An IFC Perspective on Sustainable Sugar Production
As mentioned in Business Fights Poverty and the CSR Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School’s recent report on building blocks for sustainable sugar production at scale, IFC has been engaged in sustainable sugar activities since the early 2000s, when we collaborated with WWF to develop better management practices for tropical commodities such as sugar. In […]
Building Blocks for Sustainable Sugar Production
Business Fights Poverty is full of examples of companies taking action to grow their businesses in ways that expand economic opportunity, enhance access to “social” services like healthcare, energy, education, water and sanitation, and nutrition, and conserve shared natural resources. The key question is how to move these examples from the cutting edge to the […]
Embracing Emerging Market Entrepreneurship
Twice a year, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE)convenes our Executive Committee—a group of fifteen international development leaders that guide ANDE’s strategy and provide operational oversight. At the most recent meeting, we opened with a “pop quiz” — What are the three biggest challenges facing small and growing businesses in emerging markets over the […]
Promoting Sustainable Agriculture Intensification
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Global food supply needs to increase 70 percent by 2050 to keep up with population growth and diet changes. How do we generate enough food without cutting down every last tree, and using every last drop of water? And how can we do it while preserving farmer livelihoods and keeping food affordable? […]
Own-label Tea Changing Lives in Malawi
In the UK we drink about 165m cups of tea every single day, yet the millions of farmers and workers who rely on the tea industry for their livelihood face numerous challenges. Their work can be physically demanding, prices are unsustainably low, and the sector is notorious for poor wages and working conditions. The issues […]
Time to View Small-Scale Farming as a Business
How can we feed the world’s growing population? It’s an age-old question that has resurfaced following the economic shocks and environmental stresses of the past decade. According to the latest data, the global population is expected to surpass nine billion by 2050, and much of this growth will take place in developing countries. For instance, […]
The Unintended Consequences of Inclusive Business
Last week we hosted a two-day conference, Inclusion Inc., at The Fletcher School, where we tested the idea that “the only competitive business is an inclusive business.” Inclusive business, or business that pursues opportunities in traditionally unattractive market segments, ought to be a strategic imperative for corporations and investors. Foregoing such segments would open the […]
Women are the Crux of Africa’s Development
Recent estimates state that women provide approximately 70 per cent of agricultural labour and produce about 90 per cent of all food in Africa. At the same time, women and girls reinvest an average of 90 percent of their income in their families, compared to 30 to 40 percent for men. It is clear that […]
Women Extension Volunteers in the Cocoa Farms
It took a strong, single young mother of two to bring you the delicious chocolate egg you are biting into this Easter. Just a few years ago Anita, a young, unemployed, single mother of two seemed an unlikely community leader. But her fellow villagers in Ghana’s Odumase District, recognized her strong leadership abilities, recommending her […]
Delivering Impact Beyond Income
Ten years ago I had a moment of disillusionment with the charity sector. I was working on the intractable conflict in Sudan: progress was slow, and I’m not known for my patience. I began to feel that traditional models of aid had limitations and decided it was time to explore different routes to tackling poverty. […]
Africa's Digital Revolution
Just over 20 years ago, Robert Kaplan wrote a stark warning about the mounting strategic danger posed by an anarchic, uncontrollable, “increasing lawlessness” in West Africa. He argued that a sort of ‘criminal anarchy’ was emerging as a major strategic danger. Six years later, the Economist ran an editorial naming Africa ‘the Hopeless Continent’, claiming […]
Africa’s Digital Revolution
Just over 20 years ago, Robert Kaplan wrote a stark warning about the mounting strategic danger posed by an anarchic, uncontrollable, “increasing lawlessness” in West Africa. He argued that a sort of ‘criminal anarchy’ was emerging as a major strategic danger. Six years later, the Economist ran an editorial naming Africa ‘the Hopeless Continent’, claiming […]
Trader Standards Get a Make-over
Do you have a flattering angle that you prefer for photos? Do you turn your head slightly toward the camera, nose down? Do you like looking wistfully off to the right? Among Fairtrade campaigners, a worryingly large number of people seem to think their best angle is in a banana suit. But at Fairtrade, we […]
Recognizing the Power of Cross-Sector Collaboration
The role of business in society is changing. Philanthropy is no longer the primary way that businesses make the world a better place. Increasingly, through public-private partnerships (P3s), businesses, nonprofits, and governments are working together to address entrenched issues, like poverty and climate change. By pooling funding, assets, and expertise, partnerships are capable of generating […]
Water Stewardship: Good for Business and Development
The United Nations is finalizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of international goals addressing a wide range of global challenges, including energy, agriculture, governance, and poverty reduction. The SDGs will be implemented when the Millennium Development Goals, the UN’s last set of development targets, expire at the end of 2015 and water-related issues […]
Improving the Lives of 2.5m Farmers and their Families
More than 90% of farms are run by an individual or a family and they produce about 80% of the world’s food, yet many family farmers face ill health and low productivity as a result of poor diets. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) calculates that around half of the world’s hungry people are from […]
Towards Ethically and Sustainably Sourced Cotton
As we bring together buyers and suppliers, manufacturers and NGOs to discuss what is needed for a sustainable supply of cotton, it seems clear we need to address the economic equation of supply and demand. Experience from other sectors suggests that the business proposition for procuring ethically and sustainably sourced cotton will be driven by […]
Helping Small Businesses Thrive in Africa
I recently had the pleasure of meeting a group of small retailers in Colombia, women and men from among the 780,000 “tenderos” in SABMiller’s value chain in Latin America. The purpose of the visit was to learn more about the “4e Camino al Progreso” (4e) programme developed by my Latin American colleagues together with their […]
Putting Enterprise at the Heart of the Post-2015 Agenda
The international community is busy defining a new set of “Sustainable Development Goals” that will shape the agenda when the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire later this year. One striking improvement is the emphasis being placed on inclusive growth, jobs and enterprise. And in that context it is encouraging to see the draft SDGs […]
Empowering Female Entrepreneurs in Rural Communities
I met Tania five weeks ago during a field visit to Barisal, a city in Southern Bangladesh. I had gone to collect stories from female entrepreneurs in a small sub-district and learn about their lives before and since they began generating an income. Tania clearly stood out as the youngest of all the women I […]