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Sustainable Cashew Production in Guinea

Guinea grows about 5,000 tons of raw cashew nuts a year. Meanwhile, its much smaller neighbour Guinea-Bissau, with similar soil and climate, produces 80,000 tons. Encouraged by the growing consumer demand for cashews, Guinea has begun to focus on expanding cashew production—a good candidate for...

Rajawali’s Express Taxi: Working with Taxi Drivers as Business Partners in Indonesia

The 1997 Asian financial crisis created a job vacuum in Indonesia, with companies forced to lay off 1.4 million workers. A decade later, unemployment rates continue to rise and poverty defines the context for Indonesia’s economy, social relations and security. Express Taxi, a subsidiary of the...

Smart Communications: Low-cost Money Transfers for Overseas Filipino Workers

A leading wireless telephone services provider in the Philippines, Smart Communications, Inc. recognized that at least 8 million Filipinos work and live abroad—about a quarter of the domestic labour force. In 2005, Filipino workers overseas sent $10.7 billion in remittances, with at least as much...

Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan - Creating Value for All: Community-Based Tourism

Tourism is a rapidly growing industry throughout the world. It can contribute to poverty alleviation through creating new jobs and providing entrepreneurial opportunities for people from a variety of backgrounds, skills and experiences. Community-based tourism - a type of tourism that is owned and...

Construmex: Facilitating Remote Housing Investments for US-based Mexican Migrants

Construmex, an initiative of Mexican construction and building giant CEMEX, was launched after the company’s success with Patrimonio Hoy, a socially minded business initiative targeted at low-income consumers. Since its inception in 2001, Construmex has helped more than 14,000 Mexican migrants in...

Supply Chain Sustainability - A Practical Guide for Continuous Improvement for Small and Medium Enterprises

This two-page guide offers baseline definitions and practical steps that SMEs can take toward effective management of the social, environmental and economic impacts of supply chains. More information can be found on the website of the United Nations Global Impact Office. The organisation offers...

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.

The Brokering Guidebook - a guide to navigating effective sustainable development partnerships

The Brokering Guidebook, produced by IBLF in collaboration with Rio Tinto, UNDP and the UN System Staff College, illuminates the critical role played by brokers in a cross-sector partnership, and outlines the many tasks that a broker may have to carry out during the life of a partnership.

Opportunities for the Majority: Bank initiative that promotes and finances private sector business models

The Opportunities for the Majority (OMJ) Initiative promotes and finances market-based, sustainable business models that engage private sector companies, local governments and communities in the development and delivery of quality products and services for the majority of the population of Latin...

A discussion paper on social intrapreneurship

This paper produced by the Doughty Centre at the Cranfield University examines the potential value of social intrapreneurship, and provisionally defines a social intrapreneur as "a person within a large corporation who takes direct initiative for innovation which addresses social or environmental...

Scaling Up Inclusive Business: Advancing the Knowledge and Action Agenda

This is a report produced for the International Finance Corporation. It is based on 14 IFC client case studies and draws on other research undertaken by IFC and the CSR Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School on inclusive business, including recent research supported by the Bill & Melinda...

Business Models that Make a Difference

This is a publication produced by IFC (the International Finance Corporation) arguing that inclusive business models are good for business.

Public-Private Partnership for Low - Cost Housing Investments

Thousands of Salvadorans with no credit history can access loans now to make home improvements and expand their home businesses. El Salvador has developed a unique and sustainable financial business model that enables low-income consumers to improve and expand their homes by mobilizing...

The Global Partnership Social Investment Fund seeks investments in Latin America

The NGO Global Partnerships is redefining microfinance and moving beyond the concept of microloans as working capital. It aims to achieve greater impact in reducing poverty by combining these loans with affordable social investments, such as health services, training and low-cost pensions and...

Restaurants Help Romanian Orphans

After the execution in 1989 of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and the corresponding fall of the communist government, the world’s press got its first look at the horrendous conditions that Romanian orphans had been living in. Lack of basic care and attention left many of the children...

Towards More Coherent United Nations System Support To Africa

A number of reports with a regional focus on the Millennium Development Goals have been issued by the United Nations Regional Commissions.

The big idea: Creating Shared Value

How to reinvent capitalism - and unleash a wave of innovation and growth.

The "Cocoa Plan" between Nestlé and cocoa farmers

Nestlé is guided by the principle of creating shared value for shareholders and society in a manner that is integrally linked to its core business strategies and operations. It is called "Creating Shared Value (CSV)"; value created for shareholders, employees, farmers, consumers and the communities...

FSG: Elevating job skills worldwide

The Foundation Strategy Group (FSG) is a nonprofit consulting firm specializing in strategy, evaluation and research.

Shared Value between Nestlé and crops producers

Nestlé is guided by the principle of creating shared value for shareholders and society in a manner that is integrally linked to its core business strategies and operations. It is called “Creating Shared Value (CSV)”; value created for shareholders, employees, farmers, consumers and the communities...