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In: Resources

GSK, Nestlé, Coca-Cola & Dabur top up effort to tap rural consumers

Consumer product makers such as GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Hindustan Unilever, Marico, Godrej and Dabur are rushing to the bottom-of-the-pyramid market with custom-made products six years after management guru CK Prahalad said consumers with incomes less than $2 a day can be a...

In: Resources

A Fresh Start: Asian villages carve out a new life

In 2004, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which credits itself with having saved the American bison a century ago, set up the Tmatboey Ibis Ecotourism Project to lure bird-watchers. During the most recent peak season, November 2008 to May 2009, services provided to bird-watching visitors brought...

In: Stories

Adidas is to make €1 trainers for millions of people around the world who cannot afford to buy shoes

Reebok International is working to develop a "sustainable business model" as part of its German parent Adidas AG's plans to sell "one dollar shoes" in India. After conducting a pilot test for 5,000 pairs of shoes of an existing design of Reebok in three villages in Bangladesh last year, the firm...

In: Stories

New fund launched in Vietnam for business projects that benefit the poor

The Vietnam Challenge Fund (VNCF) Project is supported and financed by the Ford Foundation and is managed by the Enterprise Development Foundation (Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry). VNCF provides non-refundable grants to enterprises to finance parts of their innovative projects in order to...

In: Resources

Polycentric Innovation: A New Mandate for Multinationals

What do John Deere, Cisco, and Obopay have in common? All three companies form a new breed of enlightened Western firms that have embraced "polycentric innovation." Polycentric innovation is an emerging business practice that consists of networking international talent, capital, and ideas to meet...

In: Resources

Tatas going global with low-cost housing

The Tatas are giving a global perspective to their successful affordable housing model, which was launched in Mumbai. Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons, said that Tata Housing has got enquiries for replicating the Mumbai housing model from other countries and is likely to start out from...

In: Stories

Danone focuses on providing and promoting affordable dairy products in India

Since 2009, Groupe Danone, the $18-billion French dairy company, has been developing strategies for India by leveraging on its experience, involving easily affordable dairy products, in Bangladesh.

In: Resources

Doing business with the poor - a field guide

The Guide explores the way in which several leading companies, including Shell, Coca Cola and Procter and Gamble, are developing inclusive business models designed to assist them to create new revenue streams while serving the needs of the poor through sound commercial operations. The companies are...

Mix Market

The Mix Market is a global, web-based, microfinance information platform. It provides information to sector actors and the public at large on microfinance institutions (MFIs) worldwide, public and private funds that invest in microfinance, MFI networks, raters/external evaluators, advisory firms,...

In: Resources

From Challenge to Opportunity: The role of business in tomorrow's society

From Challenge to Opportunity: The role of business in tomorrow's society, a paper from the Tomorrow's Leaders group of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), presents a fresh perspective on the role of business in society. The paper sets out a model through which companies...

Interserve International

Through its offices in 17 different countries/regions, Interserve International sends Christian volunteers to work in the developing regions of Asia (South, Central and East) and the Arab World. In general, Interserve supports both long and short term volunteers in areas such as administration,...

In: Resources

Business Call to Action

The Business Call to Action (BCTA) is a focal point for mobilising the efforts of companies to contribute to the MDGs through their core business expertise. A key aspect of this initiative is to encourage companies dealing with developing countries to adapt their business models to help improve the...

In: Resources

Make Poverty Business

This book provides methods of bridging the gap by constructing a rigorous profit-making argument for multinational corporations to do more business with the poor. The book should be read by international business managers seeking to increase profits and decrease risk in developing countries, and by...

In: Resources

UNICEF Corporate Partnerships - Examples

UNICEF Corporate Partnerships - Examples, a series of web pages, details UNICEF's corporate partnerships with a range of companies.

In: Resources

Responsible investment: a force for poverty alleviation

The current crisis offers the opportunity to rethink the contribution that investors can make to eradicating global poverty. Oxfam believes that investors have a critical role to play in poverty alleviation, through supporting economic growth, building infrastructure, and helping to create a...

In: Resources

Virtual Library on Microcredit

The Virtual Library on Microcredit is an online resource published by the Global Development Research Centre. The Library collects articles, conference reports, case studies, publications on microcredit issues and lists of microcredit organisations. It also provides links to internet resources...

In: Resources

Food Sustainability: a Guide to the Private Sector

A practical and illustrative guide for businesses that presents sets of inspirational examples of how companies can contribute to sustainable food production and supply. Examples cover various sectors and show actions of small companies as well as multinational corporations from around the world. ...

In: Resources

Free Management Library

The Free Management Library (FML) provides an easy-to-access and comprehensive database of basic and practical managerial and business information for leaders and managers running large and small non-profit and for-profit organisations with very limited resources. The FML currently lists...

In: Resources

BBC micro enterprise article: "Tales of Africa's entrepreneurs"

BBC News Online says that while the world's leaders are "thrashing out strategies to improve the plight of the poor in Africa", many aid agencies are stressing that genuine progress must come from "small-scale projects as well as large international initiatives". The article then tells the tale of...