will the world beat a path to your door? Answer: Without superb marketing and distribution nobody beats a path to your door. In my work with a multitude of affordable technologies over the past 30 years, one key feature has become abundantly clear: If you have met the […]
The Next Mobile Revolution: Boosting Women's Entrepreneurship via Mobile Money
For Marion, the challenge of starting her own business was not lack of initiative – she had plenty – but rather dearth of start-up capital. At 20-years old, Marion dropped out of school because she didn’t have sufficient school fees. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where she lives, this is a common trend for many […]
The Next Mobile Revolution: Boosting Women’s Entrepreneurship via Mobile Money
For Marion, the challenge of starting her own business was not lack of initiative – she had plenty – but rather dearth of start-up capital. At 20-years old, Marion dropped out of school because she didn’t have sufficient school fees. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where she lives, this is a common trend for many […]
Stepping Away From the Rat Race to Give Back… for a Year
Employee volunteer programsare one thing, but what about centering your entire enterprise around service? It might sound like a pipe dream, but San Francisco-based Fuse Corps is making it happen. Fuse Corps is dedicated to helping entrepreneurial professionals spend a year supporting governors, mayors and community leaders across the country to drive meaningful social change. […]
Unlearning to innovate: 7 steps entrepreneurs need to know when getting into inclusive business
Dr. Fernando Casado Cañeque. Director, Centre of Partnerships for Development It is typically in crisis situations when the absence of political leadership becomes most evident. In such situations, it is also when social innovation becomes most needed. However, as a concept, for innovation to be really social, it should challenge current thinking models and recognize […]
The Promise of Measuring Shared Value
Can something simultaneously be both a cliché and an emergent, nascent approach? Consider corporate approaches to working with smallholder farmers. This is fairly mainstream thinking in international development. We hear these examples at every conference and in every report on agricultural development. Companies create shared value by helping improve yields of critical crops such as […]
Helping Corporates achieve Sustainable Development Goals through new funding models
The innovative Carbon for Water programme unlocked private sector finance to deliver safe water to 4.5 million people a year. For 15 years, ClimateCare has worked with large blue chip organisations who, having taken steps to reduce carbon emissions and want to address their residual footprint, by funding external emission reduction projects. Our name is […]
Promoting New Thinking About Collaboration
Millions of Australians will end it comatose, as the annual Melbourne Cup tradition of drinking-your-entire-body-weight-in-beer-before-lunch will ensure that particular country’s collective outputs for 24 hours will be, at best, sub-optimal. As the table-top dancing down under comes to a close, the United States of America will awake to Election Day, with polls still saying the […]
Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Africa
On Tuesday, I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya to attend and participate in the first-ever DEMO Africa event. As the plane was landing, I was struck by how history has a way of turning one on his head. While I was a graduate student in the late 1990s at Virginia Tech, I launched an African-focused web […]
Healthcare Delivery Programs at Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School Executive Education Healthcare Programs Today’s intense healthcare debate has increased the focus on the performance and effectiveness of healthcare delivery systems across the globe. In response, Harvard Business School Executive Education offers a growing portfolio of healthcare programs aimed at improving clinical and financial outcomes. Featured Programs Business Innovations in Global Healthcare […]
Power of Innovation – To Change the World
“We need to use the power of technology and the creative power of young people. By combining these together you can solve these problems. It’s possible!” ~ Professor Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner We live in extraordinary times. Financial crises and economic crises are looming large in many parts of the world. Social […]
The Power of We
October 15th is Blog Action Day, and the theme this year is “The Power of We”. That idea is at the very heart of Business Fights Poverty. I am continuously blown away by the energy and innovation of individuals around the world who are pioneering new ways of fighting poverty through business: just take a […]
Smarter Impact in International Development
It was interesting to attend the event last month at the IBM Forum on “Smarter Impact in International Development” for which Business Fights Poverty was a supporting partner. Whilst good to hear about new developments in this field, especially around the power of social media, mobile technology and IT to get to a new kind […]
The World We Want
In the years up to 2015, the world needs to remain focused on securing as much progress as possible on the current set of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). At the same time, discussions have already begun on the goals and targets that could build on and succeed the MDGs. On 25 September, UNDP joined forces […]
Interview with Paul Hohnen: Greenwash, Sustainable Development and Saving the Planet
In an interview for Making It Magazine, sustainability specialist, Paul Hohnen, answers questions about ‘greenwash’, sustainable development, and what governments and the UN need to do to save the planet You have worked on economic and environmental issues for over three decades, as an Australian diplomat, as a Director of Greenpeace International, as Strategic Director […]
Reasons to be both hugely disappointed and very excited
In an interview for Making It Magazine, sustainability specialist, Paul Hohnen, answers questions about ‘greenwash’, sustainable development, and what governments and the UN need to do to save the planet You have worked on economic and environmental issues for over three decades, as an Australian diplomat, as a Director of Greenpeace International, as Strategic Director […]
Is Business the New Charity?
Investing in small business and new ventures is a good thing and vital to our communities, but we must not confuse it with charity or strategic long-term social investment. In my recent interview with Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Company), he reflected on the traditional philanthropic activities of his company and peers. […]
Accelerating Progress on Education in Africa: How business can help
The Global Business Coalition for Education is bringing together sectors as diverse as financial services, engineering, technology, and consultancy; all pledging to work together for better education in Africa.” What do you do in a crisis? Governments, civil society, local communities, global businesses come together. You put aside any differences or special interests; you ask […]
Education in Africa – looking beyond 2015
“If the youth of our continent are going to be successful in the modern workplace they need more than just books and pens. They need to be immersed in a technology-rich environment from an early age.” Ensuring that all children in Africa receive some sort of education at all is a challenge in itself. A […]
Smarter Impact: A new approach to enabling inclusive economic development in the information age
We are living in exciting times. Information and communications technology has already radically changed the world in which we live in for the better. The lives of billions have been transformed – those that were once isolated or living in remote locations are now connected in a way that offers a wealth of opportunities. The […]