The ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ Approach: Responsible Capitalism or Business as Usual?
Yesterday evening I took part in a Public Debate at Saïd Business School, organised by the Centre for New Economies of Development – a collaboration between the Universities of Oxford, Sussex and Edinburgh. The event also saw the launch of a new website to encourage academic discussion and knowledge sharing on the BoP: responsiblebop.com Below […]
Cultivating Potential: iDE UK and the Rise of the Female Farming Entrepreneur
Since its founding iDE UK has watched its projects transform the livelihoods and income opportunities of poor rural farmers in the developing world. However it is the potential in women that iDE UK sees as the greatest game changer of rural poverty. At iDE UK we have long recognised the important role that women play […]
The jury is still out, but all eyes are on the G8
Blog: Agriculture Fights Poverty The Camp David G8 Summit is fast approaching. Organizations like ONEhave been working tirelessly to influence the G8’s thinking on food and nutrition security. We’ve asked the G8 to not only deliver on their past commitments, but more importantly, agree to do more. At ONE, we’ve also asked our 3 million […]
The Challenges of Achieving Greater Transparency
Voûte, Nestlé Vice President and Global Head of Public Affairs At Nestlé we believe that actions speak louder than words. We have to deliver what we promise. We have to be transparent if we are to persuade our stakeholders, our partners, and our critics, that we are building our business in a long-term, sustainable way. […]
Job and partnership opportunities with an evolving organisation – The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation is expanding as part of our changing strategy in Africa and our new approach to sector development, and we invite people to explore job and partnership opportunities with us. The Gatsby Charitable Foundation is a grant-making trust set-up by David Sainsbury – former finance director and chairman of J. Sainsbury plc. […]
Creating a sales force of solar entrepreneurs
Which continents have the highest number of mobile phone subscribers? The answer isn’t Europe or the Americas, where mobile phones first took off, but Asia and, as of 2011, Africa. By the end of last year there were over 600m mobile phones subscribers from Cairo to Cape Town, according to research by the GSMA. This […]
Water Security and Improving Access to Safe Drinking Water
On Thursday last week (22 March), we at Diageo conducted a webcast presentation to our investor community on how being a sustainable and responsible company is critical in supporting, protecting and strengthening our reputation and driving long term value. Today, stakeholders are increasingly evaluating companies on their ability to support their growth prospects through broader […]
Beyond Microfinance: Can Government Cash Transfers Scale Up Financial Access for the Poorest?
What next after microcredit? The last few years of news scandals in the microfinance arena has created a gap in the credibility and viability of providing effective, low-cost and impactful financial services to the poor. Newer studies calculating the impact of microcredit find controversial development impact. SKS Finance’s $347 mn IPO (coming after Compartamos’ record-breaking […]
Trends and Results in Private Sector Development
The Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) organised a Seminar on trends and results in private sector development (PSD), in January 2012. It focused on what we are learning about results – since those are now so much in demand: how to work out the logic of the programme, how to monitor progress and how […]
Trends and Results in Private Sector Development: Fertilizer value chain intervention in Nigeria
The Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) organised a Seminar on trends and results in private sector development (PSD), in January 2012. It focused on what we are learning about results and in part on the DCED Standard for results measurement. There were around 100 participants from 32 countries, representing 54 different organisations, field programmes […]
Trends and Results in Private Sector Development: Monitoring and Measuring, Bangladesh
The Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) organised a Seminar on trends and results in private sector development (PSD), in January 2012. It focused on what we are learning about results and in part on the DCED Standard for results measurement. There were around 100 participants from 32 countries, representing 54 different organisations, field programmes […]
Winning with Purpose
Business has been a powerful force in improving the lives of millions of people on our planet – whether through product and service innovation, job creation or new opportunities for suppliers and distributors. Yet, I believe business can do so much more. As the Occupy movement has highlighted, huge inequalities remain – and companies such […]
Ida Horner Meets: Stephen a farmer from Kikube, Uganda
Ugandan entrepreneur, Ida Horner, attended the recent Villages in Action conference in Kikube, Masindi, Uganda, on behalf of Business Fights Poverty, the event’s sponsor. We asked Ida to meet up with some of the business owners in the village to get an insight into their businesses, the challenges they have had to overcome, and the […]
UK Parliamentary Investigation into The Integration of Smallholder Farmers into Supply Chains: Call for Evidence
Co-ordinator, All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development The All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development (APPG) has recently launched a new UK Parliamentary Inquiry examining existing how smallholder producers can sustainably and equitably be integrated into supply chains. The APPG would welcome the views of Business Fights Poverty […]
Does your business fight poverty? Get recognised and inspire other companies.
At Business in the Community we believe that profiling best practice is one of the most powerful ways to bring about change. This is at the heart of how we support business to address global poverty. 65% of our members think that learning from case studies of initiatives of other companies help them contribute better […]
Graham Mackay, CEO, SABMiller plc: Launch of Impala Beer
Graham Mackay, CEO, SABMiller plc: Launch of Impala Beer from Business Fights Poverty on Vimeo. Graham Mackay, CEO, SABMiller, speaking at the launch of Africa’s first ever commercial-scale cassava-based beer. The beer, ‘Impala’, will be brewed in Mozambique by SABMiller’s local subsidiary, Cervejas de Moçambique (CDM). Approximately 40,000 tonnes of raw cassava will be used […]
Pick of the Year: Inclusive Business Resources in 2011
It’s that time of year: best book of 2011? Best movie, best photo, best newcomer of the year…? What were the highlights on inclusive business? It’s not such a hard question to answer, because each month we pick out one highlight to be Editor’s Choice on the Practitioner Hub,hosted by the Business Innovation Facility and […]
Empowering Women Through Business
At a recent event in London organised by Business Action for Africa, UK Department for International Development and the Institute for Development Studies titled: “Advancing Gender Equality through Business and Partnerships”, we discussed the compelling economic and business case for investing in the economic empowerment of women. We know that improving the economic position of […]
Creating Shared Value in India
Today India represents one of the fastest growing economies in the world, in great contrast with the debilitating poverty and economic stagnation experienced by one-fifth of its population. Such stark contrast between success and continued need has led the government of India to conclude that “inclusive growth” is a key priority for national development. It’s […]
BBC World Challenge 2011
This week sees the end of this year’s BBC World Challenge. There are just a few days left for you to vote for your favourite sustainable business and project: the 12 Finalists are profiled below. Vote before midnight (GMT) 11th November. TRASH TO CASH Hand in Hand – biogas energy, India Food waste from restaurants […]