What are the poor spending on?
World Consumption data reveals the incredible market opportunity at the BoP By Priya Thachadi There are around 4.5 billion poor living in 92 countries around the developing world who collectively spend more than USD 5 trillion a year, according to the World Consumption Data. The data reveals that the lower consumption segments spend more than the middle and higher consumption segments combined. They spend about USD 2.3 trillion a year on food and beverages alone, with USD 646 billion spent in South Asia and USD 926 billion in East Asia. The household spending data released by the World Bank [...]
Getting started with CSR fundraising
Engagement with corporates is moving beyond conventional funding initiatives By Chaarvi Badani Fundraising is the most important work of a start-up, apart from their actual mission itself. It probably feels like every employee’s full-time job despite their designations! In their quest for funding, most entrepreneurs look at traditional options such as seed funders, incubators, impact investors and venture capital firms. But today, let’s focus on the new kid in the block – corporates and their pool of funding from corporate social responsibility. The new Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility) Rules 2014 mandates that 2% of companies’ net profits should be [...]
Understanding Inclusive Business
Why world leaders are promoting inclusive business as a way to tackle poverty By Priya Thachadi One of my top moments of 2016 was hearing Paul Polman deliver an inspiring speech in Singapore at the DBS NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia awards. Two key things he highlighted that are critical to the development agenda: First, the cost of not acting is higher than acting, it makes economic sense to address development challenges. Second, we have an unprecedented opportunity to work together and ‘finish the job now’ to eradicate poverty. To do that, we need businesses with purpose - from [...]
Building a CSR strategy? Here’s what you need to do to know:
By Aditi Seshadri Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is ever more so important today, most directly because of the April 2014 mandate for companies to invest 2% of their net profits in CSR projects, but also because of the private sector’s eroding ‘license to operate’ due to the growing inequalities in societies. Historically, companies have viewed their CSR commitments through a philanthropic lens—they are spending some of their profits in the community to garner positive PR and customer goodwill. Today, many businesses are taking the next step in the evolution of CSR - moving towards responsible business and recognizing that [...]
