Applying hand-held technology on-site to map and assess thousands of smallholder farms in Malawi benefits farmers.  Assumption or logical verifiable assertion?  In Malawi last week we were discussing this, and the potential impacts of other inclusive business projects, and found that drawing up ‘results chains’ helped give the answer.

Results chains, also known as ‘chains of logic’ are simply a visual map of how new activities lead to ultimate impacts – for the business and…

     This June 28^th, our BIF (Bd) team had attended the Social Business Day event in Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka. To truly understand the roots of inclusive business, it seemed only natural that we would want to acquire a better grasp of social business which can be considered as the main prelude to the former. The experience was both interesting and enlightening, though like all conferences it had its humdrum moments.…

“Poverty knows no such boundaries.” In every part of the continents there is poverty and that is a fact. Various aid agencies and governments had been helping hand and hand to eliminate poverty for more than 50 years. There are companies fighting disease with educational campaigns and innovative products. Economic pyramid shows the distribution of wealth and the capacity of the world to generate income. At the top of the pyramid are the wealthy and at the bottom are the poor. 4 billion…

While agriculture’s share of GDP in much of the world has dropped, the developing world still depends on agriculture to provide livelihoods. The rural economy of Bangladesh has experienced significant structural changes during the recent decades. Firstly, the land available for crop cultivation has been shrinking at about 1 percent per annum, which meant a reduction of average farm size from 0.81 hectare in 1983/84 to 0.61 hectare in 1996 with simultaneous…

May was a busy and exciting first month for Innovations Against Poverty (IAP): Its launch in April with the very first application window being opened, followed by participation at the Globe Forum 2011, and hosting of workshops for potential applicants in Stockholm and…

Nearly two decades ago, the UN’s Rio Declaration had the goal of “establishing a new and equitable global partnership through the creation of new levels of cooperation among States, key sectors of societies and people”.

A decade ago, the major outcome of the Johannesburg follow-up Summit (Rio+10) was around the launching of 350 ‘partnerships for sustainable development’. This year, Michael Porter took up the language of ‘creating shared value’ between business and society. And…

Business innovations that improve lives: Ideas to action

Community of practice event

 

17th June…

Having only touched down in Bangladesh 2 days previous, with no time to shake off the jet lag, we were off on a 3 day trip to the north of the country, boarded with India. Blaring horns, swerving cars, bustling towns, picturesque country side, people everywhere, hourly tea breaks, eating meals by hand, new smells.......it was quite an induction into Bangladeshi life.

On our first day a sales lady agreed to tell us her story. She is the sole provider in her household as her…

Just how common and how challenging are inclusive business models in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)?  Until now, we had very little idea.   Monitor's 16-month review of the Promise and Progress of 439 initiatives in nine SSA countries now gives us an overall picture. It is a picture rich…

The ‘last mile’ of distribution poses a challenge for many businesses seeking to market to low-income consumers. Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) is one solution being used by many businesses in India. Recent experience suggests that although it does work well in specific situations, it is not a universal solution.

Recent trends in India show a growing corporate penchant for micro-entrepreneurs or VLEs for the last-mile link. A VLE is an individual selected from within a…

All strength to your arm!  Yes, let us have more inclusive business, but dont we also need more innovation in the sense of  the productive USE of new ideas in general and the use of new research-based knowledge in particular.  This does not yet seem to be part of your USP despite DFID spending so much to generate research-based knowledge.  The word innovation seems to be the current buzz word but is used so generally (to mean everything that is "new" to at least one person!) that it has lost…

Attending this week’s SOCAP/Europe conference (see my blog about the event), I have been struck by the huge potential for connecting the world’s of impact investing and…