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Doing business with the poor

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Private Sector Supply-Chains Incorporating Social Enterprises

Some big businesses are currently active in the social business and enterprise sector using their skills to help entrepreneurs improve their business skills.

Corporate charitable partnerships come alive with Five Talents

Five Talents UK, a microfinance charity, has secured several corporate partnerships which have had a transformative effect.

WaterCredit Initiative: Connecting Micro-finance to Water and Sanitation

The WaterCredit Initiative is an initiative of WaterCredit Partners, an organisation with a long history of providing grants to assist communities with water supply and sanitation (WSS) services.

MDI Betterday Fairtrade Products: Better Quality, Better Health and Better for Society

MDI is a young and small 20 staff company specialized in equitable trade of agricultural products, including coffee, green tea, jasmine tea, snow mountain tea and cashews grown in eight provinces across Vietnam under the trademark Betterday Fairtrade. Production and primary processing of products...

Partnerships allow Maison Energy to provide energy to rural communities in Morocco

About two million people live without access to electricity in Morocco, mostly in remote rural areas where scattered and unevenly distributed homes make their connection to the national power grid difficult. As a solution, the National Office of Electricity (ONE) opted for a decentralized system of...

Mai Vietnamese Handicrafts: Crafting a Brighter Tomorrow for Disavantaged Women and Minorities in Vietnam

Mai Vietnamese Handicrafts (MVH) is a small and successful business, founded in 1990 by two passionate and energetic women. Building on the belief that social development is intricately tied to economic self‐reliance, Mai Vietnamese Handicrafts reaches out to artisans in underdeveloped areas and...

Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange (KACE): Linking Small-Scale Farmers to National and Regional Markets

KACE is the first and only national agricultural commodity exchange in Kenya, and it differentiates itself by dealing with a variety of commodities of which maize and beans are the most heavily traded. KACE acting as an intermediary further empowers rural farmers with market information and...

International Development Enterprise partner with Government to provide low cost irrigation technologies in Nepal

International Development Enterprise (IDE) is a development organization that operates in 11 countries worldwide with the aim of creating income opportunities for poor rural households in developing countries. IDE Nepal was established in 1992 with the aim of developing low-cost irrigation...

Turkish Trailblazer: Boosting Rural Areas through Business Investment

This is a study about a female entrepreneur in Turkey who achieved business success by breaking from the conventional practices preferred by others in her industry and investing in poorer parts of Turkey. Clothing, the industry in which the entrepreneur is operating, is one of the Turkish economy’s...

Multinational Corporations fund Hathay Bunano Proshikshan Society (HBPS), an NGO trying to promote the emploment of women in Bangladesh

While many NGOs in Bangladesh try to generate employment for the poor through microcredit, Hathay Bunano Proshikhan Samity (HBPS) chose to provide direct employment opportunities for poor women in rural areas, with special preference given to disadvantaged groups. Since 2005, the company produces...

Ecotact: Affordable Sanitation Services in Pleasant Surroundings in Kenya

Under the Ikotoilet project, Ecotact builds and operates high-quality, public, pay-per-use toilet and shower facilities on public land in urban centers with particular emphasis in the most disadvantaged areas such as urban slums.

Small Croatian enterprise becomes organic food production champion

“Eco Farm Mavrović” Ltd. is a small enterprise settled in one of most war affected areas in Croatia that started with a clear vision to change public perception of health through organic food production and consumption. Eco Farm Mavrović is an organic grain and animal farm.

Creating Value For All: Community-Based Tourism in Kyrgyzstan

Community-based tourism (CBT)-a type of a tourism that is owned and managed by the local community and its members- has emerged as a mechanism to facilitate locally based tourism activities in many developing countries, including the Kyrgyz Republic. The first CBT group was established in May 2000...

Beijing Shengchang Bioenergy S&T Co.: A Leading Bio-Energy Benefits Both Business Itself and Local Farmers in Beijing

Agricultural waste was previously just waste, burned outside in winter. It needs a lot of labour to handle and also produces severe environmental problems. This successful business converts agricultural waste into a valuable product. Beijing Shengchang Bioenergy S&T Co., Ltd. (SBST) is a...

Begeli and Elkana: BIOtiful Life Through Organic Products and Biodiversity

“Begeli” Ltd is a Georgian commercial company, whose objective is to sell and promote local organic products. Begeli was founded in 2005 by the Georgian Fruit and Vegetable Ltd and Biological Farming Association "Elkana", a Georgian NGO. Elkana currently unites about 344 individual farmers, 12...

Oro Verde program partners to promote responsible mining of precious metals in Colombia

The Oro Verde program, located in Colombia’s poorest and conflict-affected region (Chocó), promotes responsible mining of precious metals through traditional extraction methods and technology transfer, with a view to commercialize the metals in specialized fair trade markets.

Measuring the impact of Nestlé’s innovative distribution model for nutritional food in Peru

In the context of the WBCSD-SNV Alliance for Inclusive Business, SNV has helped Nestlé Peru develop a new distribution model aimed at reaching new markets while providing a livelihood for women entrepreneurs and improving the health and wellbeing of families in urban areas in Lima.

Linking Traditional Banking with Modern Finance: Barclays Microbanking - Susu Collectors Initiative

Susu collection, practiced for more three centuries in Africa, is an informal arrangement for mobilizing savings deposits from clients. Operators collect a predetermined installment of money from their client, daily or weekly. With about 4,000 active Susu collectors in Ghana and each serving...

DFID plans to support development in fragile states

The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) has announced plans to support development in a number of fragile and unstable states, including Afghanistan, Somalia and the Congo. These plans support the Millennium Development Goals.

Venture capital for low-income markets in Latin America and the Caribbean

Investing in housing, healthcare, education, basic utilities and nutrition can not only fulfill a social mission, but can also be a profitable business venture.