As highlighted in a number of BIF blogs and articles recently, renewable energy technologies (RETs) are of increasing importance in the Malawian context and a great deal of effort is being put into researching and implementing appropriate equipment.

In 2012, BIF funded a project working with Global Tea and Commodities (GTC) to assess the potential for development of renewable energy at three estates in Malawi.  The three estates in question are geographically spread in Malawi and so…

MitiMeth: TURNING AN ENVIRONMENTAL MENACE

INTO A COMMERCIAL GOOD

Who would have thought that such innovation would come out of Ibadan, a city in the South-Western part of Nigeria, more renowned for its hills, tribal marks, rich culture and traditions!!  Come to think of it though: Ibadan is a citadel of education that is home to Nigeria’s first institution of higher learning, the University of Ibadan, and a number of international…

by Elise Wach

In a UK DFID-supported study, we conducted a review of evaluation methods and approaches for M4P (Making Markets work for the Poor) initiatives.  The findings are very relevant to other private sector initiatives, including Inclusive Business, and are therefore shared here to facilitate improved evaluation approaches for Inclusive Business.   

What is the M4P…

Dear friends,

My passion is organisational effectiveness. We can measure and learn, but if this does not translate into improved practice then its of little value.

My experience working in microfinance and other social purpose organisations over the past 15 years is that impact needs to be managed. This means clarity of purpose, theory of change and strategy; design and delivery of products and services; alignment of staff recuitment, training, incentives, performance…

A key aim of inclusive business is to develop products with the “bottom of the pyramid” in mind. Solar energy has the potential to become a key player in inclusive business and “whilst there are now a small but significant number of businesses successfully selling solar lanterns and solar homes systems…there is still considerable opportunities for business”.

There are a few key things to consider when thinking about business…

Are you someone who believes that solar power can solve the problem of getting cheap, clean energy to people living off the grid in developing countries? Do you believe that a solar lighting enterprise has great ‘inclusive business’ potential but are unsure about how to get started? If so, our latest Spotlight publication on…

Here is an interesting summary of our joint workshop initiated by CARE Bangladesh, supported by iDE Bangladesh, Market Development Forum, BIF and organized by Renaissance Consultants Ltd. This article was published in the monthly news magazine called the Bangladesh Brand Forum.

Malawi currently relies on Hydro-electric power to supply its electricity needs. The current station is able to provide only 280 megawatts of the 350 megawatt demand which leaves a deficit of about 70 megawatts. As such there are frequent power cuts for the sake of load-shedding; this brings a rise to the use of alternative sources of energy. While less than 10% of those affected are able to use generators or…

In 1999, in the face of a projected doubling of the number of blind people globally from 38 million in 1990 to 76 million by 2020, the World Health Organisation came together with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) to launch a global campaign to halt the rise of avoidable blindness and eliminate it, saving 100 million people from blindness.  The Vision 2020 campaign was propelled by some radical changes in the prospects for the delivery of eye care thanks to some…

SABMiller does Inclusive Business: their cassava beer is a win-win for the company and small-scale farmers – click here

to find out more and…

Following our 'Measuring Impact, for Impact' event with Business Fights Poverty, WBCSD and Standard Chartered Bank, the question of how to track social impacts in a way that provides essential data has been at the top of our minds.



So we’ve pulled together a list of all our…

The Business Innovation Facility (BIF) offers two types of support:

1. “Long Projects” - Long term technical support (in general between three and six months).
2. “Short Projects” - Short term technical support (in general up to 20 days) provided to an individual business or a cluster of organisations, e.g. via workshops

The impact…

Access to electricity in Malawi is less than 15% with even lower access in rural areas. Although there are plans underway to expand the existing grid, many of the people currently living in remote areas will probably not be connected to the electricity grid during their lifetime. Therefore there is a strong need for a rural electrification model that saves households on their energy expenditure, gives them more opportunities to increase income, is financially sustainable and can be installed…

This month's Editor's Choice is most definitely NOT yet another a tool for measuring business impact.    It does contain a good review of ten tools that could be used.   But it's greatest value lies in the way it introduces the task, the strategy and the choice of tools.

WBCSD's Measuring Socio-economic Impact: A Guide for Business seems to be based on a few…

 'Measuring Impact, for Impact' was the title of our event last night, and the running theme of the evening was about how to ensure that results are tracked in a way that adds value to decisions, rather than in a way that ends in a mess of data or dusty reports.

You may have seen some of detailed economic impact reports done by Ethan Kapstein  (the ones with several zeros) for clients such as Standard Chartered…

Duncan White explains the figures behind this flier in more detail in his recent blog. The flier was designed to communicate the key points of the MEGA scheme to attract donor support for this innovative social enterprise approach to managing a number of micro-hydro schemes at Mulanje mountain in Malawi. The plan is to provide grid access to over 35,000 individuals as well as…

MEGA (Mulanje Electricity Generating Authority) is a micro-hydro project centred around Mount Mulanje in Malawi, the wettest mountain in Southern Africa, and so with a lot of hydro energy potential. It has been in development for the last few years and is in the process of going live at its first site. BIF has been supporting the project with business planning and legal framework support, and the business plan is currently being finalised, ready for future funders to review what MEGA has to…

Imagine a world where marginalized communities in Africa no longer have to deplete forests for fuel-wood and income, where young girls in Africa no longer have to miss school to gather fuel-wood and where marginalized communities have access to clean and sustainable fuel made from locally sourced biomass? Imagine no more because this is the world that Eco-fuel Africa is creating in Uganda, East Africa!

On January 01, 2013 Mr. Michele Sibiloni, an independent journalist visited Eco-fuel…

Africa’s wealth lies primarily in its people – a young and growing population in search of opportunity. By enabling these individuals to engage in business, the private sector unleashes people’s potential. Inclusive businesses integrate low-income people into their value chains, thus creating opportunities for this group in a targeted way. It is our joint interest to create a better basis for communication and coordination among actors from different sectors working to support inclusive…