Latest
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Redefining ‘Business as Usual’: Three Ways to Overcome Barriers to ESG and Climate Finance
Climate change imposes significant costs on the economy, and addressing the crisis is key to businesses’ long-term success and viability. But as Roger-Mark De Souza at Pact explains, despite the growing urgency of the need, the business case for moving toward sustainability – and the fact that up to 80-90% of investors want to invest in socially and environmentally friendly ways – actual green investing hovers at just 10%. He explores the reasons for the gap between investor interest and action, and proposes three ways to address it.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment, Investing
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In Defense of Wealth Creators: Why Globalization, Outsourcing – And Rich People – Are a Good Thing for Developed and Emerging Economies
International trade breaks down borders and provides societal and economic advancements in countries around the world. But as Derek Bullen at S.i. Systems points out, despite these benefits, there's a widespread perception that the businesses and individuals that drive this globalized, free market system only bring wealth to themselves. He argues that criticisms of globalization – and the outsourcing and wealth concentration it involves – are fundamentally flawed, and explains how wealthy individuals and their businesses benefit both affluent and emerging economies.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Implementing Effective Innovation Challenges: Three Lessons from the Last Mile Distribution Sector
Last mile distributors (LMDs) are key to bringing life-changing products to hard-to-reach consumers, and innovation is essential to their work. But as Emma Colenbrander and Charlotte Taylor at the Global Distributors Collective and Gerwin Jansen at Bopinc explain, these innovations are often not replicated, leading LMDs to spend time and resources reinventing the wheel. They explore how innovation challenges can foster greater replicability and inclusivity, and share three key insights for LMDs and other businesses and organizations working to support innovation at the last mile.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Technology
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India’s Women Business Correspondents are Struggling: Three Steps to Increase Their Viability – And Boost Financial Inclusion
India is home to 17% of the world’s total female population, yet persistent gender gaps exist in the country's labor force – and its financial inclusion efforts. As Gaurav Sinha and Manpreet Kaur at Grameen Foundation India explain, these gender issues also impact India's Business Correspondents (BCs) – retail agents engaged by banks to provide financial services outside of bank branches or ATMs. They discuss how Grameen Foundation's Mittras program is addressing the obstacles faced by women BCs, and explore three ways to better support them.
- Categories
- Finance
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Strengthening the ‘Environment’ Component of ESG: How Financial Institutions Can Bring Green Financing into the Mainstream in India
Environment, social and governance (ESG) reporting is a critical enabler for many companies that hope to leverage business for social good. But according to Aryasilpa Adhikari and Priyank Sharma at the Inclusive Finance India Initiative and Srishty Anand at Fair Finance India, though Indian financial institutions have shown an increased focus on the social and governance components of the ESG framework, the environment component has generally been less of a priority. They explore several ways India can change this dynamic and bring green finance into the mainstream.
- Categories
- Environment, Finance, Investing
