Find your Place in the Enterprise Ecosystem – TBN Conference, May 25th London
A few years ago the provocative statement “Business is the only sustainable solution to Poverty”emblazoned the stage of the Transformational Business Network Conference. If pushed to apply hard economic realities, few would deny that it’s true. Establishing sufficiency and security in the world’s most troubled economies can only truly be accomplished by making the citizens […]
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 […]
At the State Dept., Contributing to an Impact Economy
Today at the US State Department in Washington, D.C., we are convening leaders across sectors and continents to discuss how we can work together to contribute to an impact economy by developing and deploying cutting-edge business and financial models that generate financial returns and positive social and environmental change. During our travels around the world, […]
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 […]
iOnPoverty
Wall Street is facing a recruiting problem, reports the New York Times. The latest reminder that big banks are corrosive for careers of conscience comes from a NY Times op-ed piece by former Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith who sharply describes a “toxic and destructive” workplace. Covet a career building economic opportunity and justice? Want […]
Goldman Sachs Versus Careers of Conscience
Wall Street is facing a recruiting problem, reports the New York Times. The latest reminder that big banks are corrosive for careers of conscience comes from a NY Times op-ed piece by former Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith who sharply describes a “toxic and destructive” workplace. Covet a career building economic opportunity and justice? Want […]
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 […]
Resources for practitioners: inclusive business models in the energy sector
We are delighted to launch a new series of monthly Editorial Specials, in which we highlight our favourite resources on business and development. As the concept of inclusive business takes root and people move from ideas into action, an increasing number of sector-specific reports on inclusive business models have begun to come out. This month, […]
Fashion: A Catalyst for Change
The potential of the private sector to reduce poverty is well recognized; however, this has not been evident in the fashion industry. Fashion is one of the most globalized sectors, providing employment to more than 60 million people, mainly women and unskilled workers from poor economies. And it is expanding. According to Datamonitor, 2010, the […]
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 […]
International Development – The Role of an Enabling Business
FRSA, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Herbert Smith LLP Global law firm Herbert Smith is currently engaged in a transatlantic experiment, one that is connecting lawyers from our London office with the Government of Sierra Leone. The experiment is designed to answer a question about what professional services firms can do to help developing countries grow […]
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 […]