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Doing business with the poor

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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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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,...

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.

Working with the community to grow coconut tree business in Indonesia

Due to the abundance and ubiquity of coconut trees and plantations in Indonesia, there are potentially enormous social and commercial benefits that can be gained from integrating local communities in the production of high value coconut-based products. Indonesia has about 3.7 million hectare of...

PROMASOL partners to provide green energy and create jobs in Morocco

For a country like Morocco with 3,000 hours of sun per year, totally depending on imports for its energy needs seems like a paradox. Being aware of such a situation, Moroccan authorities aimed to benefit from renewable sources of energy to produce at least 10% of the country’s energy needs by 2010....

Partnerships allow Rural Finance Corporation to promote rural development in Moldova

Rural Finance Corporation (RFC) is a non-bank for-profit financial institution that has been functioning on the financial market of the Republic of Moldova for 10 years. Its mission is to directly take action against poverty in Moldova and promote rural development, offering favorable financial...

Saraman partners to provide affordable and green earthquake-Safe Schools and Housing

Housing is a major challenge for the rising young population of developing countries. For households who have their dwelling as their main asset and shelter, the robustness of the construction is crucial, especially in earthquake-prone areas. Yet, in low-income markets, conventional construction...

SELCO partners with India's state banks to bring sunlight to rural India

SELCO India is a Bangalore‐based social enterprise that makes solar lighting technology accessible to the economically impoverished people in India. SELCO’s mission is based on a simple but powerful idea that the economic conditions of the impoverished can be improved substantially if they are made...

Tedcor model helps out small businesses with refuse removal in South Africa

Tedcor started its community-based refuse removal system in 1992. Today, using Tedcor's model, over 80 trained entrepreneurs operate their own small businesses in 16 local authorities. They provide employment to more than 1,000 historically disadvantaged people and supply waste removal services to...

TEMASOL: Providing Energy Access to Remote Rural Households in Morocco

In Morocco, despite the government’s efforts to expand its grid-based coverage, about 9% of the rural population could not be cost-effectively connected. Given that Morocco enjoys 3,000 hours of sun per year, solar energy was therefore thought to be a cost-effective alternative. TEMASOL is a...

Food for Development in Nigeria

In 2004, the Nasarawa State Government (NSG), under the mandate of Nigerian President Obasanjo, collaborated with Tetra Pak West Africa (TPWA) in the development of a state‐wide school feed programme using Nutri‐Sip, a maize‐based meal supplement that had been developed and deployed in South...

Toyola Charcoal Stove: Improving the Environment and Health of the Poor in Ghana

Toyola Energy Limited is a company that operates in Ghana. It produces and distributes energy efficient charcoal stoves and solar lanterns for domestic users in the urban and rural parts of Ghana. Toyola entrepreneurs Suraj Wahab and Ernest Kyei – two artisans - have implemented an innovative...

Vitmark partners with small scale fruit farmers in Ukraine

Annually Vitmark, a leading beverages producer, purchases about 40,000 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables from small–scale farmers (more than 2,500 employees) and from about 25 large domestic agricultural suppliers in Ukraine.

Public-private partnerships provide microfinance to remote regions of Voronezh Oblast

The Voronezh Oblast State Fund for Small Business Support (hereafter referred to as ‘the Fund’) in cooperation with a multitude of partners started in 2009 to provide microfinance services and mobile banking for micro-and small businesses in the remote regions of Voronezh Oblast. The...