‘Made in Monde’: Time to Rethink the System
The magnitude of the impact is immense and growing, and signaling to a contraction of world GDP. And we do not know the magnitude of the knock-on effect of COVID-19 or when it will come to an end. As it stands, the Olympic Games in July and August may even be affected. What we do […]
Fight, Not Flight, Must be the Strategy for Flattening the COVID-19 Curve
The number of coronavirus cases in Kenya has jumped to three after the government confirmed two more cases. President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced a raft of proactive measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Barely three months into the COVID-19 outbreak, stock markets have plummeted, and global supply and production systems have wobbled. Across […]
How Can Inclusive Finance Help in a Pandemic?
The government has been proactive in learning from the experiences of other countries in preventing the transmission of the virus and mitigating the impacts on households and businesses. Examples include: The Ministry of Health’s initial communication confirming the first case and subsequent information on identifying, quarantining, and testing those in contact. The Competition Authority of […]
The Role of Businesses in Preventing Further Spread of COVID-19
The internet has been flooded with videos of handwashing dances; every world leader urging us to wash our hands; and lines for the sink in bars and restaurants as customers jostle to scrub their fingers and palms before returning to their table – all in aid to reduce the spread of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. […]
4 Ways Business in Italy is Taking a Stand Against the Consequences of Coronavirus
Of all the things that I expected to do in Rome this weekend, waving to my best friends from a cold distance and stocking food supplies were never part of the plan. Scanning through the abundance of Italy-is-Doomed news and social media posts, my attention was captured by how many companies were reacting. In this short article, […]
COVID 19 – Accelerating Our Virtual Productivity
Turning social distance in to social productivity COVID19 may be leading to travel bans and cancelled events, meetings and workshops, but it doesn’t have to reduce our productivity, social connection and interactions. Virtual sessions can be even more productive, not just saving travel time and carbon, but getting deeper and more focused interaction with our teams and peers. […]
Gender Equality is Everyone’s Business: How Can Companies Engage Men as Allies Across the value chain?
Our new report reveals how companies have a unique opportunity to positively influence gender norms at scale by engaging #MenAsAllies to advance gender equality. The global community has only ten years to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality. Yet reports suggest that at current rates, the target is unlikely to be […]
The Real Meaning of ‘Business with Purpose’
‘Business with a purpose’. ‘Stakeholder capitalism’. ‘An economy with a conscience’. These are the catchphrases I hear on everyone’s lips this week at Davos. We could certainly do with stakeholder capitalism. Capitalism’s great engine of growth has also become one of obscene inequality. This week Oxfam revealed that the world’s billionaires own more wealth than 4.6 […]
Refugee Food Entrepreneurship: How the Business Community Can Support Sustainable Livelihoods
The global refugee population is at the highest level on record and there is no sign of the crisis abating. The most common private sector response is donations to address immediate humanitarian needs. But, with the average displacement ranging from 10 to 26 years, support is also needed to build sustainable livelihoods for refugees, especially […]
The Future For Africa Is Trade Not Aid: Celebrating the UK-Africa Investment Summit
What is the current landscape for trade and investment in Africa? Africa has substantial economic potential. The IMF estimates that Africa is home to eight of the world’s 15 fastest growing economies. By 2050, over 2 billion people will live in Africa and one in four global consumers will be African. These thriving, young, innovative […]
Harnessing the Power of Businesses to Advocate for Change
Improving social responsibility requires broad, holistic engagements that reach beyond company walls to influence stakeholders and decision-makers, fostering cross-sector partnerships to drive change. With their size and reach, multinational companies are in a position to influence their peers, investors and political leaders to step up the action for sustainable development. By cooperating with each other, […]
Better Coffee, Better Prices: Improving Farmer Livelihoods through Quality Improvements
The hillsides surrounding Besheshe village in western Ethiopia are covered in coffee gardens and wild coffee trees growing under the forest canopy. Generations of farmers there have depended on this coffee to eke out a living. The varietals near Besheshe are unique, with the potential to produce the kind of flavors that discerning coffee drinkers […]
Social Innovation: The Answer to Progress
Innovation is not just about new ideas and methods, it’s about the new ways of thinking that lead to them. It’s also about new data models and being open to change that can improve products and services. In fact, at Salesforce.org, our most trailblazing products came from ideation and co-creation with customers, volunteers, interns and […]
Tackling Recruitment-Fee Debt Bondage Through Technology
Recruitment-fee debt bondage is the most widespread expression of modern slavery. In many parts of the world, it is common for the costs of recruitment to be borne by the workers themselves. Other costs – for example, travel, visas and medical expenses – compound the problem. Workers go into debt to pay these up-front fees […]
The Partnership Re-Imagining the Rice Value Chain in Nigeria
The Value Chain Development Program (VCDP) is a partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria, IFAD and Olam. It works to connect smallholder farmers to markets, land, credit and other agricultural support to improve productivity, the quality of their produce and their linkage with agro-processors for the buying of this produce. In turn, this supports […]
Seizing the Moment: Company Strategies to Address Sexual Harassment
The #MeToo movement has highlighted how pervasive sexual harassment is across sectors and countries. These issues affect, on a daily basis, millions of women workers producing the food, garments and electrical goods we buy in our shops. Gender and Work in Global Value Chains: Capturing the Gains? is recently published, drawing on years of research. […]
How Can International Donors Help Businesses Scale their Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals?
SURVEY: How Can We Embed Purpose Authentically into Business
How Tech Investments Can Help Smallholders in India
Inequality in income and availability of work between rural and urban areas are large contributors to a country’s overall economic inequality. In India, agriculture still employs more than half of the workforce, but wages are low and with rising education levels many young people no longer aspire to take over the family smallholder farm. Instead, […]
The Coffee Price Crisis: How to Support More Sustainable Livelihoods for Farmers
The world is starting to wake up to the difficulties facing coffee farmers. As global prices hover near historic lows, the media has shared stories of coffee growers struggling to keep their farms afloat or abandoning their crops to seek other sources of income. Governments, international organizations, private companies, and nonprofits have made public calls […]