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.

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…

The final round table of the series of events, which have been arranged by Renaissance Consultants, funded by CARE Bangladesh, and supported by MDF and GIZ, was held in the last week in Dhaka. The round table was targeted at finding constraints of private sector companies in selling products in the BoP market.

The participants of the round table were discussing about issues related to understanding of the BoP market, when Mohammad Ehsanul Haque, Regional Business Manager of d.light…

I am sharing see the latest Impact Report summarising some recent ADP projects and viewpoints on key organisational and programmatic challenges in the sector. There are summaries for the key domains - Health, Education, Financial Inclusion etc - and the report also highlights three important trends close to your collective inclusive business hearts:

• The changing and expanding role of business in development;
• The continuing potential of technology to increase the impact…

“Just what kind of company has the perfect DNA to implement and scale up Inclusive Business models?” This is the million dollar (or in this case, Pound Sterling) question. This should be, or already is one of the questions we in the Business Innovation Facility (BIF) intend to answer from this pilot phase of the project which seems to be racing to the end, especially in Nigeria where we just kicked off about 60% of our long term projects within last 2 months. #hectic!

BIF is a…

Farmers are smart. I have always thought so, and that was the only conclusion that could be reached from a meeting I had with farmers in Bangladesh last month. As we sat on a mat with a group of farmers who are part of the…

In Bangladesh, BIF has worked with Agora, one of the large Retail Chain stores owned and managed by Rahimafrooz Group, a large renowned conglomerate. Details of that project can be seen in the link but briefly our intervention was targeted towards the capacity building of their SME suppliers to deliver better quality and more quantity of fresh produce to match the…

The Making It magazine website features the first of a series focusing on remarkable companies that are making waves in the areas of green industry and sustainable development.

The article turns the spotlight on the Viyellatex Group, the Bangladeshi textiles and apparel manufacturing company.

In Good Business: Viyellatex, K. M. Rezaul Hasanat, Chairman and CEO of the Viyellatex Group, tells…

As we try and support commercial businesses to help them develop fortified biscuits for the retail market in Bangladesh - we are trying to draw on lessons learnt from various other nutrition related projects in Bangladesh. For example you can read a write up of the Grameen - Danone Joint Venture trying to produce and sell fortified yogurts to the…

An eminent Economist made a thought provoking comment today about the future of the Ready Made Garments (RMG) industry in Bangladesh, which earns us the majority of our foreign export income. He said that the Global Value Chains of RMG will soon squeeze the SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) RMG factories out of…

When I was in Myanmar recently I bought a poster entitled: ‘The food that shouldn’t eat together’. On this I learn that such combinations as star fruit and chocolate, plum and green peas, land crab and mushroom or cucumber and ice lolly should not be used in food combinations.

When looking for innovative…

“We can do this [contract farming] we just need to start somewhere" – ACI Agribusiness Director

In order for any new business venture to be successful, it must be built on the awareness of what has been attempted, what has succeeded, and most importantly, what has failed. In early 2012, ACI (Advanced Chemical Industries) based in Dhaka,…

Most poor households in the rural areas of Bangladesh do not have enough food to feed their children. That is why after the children reach a certain age (between 5 – 7); they are sent to work. Most of the times, they do not get any wages – but they get three meals a day. Gradually, they begin to get some money for their labor, as they go further and further away from any opportunity to go to school. They remain illiterate most of their lives and their income potential remains very low even…

It is great to hear that since the BIF Supplier Capability Development project completed its second phase in March of this year, Agora have made some really fantastic progress. All of their suppliers have now been interviewed and assessed using the Capability Assessment Tool, and the training is now in progress to support them…

One of the impressions that sticks in my mind from the Agribusiness Supply Chain Conference and Sustainable Supply Chain Workshop in Dhaka last month is the quality of networking.  Considering that that this was a completely new…

What exactly is inclusive business? This is a question that has a much more varied answer than was previously thought.  The definition of the term itself is new and one that has yet to be settled, which opens it up to interpretation.  There is, however, a general consensus on what it should be: a profitable core business activity that also tangibly expands opportunities for the poor and disadvantaged in developing countries through the engagement of the poor along some part of the value…

The AME is targeting to address energy safety, ecological degradation, and public health concerns in low income countries. We work to develop and implement renewable energy projects with advanced technologies that support five important areas: human health, off-grid lighting and cooking, agriculture and food security, human development and energy efficiency.

Los Cabos, Mexico, June 18, 2012—The Group of 20 today announced the winners of the G20 Challenge on Inclusive Business Innovation, a global competition managed by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. Ambassador Mr. Rogelio Granguillhome, Executive Secretary of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation and Chair of the G20 Development Working Group, presented the awards at a ceremony here. 

The world’s leading economies launched the G20 Challenge to rapidly…

If I am not wrong M4P is a market led inclusive approach that tries to integrate the economically (if not socially) excluded people in the market system. It is assuming that poor are by default subsistence or micro producers who own means of production but may lack adequate access to market forces. But perhaps it needs to look into the multidimensional aspect of poverty from a capability approach rather than only economic one. Does it enable a person to uplift his/her living standard or…

Sometimes when you ask the right audience a hard question –you get honest and direct answers! We asked a pool of high ranking business officials, “Who was responsible for alleviating poverty in this country – the Government, NGOs or the private sector?” And they said that the private sector has an important role to play – but frankly they did not always know exactly what needs to be done!

Voluntary Services Organization (VSO) Bangladesh and BIF Bangladesh got together and organized a…