WBCSD-SNV Alliance: Creating inclusive business opportunities by linking local communities with big business

2010 World Business and Development Awards launched

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) have opened nominations for the 2010 World Business and Development Awards in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eight internationally-agreed goals to alleviate poverty by 2015.

Created in 2000, the Awards recognize the key contributions the private sector has made to the MDGs, demonstrating how innovative business models, backed by strong partnerships, can enjoy commercial success and at the same time improve the lives of millions of people.

Video footage of inclusive business in action

The Business Call to Action (BCTA) is a global effort focused on challenging big businesses to move beyond philanthropy to implement inclusive business initiatives that apply their core business and skills in a transformative and scalable manner, which in turn will enhance growth and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). BCTA features a number of interesting videos displaying inclusive business in action. Find below a three-minute video introducing BCTA and highlighting of the inclusive business opportunities being pursued by participating companies. For more details on some of these initiatives led a.o. by Coca-Cola, Standard Chartered, Vodafone, Thomson Reuters, and SABMiller, check out this video as well as this one.

Charting a course to realize the full potential of impact investing

More than 150 representatives from governments, investment firms, foundations, corporations, international financial institutions and NGOs attended the Royal Netherlands Embassy and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation’s Global Forum on Impact Investing in late February in Washington, D.C. The Impact Investing Forum was co-organized with the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the Rockefeller Foundation and the Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF).

IDB engages its partners in strategic dialogue on market-based approaches to poverty alleviation

In a blog post in late 2009, we highlighted how the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is promoting market-based approaches to reaching and serving Latin America's poor through its Opportunities for the Majority initiative (OMJ - see embedded video below). Last week, OMJ organized its second strategic partners’ dialogue in Washington, D.C., which mixed strategic stock-taking with practical discussion that touched different topics, ranging from strategy and innovation to the role of multilateral institutions in this space.

The meeting was attended by a large number of OMJ’s partners, most notably Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, CEMEX, Dalberg, Empresas Públicas de Medellin, GAIN, Grameen Foundation, IGNIA, International Finance Corporation, Mi Tienda, Microsoft, PepsiCo, SEVEN Fund, VisionSpring, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Investing in local enterprise development in South Africa: Anglo American

Anglo American plc, one of the world’s largest mining groups, recently unveiled a new enterprise development venture that will help to generate more jobs, support entrepreneurship and strengthen local economies in South Africa. This commitment is a pledge to the Business Call to Action – a global initiative that challenges companies to apply their core business expertise, technology and innovative spirit to tackle poverty and contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline.

Anglo American seeks to establish 12 enterprise development hubs in high unemployment areas in South Africa, within the ongoing Anglo Zimele initiative, Anglo American’s enterprise development and investment fund in South Africa, which has created numerous sustainable, commercially viable enterprises and empowered entrepreneurs to operate in the mainstream economy. The new venture is expected to create 25,000 new jobs in up to 1,500 new businesses across South Africa over the next seven years.

Best of inclusivebusiness.org in 2009

Happy New Year to our readers! We appreciate your continued interest in our work. A warm thanks also to those readers that provide comments and send through suggestions for topics. Keep them coming! To kick off the year, here is the “best of” list of the most popular articles posted on inclusivebusiness.org in 2009 in both English and Spanish.