Business

Business Innovations & Initiatives

Tom Harrison, Technical Director, Business Innovation Facility reflects on his experiences of inclusive business and where the conversation around inclusive business is today.
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Over the past few decades, much progress has been made on a range of development challenges – including poverty reduction, preventable disease and access to education. Yet much remains to be done and the urgency of dealing with intractable, global problems that put these gains at risk has increased.
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A new report from Oxfam looks at Why unpaid care by women and girls matters to business, and how companies can address it ​
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Join us for a live written discussion with a panel of experts to discuss creating conditions for social intrapreneurs to thrive. Taking place on
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Join us for a a live written discussion with a panel of experts to explore how businesses can foster an enabling environment that unlocks the potential of social intrapreneurs to drive commercial and social innovation.
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There were mixed views in February when U.S. “First Daughter” Ivanka Trump announced her Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative with US$50 million in start-up funds. Many were left to wonder: Is this a publicity stunt by the Trump administration, more of the usual one-size-fits-all U.S. foreign aid programs, or a real commitment to drive change?  
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Pakistan has made progress in boosting women’s education levels over the past several years—yet less than 8 percent of the country’s workforce are women. Closing that gap will represent a huge economic opportunity for our country.​
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The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women has launched a new organisational strategy with an ambition to empower 100,000 more women and girls to fulfil their potential as entrepreneurs in the next four years. But why is this focus important and what does the roadmap towards getting there look like? ​
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The Unilever Young Entrepreneurs Awards, delivered by Unilever and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, support and celebrate inspirational young people from all over the world who have initiatives, products or services tackling some of the planet’s biggest sustainability challenges. ​
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New study from DoSomething Strategic reveals disconnect between brands and their support of social causes in the minds of younger consumers. Savage x Fenty, Dove, and Love Beauty and Planet receive among the highest association between brand and cause.
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Through TechnoServe’s BeniBiz program, young entrepreneurs like Babatundé Oguidi are getting the training and technical advice they need to run successful micro-enterprises.
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As we launch our new strategy, Laura Kelly, Director of IIED’s Shaping Sustainable Markets research group, considers how the private sector can respond to development and environmental challenges – and how IIED can support business to deliver positive change.
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In this, the first of two blogs, Jon Shepard draws together existing strands of thought on partnerships between large corporations and ‘impact enterprises’, and throws in recent experience from work with several corporate accelerator programmes.  Until recently, Jon led EY’s work with impact entrepreneurs in the emerging markets.
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Investing in women has several business benefits – from financial performance to innovation. And companies have made a significant progress on equality in recent years. But are we doing enough to empower women while building business value globally?
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By May 2018, we knew something was missing in the business model for Sama Sama, a toilet business iDE had started in rural Ghana in 2016.1 After two years of knocking on doors, sales were lower than expected or desired. This is a sure sign that another round of design is needed.
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Giving women better access to finance could unlock $330 billion in annual global revenue. Yet 80% of women-owned businesses are not getting the credit they need.  In response, CARE International has launched a campaign calling on the financial sector to develop products and services that are specifically designed to meet the needs of marginalised women.
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Meet Henning Ringholz, Senior Executive for the Small Foundation and the focus of this week’s Business Fights Poverty Spotlight podcast. Henning and the Small Foundation are on a mission to help end extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting initiatives that improve the business ecosystems that proliferate income opportunities.
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The Arusha region is home to Tanzania’s nomadic Maasai and other communities who farm and herd in the plains around Mount Meru. Communities here face life without light as soon as the sun sets, meaning that kids can’t play in the streets or study and families are often dependent on expensive and toxic fuel-powered resources to do their daily chores. It is also here that women are seeking a livelihood so they can take care of their families.
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Partnership overview: For Burberry, modern luxury means being socially and environmentally responsible. Key to this agenda is supporting diverse communities around the world that sustain the company’s supply chain, which means partnering for the long-term with NGOs like Oxfam to ensure quality livelihoods for those communities. But how does this work in practice?
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How can we find the right balance between protecting the forests, growing cocoa sustainably and helping the farmers? Darrell High talks about the action plan laid out by Nestle to help end deforestation and restore forests in the cocoa supply chain.
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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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