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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...

ADAPT provides good quality green homes in Egypt

As a result of neglecting construction codes in informal areas more than half of Egypt’s housing stock has been built without monitoring or assistance. Un-planned housing and public spaces have left a mark on the country’s architecture, infrastructure and environmental sustainability, creating a...

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.

Čistoća: the First System of Selective Waste Disposal in Montenegro

In order to maintain their town’s popularity as a tourist destination, the municipal officials of Herceg Novi realized that they needed to preserve natural resources by reducing waste and promoting recycling. As a result, the municipality decided to re-organize Čistoća, the public waste management...

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...

SEKEM: A Holistic Egyptian Initiative

After living in Austria for 21 years, Ibrahim Abouleish returned home to Egypt to do something about the difficulties he observed during visits. In 1977, he founded the Sekem initiative to promote social and environmental development through economic and cultural activities.

Sanofi-aventis and WHO partner to fight sleeping sickness in Africa

Sanofi-aventis, the largest pharmaceutical company in Europe and the fourth-largest in the world, began a partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001 to fight sleeping sickness and other neglected diseases affecting the world’s poorest people.

Votorantim Celulose e Papel (VCP) in Brazil: Planting eucalyptus in partnership with the rural poor

Brazil suffers from high income inequality and widespread poverty, especially in rural areas. Despite recent policies to support rural settlements through land reform, a mismatch remains between the rural population’s social demands and the state’s capacity to respond.

Danone Poland: Affordable Milk Porridge for Low-Income Families

In 2006 Danone Poland launched a breakfast product which has a high nutritional value for children and is affordable for low-income consumers. A milk porridge product based on semolina and milk. Milk Start is enriched with vitamins and minerals. To make the initiative financially sustainable,...

Amanco: Providing Irrigation Systems to the Rural Poor

For decades, small farmers in Latin America have faced a grim outlook: low productivity and inefficiency. That was the background for the decision of Amanco, a subsidiary of the conglomerate GrupoNueva, to develop a hybrid value chain model for serving low-income markets. As part of that plan, the...