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Companies fight global poverty as part of business strategy

Eradicating poverty is the first UN Millennium Development Goal and an increasingly pressing global issue. Halving the amount of people living in extreme poverty by 2015 (in relation to 1990) is a daunting challenge and needs the collaboration and effort of many different entities - corporations included. Several CSR Europe members have incorporated poverty eradication into their CSR endeavours, targeting different aspects of the issue and producing vital opportunities for people living in poverty around the world.

One way for a company to contribute to the fight against poverty is by engaging individuals, such as employees, in projects specifically aiming at poverty reduction. This is being done by Aviva Spain, which, in partnership with business school ESIC, soon will launch a web platform in order to offer micro-credit loans to people in Ecuador. Aviva employees and ESIC students will be able to contribute to the joint fund which will be used to issue micro-credits to people who need funding to create their own businesses in Ecuador.

Education is a corner stone in reducing poverty. For instance, the so called ‘brain drain' of the developing world is a vital concern as 20,000 skilled professionals, scientists, academics and researchers are estimated to be leaving the African continent every year, depriving many African countries of the human and intellectual capital they need to develop.

Several companies have acknowledged the importance of education by implementing related projects around the world, and in 2006, HP launched a new project with UNESCO to counteract the brain drain of Africa and Middle East. The Brain Drain Initiative provides grid computing technology to universities throughout Middle East and Africa to help re-establish links between researchers who have stayed in their native countries and those that have left. It also helps connect African scientists to international colleagues, research networks and funding opportunities.

In line with increasing opportunities as a means of alleviating poverty, Danone has focused on the issue of health through access to proper nutrition, in combination with local employment opportunities. In partnership with Grameen Bank, the company has created the social business enterprise Grameen Danone Foods.  The objective is to  bring daily healthy nutrition to low income nutritionally deprived populations in Bangladesh and alleviate poverty through the implementation of a unique community based business model, including creating business and employment opportunities for local people as raw materials needed for production is to be sourced locally. Grameen Danone has planned to set up and launch as many as 50 production plants during the ten years between 2006 and 2016.

Businesses may target poverty in other ways as well. Under the umbrella of European Alliance for CSR, several CSR laboratories have been conducted to seek improvements in this particular area by bringing together business practitioners, stakeholders and representatives of the European Union to share experience and explore joint operational projects. One of these laboratories has focused on Sustainable Business at the Base of the Pyramid, where the central issue was in what ways businesses can contribute to poverty alleviation whilst combining the creation of wealth and opportunities.

For more examples on business initiatives addressing poverty and social exclusion, search our CSR solutions database or get in touch with us for more information. See also our article on business efforts to fight poverty on a European scale.

Text: Lisa Hyder, CSR Europe

23 November 2009