Insights on Scaling Corporate Social Enterprise
On November 20 and 21 in Santiago, Chile, leaders and experts from the corporate, government, academic, consulting, civil society, and impact investing worlds came together for an engaging discussion on scaling corporate social enterprise. The Inter-American Development Bank believes such enterprises offer huge potential as sustainable drivers of development, growth, and job creation. But, like […]
An Anticorruption Agenda for Business and Development
This week marks International Anti-Corruption Day. It is also the 10th Anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) 10th Principle – a welcome signal from the thousands of UNGC member companies that they recognize the importance of combating corruption. This may induce a shrug of the shoulders from many. Of course […]
Flying the Flag – Protect, Respect, Remedy
I couldn’t help but marvel at it – the rows of colourful country flags lining the approach to the UN’s Palais de Nations in Geneva. Such an iconic image, symbolising global unity over principles of peace, security, cooperation and respect for human rights. I was in Geneva for the 3rd Annual Forum on Business and […]
A New Approach to Sustainable Global Development
By Mark Stafford Smith, Future Earth There is no escaping the fact that our world is changing fast. A global population of 11 billion by the year 2100. ‘Severe and irreversible’ climate change. Demand for efficient renewable energy sources and more sustainable consumption. Escalating concerns for food and water security. How can science, policy and […]
How to Integrate Social Entrepreneurs within Corporate Value Chains
Increasingly, corporations want to work with social entrepreneurs to secure their supply chain, demonstrate their commitment to inclusive business, and strengthen trust and brand in the communities in which they operate. Social entrepreneurs are seeking to partner with corporations seeing them as first customers paving the path to scale, ever elusive in the world of […]
From Philanthropy to Social Business
There’s a shift happening in south Asia as corporations transition from philanthropy to a results-based and longer-term approach to sustainability Across south Asia, philanthropic giving has a long tradition. The transition from that philanthropic activity to strategic sustainability is happening but at different rates and in different ways across the region. The past two decades […]
Economically Empowering Women at Scale in South Africa
Ngoetsana Sehlabo is known by her community in Orange Farm, South Africa as Mampho. For many years she was a hawker, on the streets selling a local dish called ‘atcha’. In 2012, she branched out and set up her own store – Mampho’s Fast Food – to sell food, drinks and snacks. After a year, […]
Examining the Keys to Power
Along with all good Plan employees, the belief that education can lift children from a future of poverty to one of opportunity is one which I firmly hold. We should all know the facts; that a girl who makes it through both a relevant and quality primary and secondary education is: less likely to experience […]
How Giving Half Can Disrupt Nonprofit Economics
that gives half of its work away for free. Non-profit organizations are spending billions upon billions of dollars each year on fees billed by service-providers. While expenditures for services like marketing and design grow each year, funding declines. In fact, in 2013, there were 62 billion dollars in cuts from federal funding for non-profit organizations. […]
Children’s Rights and Business Principles
You could be forgiven for thinking that the masses descending on the ExCel Centre in East London last Wednesday were there to remember the ill-fated Gunpowder plot and Guy Fawkes’ subsequent demise. The 5th of November, however, also marks World Responsible Tourism Day, with industry leaders meeting to celebrate progress on key sustainability challenges facing […]
Two Types of Inclusive Business
How does one break down and analyse an inclusive business portfolio as large and diverse as Business Call to Action’s? The 94 BCtA member companies that have set up inclusive business initiatives range from global corporate conglomerates set up many decades ago, to early-stage social enterprises operating in just one area. So when it came […]
Working Toward Sustainability in the Sugar Sector
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Bonsucro, originally known as the Better Sugarcane Initiative, is taking place in Manila this week. I remember the first AGM in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2008. It was a small group then, about 25 people. I participated in the review of the first draft Production Standard, visited the São […]
Scaling Corporate Social Enterprise in Latin America
Support for social entrepreneurship has grown rapidly in the last decade, and individuals seeking to launch new social enterprises now have a variety of options for networking, support for converting an idea into a tangible venture, and raising funds. But, despite these advances, social enterprises rarely have the opportunity to scale operations and, thus, impact. […]
This is What Development Looks Like
This week the Daily Mail created a stir by reporting that t-shirts produced for the Fawcett Society by Whistles, and modelled by British political leaders, had been made in ‘Sweatshop conditions’ in Mauritius. The pictures which accompany the article show what looks like a well equipped, purpose built factory. The workflow is organised, the garments […]
Challenging Assumptions Start-ups Can’t Reach Scale
Can start-ups scale? Can social enterprises reach sufficient millions of people to really crack problems of poverty? This question has been around for many years. Now first answers are emerging. A crop of ‘breakthrough’ social enterprises are emerging. They are growing fast, securing investment and partners, and reaching millions of people. Of course they do […]
Enabling Frameworks for Social and Green Enterprises
Over the last four years SEED has hosted a series of unique multi-stakeholder for a focussed on the Green Economy and Africa – the SEED Symposia – where each year innovative and promising start-up enterprises, that won a SEED Award for their remarkable efforts to address social and environmental challenges at the grassroots, are presented. […]
How a New Breed of Multinationals Can Root Out Poverty
The number of people now living on $2 a day or less is greater than the world’s total population in 1950, when the global fight against poverty began. Only business can marshal the resources (human and financial) and the incentives (profits and wages) to address this tragic reality at scale, and sustain the effort for […]
Ebola Perception Risks May Hurt Africa’s Economies
Nearly six months after the first reported case of Ebola was diagnosed in West Africa, the outbreak continues to dominate daily news headlines globally. The economic impacts of the virus, which continues to spread rapidly in the three worst affected countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, have already lopped several percentage points off of […]
Diamond Development Initiative on the Ebola Crisis
It is with grave concern that I share our perspective on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Thankfully, none of our partners on the ground have been infected. However, their communities and their livelihoods are under siege. The Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) is currently engaged in projects in Sierra Leone, which are helping to reform […]
Why is Intrapreneurship Worth the Effort?
The last in our series of short insights from The Intrapreneur Lab, is Damian Payiatakis, Director of Strategic Development at Barclays Wealth, Lab participant in the 2013 Lab and invited back as faculty 1 year later. We interviewed Damian back in October 2013. The Intrapreneur Lab: What challenges lie ahead for you and your project? […]