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.
As part of this, Henning is one of the Core Group leading the Business Fights Poverty Challenge: ‘What can large business do to strengthen small business ecosystems in frontier markets?’
Henning’s experience in small businesses is personal – having set up and run his own companies and strategically advised others. Whilst his insight into the development space spans 15 years, including time at Cambridge, Harvard and MIT exploring innovative approaches to combat poverty through market-based means.
During this podcast conversation, Henning shares his insights about why: thinking on corporate-enterprise partnerships need to move beyond linear value chain formulas to an ecosystem approach; the requirement of complex understanding and simple actions in order to create lasting social change; before exploring how the role of donor organisations is evolving.
Henning share’s his hope that the Challenge will lead to real understanding of how large business and small businesses can work together for mutual benefit in frontier markets.
Henning’s closing words provide wise advice for those looking to make real societal changes. He explains that the ways we might make lasting change are different depending on which sector or background we come from. Before concluding that engaging deeply is a key to success: “Try to understand the world from others’ perspectives. Take time to know people on a personal level.”
For more information and to sign up to follow the Business Fights Poverty Challenge: ‘What can large business do to strengthen small business ecosystems in frontier markets?’ please follow the link.
