Search Results

In: Stories

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.

In: Stories

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...

In: Stories

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.

In: Stories

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.

In: Stories

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.

In: Stories

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,...

In: Stories

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...

In: Stories

PETSTAR: Adding Value to the Chain of Recycling While Improving the Scavengers’ Working Conditions

With about 85,000 tons of waste generated every day, Mexico is the 10th largest garbage producer in the world. At the same time, tens of thousands of scavengers, including children, are making a living by collecting saleable items from open-air dumps in very poor, informal conditions.

In: Stories

Strategic partnerships improve child health in Mali

Pésinet, devised in 2002 by Brussels-based Afrique Initiatives, is an early warning method for monitoring the health conditions of children from low-income families. Its concept is simple: mothers subscribe to Pésinet’s services for a nominal fee, and in return a local Pésinet representative weighs...

In: Stories

Vodafone and Safaricom Kenya: Extending the Range and Reliability of Financial Services to the Poor in Rural Kenya

Kenya has fewer than 2 million bank accounts serving 32 million people. To bridge the gap, Safaricom Kenya, one of two mobile service providers in Kenya, developed a technological solution in partnership with Vodafone. The result was MPESA, an electronic money transfer product to make financial...

In: Stories

Integrated Tamale Fruit Company: Organic Mangoes Improving Livelihoods for the Poor in Ghana

The Integrated Tamale Fruit Company—operating in the Savelugu-Nanton District in Ghana’s Northern Region, an area of widespread poverty—cultivates certified organic mangos for local and export markets. To boost its power in the export market with higher production volumes, the company established a...

In: Stories

A to Z Textile Mills: A Public Private Partnership Providing Long-Lasting Anti-Malaria Bed Nets to the Poor in Tanzania

Malaria, transmitted through mosquito bites, kills a million people worldwide each year. In 2004, A to Z Textile Mills of Tanzania became the sole African producer of long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets, able to kill mosquitoes on contact for five years without retreatment and resistant to...

In: Stories

Partnerships bring fuel services to northern Mozambique medical clinics

In a country with 500 doctors for almost 20 million people, initiatives that can expand the reach of health services to rural people are in critical demand but in short supply. In northern Mozambique, the big challenge for health clinics is the lack of reliable fuel to light medical operations and...

In: Stories

UNILAB supports Governments campaign to make medicine accessible to the poor

The market price of medicines in the Philippines is among the highest in the world—40%–70% more than in neighbouring countries, according to the Philippine Department of Health. Some drugs cost 10 times more in the Philippines than in neighbouring countries.

In: Stories

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...

In: Stories

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...

In: Stories

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...

In: Resources

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...

In: Stories

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.

In: Resources

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.