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 […]
To Change A Company, You Need Intrapreneurs
It can be hard to get a big, slow company to change its ways. It’s the efforts of courageous intrapreneurs that can change their trajectory. The key is to make your company a place where intrapreneurs can thrive. Multinational corporations aren’t always known for their agility. Organizational change, product evolution, or rebranding–just some of the […]
Impact Investing for Green and Inclusive Business
Green and inclusive businesses need finance – impact investing can provide this. Discuss with us along seven hot topics why impact investors and green and inclusive businesses are a perfect fit and how they could be better matched – from new kids on the block to the super-heroes in the field. Green and inclusive businesses, […]
Four Lessons From a Social Entrepreneur 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 […]
Developing Markets for Sustainable Growth
“Our business is profitable because it is inclusive” was how Javier Flores, green and inclusive entrepreneur from Peru, framed his success when he described the benefits of integrating social and ecological aspects in his business’ bottom line. Over 250 participants from more than 70 countries gathered for two days at the 16th International Business Forum […]
Creating Opportunities to Overcome Poverty
Sometimes a small investment is all it takes to enable someone to lift themselves out of poverty and to live in dignity. More than 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to financial services. Formal banking structures are often unresponsive to the needs of micro-entrepreneurs, whether street vendors seeking to expand their […]
A Bright Future for All – Building Business Responsibly
Every day, when watching the news and checking the social channels, we see pictures and read stories of famine and floods, droughts and demonstrations, confronting us with the effects of increasing resource scarcity, climate change, food security, civil unrest and poverty. We see the increasing numbers of people left behind. Many wonder how on earth […]
The Power of Sustainable Supply Chains
Supply chains can be made stronger and more sustainable if the people working at different stages in them have stable and sufficient earnings. This is the basis for The Body Shop’s “Community Fair Trade” programme, which ensures 25,000 workers in marginalised communities earn a fair wage. The programme directly benefits more than 320,000 people per […]
Better Menstrual Hygiene is Good for Business
Every girl has a story about it. No woman, however old, probably forgets the experience of her first period. And the experience is more likely to have been negative than positive. In the developed world, where sanitary products are still advertised using a blue liquid that has yet to emerge from women, there is probably […]
The Role of Business in Tackling the Sanitation Crisis
Approximately 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, of which nearly 1 billion practise open defecation. The health issues that result are a major source of human suffering while the associated economic issues keep communities, and nations, trapped in poverty. Diarrhoeal disease that is in a large part a result of inadequate sanitation, unsafe […]
Taking Action to Tackle the Sanitation Crisis
This year, United Nations Member States unanimously adopted a resolution to recognise 19th November as World Toilet Day as a way to raise awareness of the 2.5 billion people who lack access to a clean, safe toilet and help generate action to make sanitation a global priority. Today marks the first UN recognised celebration of […]
The Power of Knowledge
The power of knowledge can be used to transform communities. When people, at all stages of their lives, have a better understanding of the demands and constraints of their environment, they make better, more sustainable and more profitable decisions. The provision of information and knowledge can fuel innovation and enable individuals and communities to lift […]
Unlocking the Power of Business to Address Poverty
Businesses around the world are helping to address some of the biggest challenges of our time. Business in the Community’s Responsible Business Awards shine a spotlight on businesses that are transforming their business by integrating responsible business practices into their business model, while transforming the communities in which they operate, creating positive impacts for all. […]
Fighting Poverty: What's in it for Business?
It’s time to discuss the business opportunities in serving poor consumers. The Case for Ending Poverty You may feel, as I do, that poverty is humankind’s greatest shame. But there are numerous practical considerations, too: the horrendous waste of human talent; the prospect that the end of wide-scale poverty might lower the level of conflict […]
Fighting Poverty: What’s in it for Business?
It’s time to discuss the business opportunities in serving poor consumers. The Case for Ending Poverty You may feel, as I do, that poverty is humankind’s greatest shame. But there are numerous practical considerations, too: the horrendous waste of human talent; the prospect that the end of wide-scale poverty might lower the level of conflict […]
Big Ideas from Small Entrepreneurs
In February this year I walked into our Freetown office, in Sierra Leone, and was greeted with “Think Small! You’re here! Welcome!” – who needs a name when one has a project so closely associated with you? It’s true… when I look at the blogs I’ve written and my work in general, most of my […]
Why Does Africa Need Innovation?
Africa is standing at a turning point in its socio-economic history. Never before has the continent’s economy thrived as it is today and things can only get better. While most Africans will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) by the 2015 deadline, they are determined and are implementing measures to ensure […]
Investing in African Ingenuity
The best way to build Africa’s capacity is to invest in local innovation and entrepreneurship. Africa is at a developmental turning point and Africans have stepped forward to be the leaders of the continent’s development in all facets of the economy. African innovators and entrepreneurs are creating solutions to our continent’s everyday challenges. By providing […]
How to Solve India’s Poverty Crisis
Economic debate swirls around the question of how to end poverty, and no wonder: today there are still 2.7 billion people living on $2 a day or less. How should a nation that contains nearly one in three of the world’s poorest people address this very real problem? At one extreme among Indian observers, Nobel […]
Tackling Climate and Development Challenges
I was privileged to be invited to speak at the recent Bond Annual Conference, sharing experiences from the ClimateCare team, about how we have engaged the private sector and unlocked funding for sustainable development. For those who don’t know ClimateCare, we are a profit for purpose organisation with twin aims to protect the environment and […]