The Changing Face of African Innovation
Africa has great resources and untapped potential, however, the lack of funding acts as a significant barrier to entrepreneurship and innovation. In order to fully utilise our resources, we need meaningful investments to provide inclusive prosperity on the continent. The Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) 2015 is an annual competition founded by the Africa Innovation […]
Going Beyond Multinationals to Scale up Nutrition
When you think of companies getting involved in the worldwide struggle against undernutrition, which ones come to mind? Probably big. Probably multinational. Probably based in Europe or the United States. But there are companies breaking this mold, showing leadership in the fight against malnutrition. Indofood is a $5 billion-a-year Indonesian food manufacturing and distribution firm […]
Reinvesting 20% of profits in poor countries
Five years ago, GSK made a pledge. Our chief executive – Andrew Witty – committed to reinvest 20% of our profits from developing countries back into those countries, using the funds to strengthen their healthcare systems by training frontline workers. It was a bold move, but necessary. The World Health Organization currently estimates a global […]
Business as a Partner in Development
Partnerships are vital if we are to make the greatest possible impact on development. This is why the whole global community – governments, businesses, emerging and developing nations, civil society – needs to agree a new partnership to work together and unite behind the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and work together to achieve them. […]
Women’s and Children’s Health and the SDGs
By Next year, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) will be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) — a set of even more ambitious targets for global development. In a bold attempt to create the healthiest generation of young women and children in the world, the new SDGs will require the near elimination of preventable […]
USAID Promotes Inclusive Business for Development Goals
The Business Call to Action interviews Ricardo Michel, Director, Centre for Transformational Partnerships, US Global Development Lab at USAID Ricardo Michel is responsible for the overall strategic direction to best use local and global public-private partnerships for accelerated sustainable development. Previously, Michel served as acting director for the Office of Innovation and Development Alliances, where […]
Running the Numbers, and Having a Transformative Impact
Children attending school in the elements of Africa without shelter, electricity or modern teaching tools Over the last 30 years I have found it useful to constantly and obsessively “Run the Numbers” when I look at any business opportunity. I try to do this in a way that quickly strikes to the heart of any […]
Moving to the City
Every second, two people move into a city. Across the world, that’s a million people every week. Many are in search of a better life but, when they arrive, what they find is not what they were expecting. The world is driven by self-interest and nowhere is this more evident than in cities. Behaviour is […]
Participatory Market Research: New Target Group Insight
Photo Credit: Claudia Knobloch Sawing a bed in half to create bunks that will fit in a small room may seem strange at first glance, but look deeper: Furniture on offer in Brazilian stores does not meet the needs of low-income customers. As a result, these consumers either modify what’s available, or spend more money […]
Engaging the Private Sector in the Post-2015 Agenda
Philippe Scholtès and Tim Wall consider the new forms of partnership required to implement innovative business models that respond to commercial imperatives, while also delivering on the development front. In the last two decades, increasing economic growth rates in many developing countries have reshaped the global economy and opened up new opportunities for learning and […]
Harnessing Scottish Business Innovation for Development
What a time to be in Glasgow. What a time to be Scottish. It was an overwhelming sense of pride that I felt during the recent Opening Ceremony of the 20th Commonwealth Games on one of the hottest days of the year. However there was one other equally strong emotion that I felt as I […]
A Shared Value Approach to Protecting Forests
Deforestation is an increasing contributor to global warming and environmental change impacting the health and well-being of the most rural communities. To be sure, the transformation of forested lands by human actions and the removal of trees without sufficient reforestation is one of the greatest drivers of biodiversity destruction, conflict, loss of habitat and wildlife […]
Can Markets Work For Nutrition? Lessons From Nigeria
Nigeria’s economy has raced to become the largest in Africa. But the country is also ahead on a tragic statistic: it has the highest rates of stunting in Africa, meaning children suffering because they don’t get the nutrients they need to be healthy. Indeed, malnutrition is estimated to kill 350,000 children each year. Today, more […]
Early-stage Impact Investing: A Call For Action
(www.seedinit.org) The exponential growth of small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs) in Africa, Asia and Latin America has contributed significantly to the burgeoning green economy. Every year more and more small and green entrepreneurs are creating innovative ways to produce sustainable products and services that are having wide-reaching social and economic impacts on the world’s […]
Selling Sanitary Toilets To The Rural Poor
In our imperfect world, many people live in market systems that are broken – they don’t provide access to the basic things people need to live. iDE is a mechanic of broken markets. We try to look at every component of the market system to see how it can run better to benefit the individual. […]
Improving Healthcare Access in Developing Nations
Outside Kenya’s capital Nairobi lies the small farming town of Embu, which is filled with roadside stalls where farmers sell their mango, potato and rice crops. This remote region, nestled near the hills of Mount Kenya, is the setting for the second phase of the Familia Nawiri (Healthy Family) initiative, one example of a Novartis […]
No Smoke Without Fire!
What happens when an engineer meets a climate change expert ? This is the story of One Earth Designs, a social enterprise that develops sustainable solutions responding to the need of the rural communities in the Himalayas. The Global Alliance for Clean Stoves states that “exposure to smoke from traditional stoves and open fires – […]
From 'Poor' To Customer
Today, communities in rural India are still viewed as “poor” and not as customers. Ajaita Shah, founder of Frontier Markets, has decided to transform that vision. With Frontier Markets, she offers sustainable and clean energy products to the Bottom of the Pyramid. After working in micro-finance, Ajaita Shah started questioning the traditional approach to servicing […]
From ‘Poor’ To Customer
Today, communities in rural India are still viewed as “poor” and not as customers. Ajaita Shah, founder of Frontier Markets, has decided to transform that vision. With Frontier Markets, she offers sustainable and clean energy products to the Bottom of the Pyramid. After working in micro-finance, Ajaita Shah started questioning the traditional approach to servicing […]
Saving Lives at Birth
What does a garage mechanic from Argentina, a team of students from North Carolina, and a group of doctors in Kenya have in common? They are all pushing the boundaries of innovation to save the lives of women and newborns during their most vulnerable hours — from the time of labor to the 48 hours […]