A quick update on two February events hosted by Opportunities for the Majority at the IDB.
This is not a full blog post, but just a quick update on two big events hosted by the IDB's Opportunities for the Majority Initiative this week.
News from around the Majority Markets community: New projects, upcoming events and recommended readings, including a tool for companies developing inclusive business models, a University of Michigan workshop on evaluating impact and a series on social entrepreneurship.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development: WBSCD introduced a presentation and simulation tool, “The Inclusive Business Challenge.” This Power Point-based tool is designed to help guide companies through the process of understanding the risks and rewards of developing and launching inclusive business ventures. It was produced by the members of its 2009 Future Leadership Team, a WBSCD program that brings up and coming business professionals together, both to develop leadership skills and to deepen their understanding of the role busines
Read about an innovative project being launched by a Peruvian social entrepreneur who hopes to involve citizens in the work of investing in their country's future.
I recently spoke with Guillermo MacLean, a social entrepreneur with a background in banking and finance. He is founder of a company called Social Futures Exchange Corp. (SFFX), which has the intriguing motto, “Anything a society truly wants is financeable and achievable.” He is developing a set of financial products and a system through which average citizens concerned about social problems in their country can play a direct role in solving those problems.
At recent conference, the "Engineering for the Developing World Summit," scientists and academics heard about the important role technology can play in engaging with the base of the pyramid. Staff blogger Elizabeth Terry shares an account of one panel and looks at what the audience might do with this new knowledge.
Late last year we told you about a workshop held in Santiago de Chile for engineering professors from leading Latin American universities, which was all about introducing them to the important role technology can play in making new products and services available to the base of the pyramid.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and the World Food Programme are working together to provide a "premix" of vitamin and mineral supplements to Haitians struggling after last month's earthquake. Find out how this effort is part of a unique opportunity for the private sector to help fight hunger.
In the weeks since the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, we have all read heartbreaking stories, like this one in the New York Times, about the millions of Haitians left struggling to meet basic daily needs. So I was heartened to see an announcement from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition regarding their collaboration with the U.N. World Food Programme.
Following President Obama’s State of the Union address, we highlight the need to support innovative business models like Jeff Brown’s supermarkets in inner cities in the United States and Mi Tienda’s network of rural grocery stores in Mexico.
At President Obama’s State of the Union address last night, Jeff Brown, a grocery store owner from New Jersey was sitting in the gallery with the First Lady. In something of a Washington tradition, every year the White House invites “real people” to attend the speech and serve as living examples of the president’s policy proposals. In this case, Brown was chosen because of the four Shop-Rite supermarkets he has opened in poor neighborhoods in Philadelphia, and for the White House he stands for creating jobs and supporting good health.
