Financial Inclusion for the 'Base of the Pyramid'
Barclays has formed partnerships with international NGOs CARE International and Plan UK to give poor people, especially the young, in Africa and Asia access to basic financial services for the first time, and the skills to save and manage their money effectively. Social impacts 369,000 women and men, including 245,000 youths, were given access to […]
Financial Inclusion for the ‘Base of the Pyramid’
Barclays has formed partnerships with international NGOs CARE International and Plan UK to give poor people, especially the young, in Africa and Asia access to basic financial services for the first time, and the skills to save and manage their money effectively. Social impacts 369,000 women and men, including 245,000 youths, were given access to […]
Essential Insurance Coverage for HIV+ Community
The Unilever Global Development Award, supported by Business Fights Poverty, Finalist, 2015 AllLife, a South African provider of insurance to people with HIV, has pioneered an approach that proves it is possible to insure the “uninsurable”, and to do so in a financially and socially sustainable way. Social impacts AllLife improved the health and mortality […]
A Safer Workplace For All: Business Takes the Lead
WBCSD Pledge inspires a global movement towards water, sanitation and hygiene Imagine that you are a coal miner working 100m underground in East India. You are on the sixth hour of your shift, covered in rocks and soot, and you need to go to the bathroom. Finding a safe and sustainable solution to meet the […]
Water and Prosperity
Water and prosperity go hand in hand for SABMiller and the communities in which we operate. Without water, we can’t, of course, brew beer or make our other drinks. It is simply essential for the success of our business. But without water, farmers can’t produce the raw materials we need. And water scarcity and stress […]
Fighting Poverty One Toilet at a Time
A floating latrine at Chamakpur Haati, Bangladesh. Poverty is defined in many ways, but ultimately it remains a complex social problem. It has resulted in 2.5 billion people or one in three of the world’s population being left without access to adequate sanitation. Although safe water and sanitation forms just a single facet of this […]
Climate Resilience in Action in Nepal
“I remember when I was younger the water in fish pond outside my house came up to my waist – now it is dried up” – Manbir Khadka Manbir is a smallholder farmer from Kwanga village in the Rolpa District of Nepal. He says that increasing community income is critical to combat climate change. Without […]
Designing Programs that Work in Diverse Settings
Rice farmers on the hot, dry plains of northern Ghana would seem to have little in common with dairy and maize farmers in Kenya’s verdant Rift Valley: they live in different environments, sell different crops, and draw on different resources. Is it possible to design a program that has a positive impact on both groups? […]
The Environmental Implications of the Sanitation Crisis
Four million tons of human waste per year are dumped into Kenya’s waterways from informal settlements that lack access to hygienic sanitation. This waste pollutes drinking water and spreads disease far beyond the communities generating the waste. Providing hygienic sanitation sustainably means more than setting up toilets: it requires collecting the waste efficiently and treating […]
Could You Be A Business Mentor to a Ghanaian SME?
Finding credible local suppliers that can deliver goods and services to time, quality and scale is a challenge that businesses experience everyday in Africa. Yet on the other hand, sourcing locally remains critical to the long-term success of any business on the continent. As a result of this gap, significant investment and job creating opportunities […]
The Inspiring Possibility of Baobab
Twelve years ago I was working in the advertising industry, creating and launching brands for big multinational companies; investing all my energy promoting products l didn’t particularly believe in (like nasal decongestants and frozen ready meals) for people who were largely unappreciative. And I was thinking – what am I doing with my life? At […]
Investing Directly in Water Resource Management
This leadership perspective is part of a series on the theme of creating business value and development impact in the WASH sector. The series and accompanying discussion paper are co-produced by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor and Business Fights Poverty. Water is central to The Coca-Cola Company’s business. Of course, water is the […]
Using Mobile Apps and “Big Data” to Combat Water Losses
This leadership perspective is part of a series on the theme of creating business value and development impact in the WASH sector. The series and accompanying discussion paper are co-produced by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor and Business Fights Poverty. As social technology becomes more prevalent, governments are looking for ways to be […]
Engaging Employees to Deliver on WASH Goals
This leadership perspective is part of a series on the theme of creating business value and development impact in the WASH sector. The series and accompanying discussion paper are co-produced by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor and Business Fights Poverty. In 2008, Diageo announced a slate of sustainability targets that cut across carbon […]
The Finalists: Unilever Global Development Award
The Unilever Global Development Award supported by Business Fights Poverty, identifies business programmes that are demonstrating a positive impact in addressing global poverty as captured in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Addressing these challenges is vital to achieving the transformative change needed to create a fairer society and a more sustainable future for all. […]
Attracting African Capital to Invest in African SMEs
Cameroun Breuvages, Cameroon, Photo Credit: © Bechir Malum What does it take to finance early-stage Small and Growing Businesses in Africa? A new handbook shares the experience of African investors, and shows how building local ecosystems and attracting African capital will enable the growth of the sector. Investing in Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs) in […]
Addressing WASH Needs Outside the Factory
This leadership perspective is part of a series on the theme of creating business value and development impact in the WASH sector. The series and accompanying discussion paper are co-produced by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor and Business Fights Poverty. Supporting suppliers with initiatives and programmes that improve their operations beyond auditing is […]
Helping to Create New Toilet Businesses in India
This leadership perspective is part of a series on the theme of creating business value and development impact in the WASH sector. The series and accompanying discussion paper are co-produced by Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor and Business Fights Poverty. As one of the world’s fastest growing emerging economies, India presents a significant […]
Three Ways to Strengthen Healthcare Systems
The Ebola outbreak exposed what we have all known for many years – healthcare systems in the poorest countries are chronically underfunded, under-resourced and fragmented. This leaves them ill-equipped to deal with everyday challenges like malaria and diarrhoea – that claim hundreds of thousands of children’s lives each year – let alone public health crises […]
The Power of the Mobile Phone to Change Lives
Celeste Boca holding the airtime (phone credit) that she sells. She enrolled in AMIMO’s (Association of Migrant Miners Mozambique) income generating activities workshop, supported by VSO through the Phoning Out Poverty and AIDS (POPA) project. The training is also supported by Mcel, a Mozambican phone company, who provide subsidized airtime that the women can sell […]