Business

Business Innovations & Initiatives

Faced with the COVID-19 Pandemic, Farmers in Ecuador Innovate a Whole New Food System

There was no way for small-scale farmers in Ecuador to anticipate the COVID-19 pandemic more than a year ago when they started diversifying the products they grew and mapping efficient paths to get them to hungry urban markets. But when the coronavirus hit the South American nation hard, these farmers found themselves well-prepared to keep homebound customers fed.
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Why we need to radically reimagine leadership to achieve gender equality.

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Reflections on the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer: How business can play a key role in restoring trust

Earlier this month, the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer reported that the pandemic has caused a crisis of public trust in our institutions. Its findings suggest a new mandate for business, which is now the most trusted institution, to play a key role in restoring trust and responding to social challenges.  
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2020 Hindsight to 2021 Foresight: Driving the Inclusive Digitization of MSMEs

In 2020, the modern economy became synonymous with the digital economy, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth re-doubled efforts to help MSMEs survive and thrive. Here they share four guiding principles that they will be incorporating into their work in 2021 to help bring about an inclusive and sustainable digital economy that works for everyone, everywhere.
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Inclusive businesses’ insights to staying resilient in times of crisis

Inspiring inclusive businesses have invested in their relationships with stakeholders, shared experiences and strengthened public-private partnerships to stay resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic and tackle the needs of low-income communities around the globe in times of crisis.
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The shifting expectations of business: aligning strategy, business model and culture with a sustainable purpose.

We find ourselves in the midst of a significant global transition. Policy makers around the world are directing trillions of dollars of public investment that will reshape the economy for decades to come in the aftermath of the pandemic. The pandemic has revealed, more than ever before, the highly interconnected nature of the global economy and its vulnerabilities.
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Clearing the Air in Darfur

In Darfur, shared knowledge and improved technology is making cooking at home safer and cheaper. Practical Action teamed up with the Women’s Development Association to educate communities and introduce new Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) stoves in El Fasher. Reducing carbon emissions and giving thousands of families clean homes, clean lungs and more money to spend on essentials.
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Impact enterprises collaborate with the public sector to provide sanitation services

Solutions to the global sanitation crisis can be generated by a multilateral approach, blending the expertise, research and support of the private sector with the focus and structure of the public sector to enable innovative local enterprises to deliver long-term, desirable solutions. This approach is increasingly being implemented, with a number of examples of businesses, enterprises and public sector stakeholders working together to deliver lasting responses to the sanitation crisis.
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SEMINAR VIDEO: WHY IS THE PANDEMIC DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS?

Ute Stephan, Professor of Entrepreneurship at King’s Business School, King’s College London, talks to us about the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women entrepreneurs.
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How Women Farmers and Entrepreneurs Can Build Resilience during COVID-19

Because of pervasive inequalities, women are vulnerable to the lasting economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article highlights some of the ways we can strengthen the resilience of women farmers and entrepreneurs during the crisis and aid their post-pandemic recovery.
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How to boost GDP in emerging economies? Invest holistically in girls

New research from Citi GPS and Plan International argues that 100% upper secondary school completion rates for girls by 2030, could lift GDP in emerging economies by 10% on average compared to a business-as-usual scenario. Structured cross-sectoral collaboration is vital, with the role of business paramount to effectively tackle the barriers that adolescent girls face.
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Covid: no ‘great leveller’ when it comes to women workers’ rights

As we mark this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, measures to tackle COVID-19 continue to exacerbate gender inequality worldwide. If we truly want to build back fairer, then businesses, civil society and governments must put women’s rights squarely at the centre of post-pandemic recovery plans, says the Fairtrade Foundation’s Alice Lucas.
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How the development of women leadership generates positive impact

What would happen in your community if women who wanted to start their own business or pursue a professional career had the opportunity to do it? From addressing closing the pay gap, to finding new caregiving solutions, we need governments, business leaders, and investors to make gender equality happen. Find out more in this article.
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The COVID-19 Pandemic is Jeopardizing Women’s Ability to Earn a Living. Here’s How We Can Respond.

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting farmers, entrepreneurs, and workers across the globe, but its economic impact on women is particularly severe. How can the private sector, governments, and civil society ensure that women can continue to do business amid the pandemic?
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Fred Brown

Fred Brown is the President and CEO of The Forbes Funds. A capacity builder and catalyst for non-profits in the Pittsburgh area, USA. The work Fred is leading goes far beyond simply helping NGO’s up their performance. Fred has been creating innovation labs, frameworks to ensure anti-racism within organisations and impact measurement tools, among other things. During our conversation, you will hear what Fred expects to be the big themes for not just the next five years, but the next 30! Get your pens and paper out, it is worth taking notes.
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Making agricultural trade unions accessible to women workers

In October, THIRST organised a discussion to learn from Oxfam’s Juliet Suliwa and COLSIBA’s Adela Torres and Iris Munguia how unions in the Latin American banana sector have been successfully opened up to women, and how Malawian tea unions are starting to do the same. Read more in this article from Sabita Banerji CEO of The International Roundtable for Sustainable Tea
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Merten Sievers

Merten Sievers leads value chain and enterprise development with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). During our podcast conversation Merten shares his insights on the effects COVID-19 is having on small and medium sized enterprises, in particular the impacts on decent work. Merten then deep dives into the practical ways businesses of all sizes can help create and capitalise upon quality jobs.
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Unlocking the potential of young entrepreneurs to navigate COVID-19

2020 has been an incredibly difficult and uncertain year for everyone, especially for young entrepreneurs across the world. As global and local economies have suffered as a result of COVID-19, many entrepreneurs have faced the prospect of failure. YBI’s response has been to help these entrepreneurs survive and thrive.
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Saving the lives of the rich and the urban poor through cross-subsidisation

Carolina Zishiri and Andrew Kaiser-Tedesco interview Temie Giwa-Tubosun, Founder and CEO of LifeBank; Africa’s healthcare supply chain engine. Temie has years of health management experience with the Department For International Development (DFID), World Health Organization, UNDP, and the Lagos State Government. In 2014, the BBC listed her as one of the 100 women changing the world. She was also recognised as an African innovator by Quartz and the World Economic Forum.
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Disruptive, digital, and local: the new reality for Latin American MSMEs

So far, Latin American MSME sector recovery forecasts remain pessimistic, mostly since they have yet to face structural barriers such as informality, lack of access to markets and inclusive value chains, as well as low financial and digital inclusion rates. Consequently, some international projections remain that more than 25 million people will enter poverty levels after the crisis. Do we know what that means economically and ethically for humanity? FUNDES identifies three specific gaps that affect the development of Latin American MSMEs in the traditional economy:
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What do we mean by "Business"?

Dive into the world of business innovations dedicated to combating poverty. We spotlight transformative ideas and practices that are making an impact.

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