Remembering Graham Mackay
Graham Mackay, the visionary leader who drove the growth of SABMiller into the world’s second biggest brewer and the only African-originated multinational corporation, died yesterday aged 64. After joining South African Breweries 35 years ago, Graham moved quickly up through the business, ultimately to the position of Executive Chairman of SABMiller plc in July 2012, […]
Learning From Companies, Sourcing From Smallholders
A sustainable supply chain that sources from smallholder farmers – sounds easy. But it is common knowledge that long-standing problems like insufficient quantity and quality, side-selling of the harvest, rainfall, pests and prices, can often beset initiatives in practice. Two candid new case studies depict the innovative attempts of two businesses to set up smallholder […]
Investing in Agriculture in the DRC
Since the launch of CDC’s current strategy in 2012, our aim has been to invest where our job creation focus can have the greatest impact: in countries where the private sector is weak and jobs are scarce, and in sectors where growth leads to jobs. Our recently announced US$18.1m investment into Feronia, an agricultural production […]
The Self-Sufficient School – A Proposal for Quality Education
Fundación Paraguaya In many emerging countries, young people face similar situations in terms of education. Overall, it makes little difference to vulnerable members of society whether they complete secondary education or not. If they drop out of education at an early stage, they can find some kind of subsistence activity to help them to earn […]
Creating Lasting Change Through Public Private Partnerships
Swisscontact promotes economic, social and environmental sustainability by supporting people to develop the skills they need to contribute to local commercial life. For over fifty years, we’ve found that people possessing relevant market skills are those who have the greatest capacity to succeed in, and help transform, local economies. As an organisation we’re best known […]
Disrupted: The Future INGO
“Some of the routine service activities that INGOs have historically implemented–health care, food delivery –can now be carried out by local operators at a lower cost. The question now is: What do we bring to the picture that others cannot?” —Carolyn Woo, CEO, Catholic Relief Services Today’s international NGOs or INGOs stand at an important […]
Local Bank Financing for Smallholder Farmers
Over two billion of the world’s poorest people live in households that depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. The 450 million smallholder farmers within that group are a linchpin to global poverty-reduction. Yet most smallholders lack access to finance, holding them back from producing larger crop yields of higher quality to propel both economic growth […]
HOW-TO BOLDLY AND BRAVELY BET ON YOURSELF
To describe itself to itself and to attract new converts, it is common these days for the nonprofit sector to talk in terms of investment – obscuring the legal and legitimate lines between grants and donations versus opportunities to make money by doing good (often called impact investing). Equally confusing, both financial investments and social […]
Learning From Company, Sourcing From Smallholders
A sustainable supply chain that sources from smallholder farmers – sounds easy. But it is common knowledge that long-standing problems like insufficient quantity and quality, side-selling of the harvest, rainfall, pests and prices, can often beset initiatives in practice. Two candid new case studies depict the innovative attempts of two businesses to set up smallholder […]
A Challenge to Both Business and Vulnerable Communities
In September, the IPCC published the Fifth Annual Report on the Physical Basis of Climate Change. It devotes little attention to the human and ecological impacts of global environmental and climatic change, topics that will be addressed by working group reports released in early 2014 . Nonetheless, the trajectory of climate and other environmental changes […]
Can A Non-Ag Company Transform The Ag Value Chain?
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Stanbic Bank IBTC are large, well-established international companies in India and Nigeria respectively. One is a technology provider and the other a bank – and yet both are aiming to transform agricultural value chains. But how, you may ask. And more importantly, why? These questions are explored in two new […]
Exploring the Boundaries of What a Business Can Achieve
Three innovative start-up companies are pushing the boundaries of what business can achieve in delivering social goals through a commercially sustainable model. Each is building a sustainable business model with dual social and commercial returns in a space previously assumed to be occupied by donors, NGOs or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) departments. A few years […]
Exploring The Boundaries Of What A Business Can Viably Achieve
Three innovative start-up companies are pushing the boundaries of what business can achieve in delivering social goals through a commercially sustainable model. Each is building a sustainable business model with dual social and commercial returns in a space previously assumed to be occupied by donors, NGOs or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) departments. A few years […]
Can A Non-Agricultural Company Transform The Agricultural Value Chain?
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Stanbic Bank IBTC are large, well-established international companies in India and Nigeria respectively. One is a technology provider and the other a bank – and yet both are aiming to transform agricultural value chains. But how, you may ask. And more importantly, why? These questions are explored in two new […]
Growing More Food with Less Water
When you sit down to your next meal, take a look at your plate. How much water do you see? The obvious answer might be “little” or “none”. But the surprising truth is you are likely consuming thousands of liters of water every time you sit down for a quick bite. Estimates suggest the average […]
Tackling the Youth Employment Crisis in Southern Africa
News headlines are filled with stories of a growing youth bulge and impending youth unemployment crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the bad news. Many social entrepreneurs are at work even now creating solutions to these types of challenges—a sort of counterbalance that shapes fortune out of misfortune. Young Africa (YA) founder, Ashoka Fellow Dorien […]
What is at Stake at this Week’s WTO Negotiations?
The Doha round of WTO trade talks that began in 2001 was getting close to the finish line in 2008, before the global financial crisis grabbed everyone’s attention. The talks became deadlocked and, by 2011, it was clear that they were at a complete standstill. Once broad negotiations have since been narrowed down to just […]
Get to Know the Winners of the CHANGING Markets Award
The 16th IBF in Istanbul ended with exciting news: the announcement of the jury-elected Winners of the CHANGING Markets Award! They are true champions in developing markets for green and inclusive growth. But what exactly is a green and inclusive business? Get to know the winning business models and discuss the strengths and also the […]
Inclusive Business for Women Entrepreneurs
Women make up half the world’s population, but in many cultures and countries, women entrepreneurs face enormous challenges accessing opportunities – in education, business, and capital. Audry Maulana asks: What does the term “inclusive business” mean for some of the women attending IBF 2013? “Inclusive business is not charity,” even if the aim for many […]
A Muddled Path to Sustainable Production & Consumption
It’s no question that the world needs more sustainable habits of developing and consuming products. But in emerging economies, whose role is it to make this happen? “It is possible to create a village, a community of people that would use green energy and live in sustainable way by using natural materials and products,” remarks […]