Defining a New Development Framework that Strengthens the Contribution of Business
Since 2000 and the launch of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Sub-Saharan Africa’s citizens have experienced growing stability and security alongside a sustained and widespread economic transformation that has lifted millions out of poverty. Despite these advances, progress across a broad range of MDG indicators remains frustratingly slow and uneven. At a time when aid […]
Social Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation – Not the Same Thing
Social entrepreneurs are obsessed, quirky, and disruptive – and that’s why they can be so effective in creating major change. At the UN Social Innovation Summit held at the end of May in New York City, a plenary panelist stated that social enterprises and social innovation are “really the same thing.” This conclusion was not […]
Social Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation – Not the Same Thing
Social entrepreneurs are obsessed, quirky, and disruptive – and that’s why they can be so effective in creating major change. At the UN Social Innovation Summit held at the end of May in New York City, a plenary panelist stated that social enterprises and social innovation are “really the same thing.” This conclusion was not […]
The Battle against Snail Fever: The Business Sector’s Perspective
It is safe to say that most people aren’t familiar with schistosomiasis, or for that matter, many of the maladies the World Health Organization collectively refers to as neglected tropical diseases. The second most prevalent parasitic infection after malaria, schistosomiasis affects more than 200 million people – approximately half of whom are children – who […]
A Manifesto
Twelve years after starting Acumen, we’ve learned a lot about poverty. On the one hand, we’ve seen that patient capital works: from nine ambulances to 1,000 answering 2 million calls; from a solar torch prototype to bringing light to 14 million. That’s impact that matters. On the other, we’ve learned the real costs of growing […]
UK Government must increase investment in agriculture to end global hunger
We Parliamentarians of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agriculture and Food for Development are calling on the UK Government, and specifically the Department for International Development (DFID), to invest in agriculture to combat the hunger that 925 million people around the world are undernourished face every day. Our latest Parliamentary Report, on “Home Grown […]
What are the most promising Base of the Pyramid business models in Latin America?
Housing, education and banking, increasingly through mobile technology, are three of the fastest growing areas for private companies doing business with the Base of the Pyramid. Thanks to creative and also profitable new business models, low-income Colombians living outside the formal banking system are buying homes and appliances like fridges and washing machines on credit, […]
The SunWater Project – Advanced Solar Technology for Poor Farmers
In my last article, you heard about SunWater, a project to build a radically affordable solar water pump for $2-a-day farmers that will transform small plot agriculture, create new water markets, and significantly increase incomes that will raise bottom-of-the-pyramid families out of poverty. Our target customers are small-plot farmers in India and Africa. These farmers […]
Innovative Business Solutions on Clean Energy and Climate Change
We at the African Enterprise Challenge Fund are currently searching for the most innovative business solutions aiming to impact the rural poor in the following three focal areas; access to affordable clean energy, technologies which facilitate climate change adaptation financial and information services connected to clean energy and adaptation to climate change. Mozambique is a […]
Innovative Business Solutions on Clean Energy and Climate Change in Mozambique
We at the African Enterprise Challenge Fund are currently searching for the most innovative business solutions aiming to impact the rural poor in the following three focal areas; access to affordable clean energy, technologies which facilitate climate change adaptation financial and information services connected to clean energy and adaptation to climate change. Mozambique is a […]
First Step Economic Opportunity Zone: Challenges of Running a Juice Factory
“I can sell you 14 235 pineapples”, that’s what a farmer said to Claudio Scotto, CEO of Africa Felix Juice. 14 235 pineapples – quite an impressive figure at first glance. If you put it into the context of Claudio Scotto, you will end up with a different interpretation: A lot of small scale farmers […]
Transforming Solar Pumping to Eliminate Rural Poverty
What if we could harness the limitless power of the sun to carry water to the crops of millions of small poor farmers around the world? If I want to water my petunias, I turn on the tap outside my house, hold my thumb over the end of a battered green hose, and water away. […]
The Challenge Of Selling To Consumers At The BoP
What do dairy cooperatives, micro-finance institutions, post offices, mobile phones, boys on bikes and women who walk all have in common? They are all potential channels to reach consumers at the base of the pyramid (BOP) with products ranging from agro-information to water-filters, including lighting, medicine, stoves and household goods. The challenge of selling to […]
Sustainable Sourcing: Unilever Challenges Its Own Value Chain
This week we announced that more than a third of our agricultural raw materials are now sourced sustainably. This is a significant milestone on our journey towards a target of 100 percent by 2020. Currently, our sustainable sourcing figure stands at 36 percent – up from 24 percent in 2011. We are very proud of […]
Creating Sustainable Business through Social Intrapreneurism
The world needs more change-makers: men and women who don’t just see things as they are, but who imagine things as they might be – and do something about it! This last few weeks, it felt as though another category of change-maker is starting to get real traction: the social intrapreneur. Social Intrapreneurs are people […]
An Industrial Concept for the BoP: Affordable Fire and Earthquake Resistant Houses
The recent earthquakes show that not earthquakes are killing most people but the insufficient built houses. Glass reinforced pipes are very popular in the gas, oil and water industry as they are heat resistant, lightweight and almost indestructible. They consist of sand (50%) polyester resin (30%) and glass fiber (20%). With diameters up to 4 […]
Ending Poverty through Partnership
Back in 2000, the international community took the unprecedented step of setting itself some ambitious goals to tackle world poverty. With only a few years left to meet these Millennium Development Goals, much has been achieved but much remains to be done. While it is right that we do everything in our power to ensure […]
Challenging conventional wisdom in Africa: Unilever and TEDxEuston
Unilever’s state of the art savoury foods plant at Riverhorse Valley in Durban, South Africa Any business that is in Africa for the long term needs to become part of efforts to drive equitable and sustainable growth. Doing this while simultaneously developing new products to meet the rapidly changing needs of a growing, urbanising, and […]
Infrastructure in Africa and How the Private Sector Helps
Infrastructure is an essential foundation of development. Effective, well-regulated systems for the provision of power, transport, water, and the fast-converging world of telecom, media, and technology lie at base of successful economies the world over. There is almost no way to overestimate their impact in raising incomes and improving living standards—whether measured through their contribution […]
How Will You Celebrate National Volunteering Week?
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy’s inaugural words will never ring as true than during National Volunteer Week, which this year falls on April 21-27. First instituted in 1974 by President Nixon, National Volunteer Week is a time to celebrate […]