Inclusive Business as a Tool for Development in Morocco
The National Initiative for Human Development (NIHD)[1] in Morocco promotes inclusive business as an important tool for development. Four factors seem to be especially crucial for the NIHD’s success as an inclusive business policy: Its high visibility as an overarching policy framework, its participatory approach, its collaborative governance and its clear implementation responsibilities. The National […]
Bringing ‘Smart Insurance’ to India´s Poor
Anjali Devi has come a long way from her home in rural Punjab to the public hospital in Mohali, the capital of the district. The three hour bus ride to the hospital has led her and her husband get up early in the morning to make sure that they can make it back home the […]
4 Success Factors for an Inclusive Financial Sector
The potential of Inclusive business models to contribute to poverty eradication and sustainable development is well known – and is increasingly gaining attention among governments and policymakers in general. But many inclusive businesses are facing constraints, hindering them to reach a larger scale. They typically include a lack of information, rules, financial resources, and structure […]
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 […]
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 […]
Wandile’s Story – Changing Lives in Soweto
Watch our film to hear Wandile Solombela‘s story, meet some of the Shwe Shwe Poppis employees, and see what difference entrepreneurship is making in Soweto. Vilakazi Street is a bustling thoroughfare in the enormous township of Soweto in Johannesburg. Two Nobel Peace Prize winners have lived here – Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The […]
Portia's Story – How Bees are Changing South Africa
There are some amazing entrepreneurs who are turning everyday challenges into business opportunities. Portia Morudi is one of them. Portia, like most people who grew up in the rural township of Winterveld in South Africa, used to think of bees as pests – the ceilings of her home used to cave in from the weight […]
Portia’s Story – How Bees are Changing South Africa
There are some amazing entrepreneurs who are turning everyday challenges into business opportunities. Portia Morudi is one of them. Portia, like most people who grew up in the rural township of Winterveld in South Africa, used to think of bees as pests – the ceilings of her home used to cave in from the weight […]
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 […]
Innovative Public-Private Partnerships for Education
The achievement gap between rich and poor is a complex and global challenge. Schooling alone is not meeting the needs of the poorest children. Innovative public-private partnerships for education could be part of the solution. South Africa’s schools face considerable challenges. The national average of 27 percent functional illiteracy masks significant and entrenched wealth and […]
Kenya’s Running Brand Launches Kickstarter Campaign
Kenya has produced some of the greatest distance runners in the world. Since 2011, Kourage Athletics has harnessed this storied tradition by creating running apparel for athletes worldwide. Kourage is now turning to the crowdfunding site KickStarter to sell its next shirt. The campaign, which can be found here, features a red athletic vest (tank-top) […]
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 […]
Aviva Carbon Offsetting Projects Improve 200,000 Lives
Aviva and ClimateCare are applying a new methodology to their projects in India and Kenya, which measures the benefits of carbon offsetting for society as well as the environment. The LBG Framework, a peerreviewed international standard for measuring corporate community investment which started life as the London Benchmarking Group, has allowed the organisations to identify […]