Empowering Women in Cotton Farming: Building Resilience Amid Climate Change Challenges
In cotton, women play a significant role in building sustainable, productive and resilient farms. From planting seeds to nurturing and harvesting crops, women are at the beating heart of smallholder farming that is the source of much high-quality raw material supplied to global retail buyers and made into the cotton clothes we love to buy […]
Beyond Doing Good: Why ESG Makes Great Business Sense for African Fintechs
If you’re reading this, there’s a very good chance you’re already familiar with the acronym ESG. Standing for “environmental”, “social”, and “governance”, it’s a constantly evolving standard that emphasises the importance of doing business in a way that positively impacts the environment, society and stakeholders. In essence, it’s the idea that companies can grow and […]
How to Improve Strategic Planning by Using Foresight Tools
The business challenges involved in preparing for the future are becoming more difficult. From the “push” side, a more complex and more entangled world means that disruption comes more often, and from more unexpected places. From the “pull” side, employees, customers, and sometimes investors increasingly expect businesses to worry about more than the bottom line. […]
Weathering COVID-19: Small and Micro Businesses in Pakistan
The COVID-19 pandemic unleashed a wave of disruption, leaving no corner untouched. While the world focused on the health crisis, a quieter battle unfolded on the streets of Pakistan. Small and micro enterprises, the lifeblood of the nation’s economy, faced an unprecedented challenge. As we delve into the depths of their struggles, it becomes evident […]
Why Doesn’t the Private Sector Talk More About Socio-Economic Inequality?
The private sector has a responsibility – and, in the long term, arguably a commercial imperative – to tackle inequalities through the levers that it can pull directly: improving pay and working conditions, tackling inequalities in recruitment and promotion, encouraging workers to unionise, ensuring that their products and services are produced and priced fairly, and […]
Green and Social Investments in the Global South will Show Returns Worldwide
If you want to predict the effects of global warming in Europe, just look to Bangladesh. Despite producing merely 0.56% of global CO2 emissions, this country in South Asia is among the most vulnerable to the climate crisis. Floods, storms, intensifying cyclones, rising sea levels: the consequences of the climate crisis are numerous and visible, […]
Now Is Time to Unite to Act for a Sustainable Future for All
As the SDG Summit in New York fast approaches, UN SDG Action Campaign Global Director Marina Ponti says that unity in action is the key ingredient to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals The world is now at the midpoint of our journey towards 2030 – the deadline set for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development […]
Five Reasons Why Fairtrade Remains the #1 Ethical Consumer Choice
Encouraging news for those of us who believe value can’t always be measured by price: consumers all over the world are staying loyal to Fairtrade as the most visible and trusted ethical label, despite the cost of living crisis. Research in 12 countries by GlobeScan for Fairtrade suggests rising food prices haven’t deterred the majority […]
How Can We Better Articulate the Benefits of Managing ESG Issues for Businesses and Stakeholders?
The increasingly interconnected world and escalating poverty and climate change challenges have led to a surge of interest in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles. While ESG has moved from a fringe topic to the forefront of business and investment strategies, questions persist about its real impact and how best to articulate its benefits. The […]
How Can the Private Sector Tackle Inequality and Generate Shared Prosperity for All?
Listen to this article (audio generated using AI assistance): The high level and structural nature of inequality in our world is a systemic risk that poses an existential threat to our society and economy. It is eroding trust in our political and economic systems, constraining growth, contributing to polarization and unrest, and undermining our ability […]
Action on Climate Resilience is Business Critical
As the impacts of climate change bite, business efforts to reduce emissions must now be matched by action to strengthen climate resilience. Here I set out four action areas where companies can better protect themselves and others, while seizing opportunities to market resilience-enhancing products. Many businesses are acting on climate change: setting net-zero or science-based […]
Addressing Vaccination Inequity Among Marginalised Groups in Europe
Listen to this article (audio generated using AI assistance): This year’s Immunisation Week, the annual campaign to expand vaccination globally, is rightly focussed on, “The Big Catch Up,” – getting countries back on track with routine vaccinations after pandemic-related disruptions. According to the CDC, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, polio, and diphtheria are rising […]
Six Principles for Businesses to Drive Sustainable Behaviour Change in Low-Income Communities
Six Principles for Businesses to Drive Sustainable Behaviour Change in Low-Income Communities. Creating a more sustainable future for people and planet will require fundamental changes in attitudes and behaviours across society worldwide. This is no easy feat; altering behaviours is a long process, one which requires consistency and encouragement. Business plays an important role in […]
Systems change for social and ecological transformation: putting nature at the heart of scaling impact
Increasingly people are recognising that our current economic system and business structures are not delivering a world that is ‘prosperous’ in the way we want to prosper; that the pursuit of more is leaving us all with less. And we are increasingly aware that there is a different path forward: we can build different kinds […]
Why the Burden on Business Women to ‘do it all’ Must Stop
Glorifying multi-tasking by women entrepreneurs must stop. Women the world over are often celebrated for juggling their business with childcare and household responsibilities. The assumption that a woman should be the primary caregiver and the man should be the breadwinner are norms so entrenched they remain consistently unchallenged. This needs to change. NGOs and businesses […]