1st Edition
Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Business Solutions for Poverty Alleviation from Around the World
In Entrepreneurship and Sustainability the editors and contributors challenge the notion that not-for-profit social entrepreneurship is the only sort that can lead to the alleviation of poverty. Entrepreneurship for profit is not just about the entrepreneur doing well. Entrepreneurs worldwide are leading successful for-profit ventures which contribute to poverty alleviation in their communities. With the challenge of global poverty before them, entrepreneurs continue to develop innovative, business-oriented ventures that deliver promising solutions to this complex and urgent agenda. This book explores how to bring commercial investors together with those who are best placed to reach the poorest customers. With case studies from around the World, the focus of the contributions is on the new breed of entrepreneurs who are blending a profit motive with a desire to make a difference in their communities and beyond borders. A number of the contributions here also recognize that whilst much research has been devoted to poverty alleviation in developing countries, this is only part of the story. Studies in this volume also focus upon enterprise solutions to poverty in pockets of significant deprivation in high-income countries, such as the Appalachia region of the US, in parts of Europe, and the richer Asian countries. Much has been written about the achievements of socially orientated non-profit microfinance institutions. This valuable, academically rigorous but accessible book will help academics, policy makers, and business people consider what the next generation of more commercially orientated banks for the 'bottom billion' might look like.
Biography
Daphne Halkias, PhD. is Senior Research Fellow at The Center for Youth and Family Enterprise, University of Bergamo; Research Affiliate at the Institute for Social Sciences, Cornell University; an Affiliate at Institute of Coaching, McLean Hospital at Harvard Medical School: and Research Associate at the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California, San Diego. Halkias is CEO of Executive Coaching Consultants and Editor of the International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She is a Member of 'Business Fights Poverty' Paul W. Thurman, MBA, is Clinical Professor, School of International and Public Affairs and Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York. His international teaching, consulting, coaching and management experience spans strategic visioning, operations and change management, and technology strategy and implementation. Thurman sits on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation and is a member of ’Business Fights Poverty’.
'Fortunately, for the past decade or so a small but growing minority of the field of international development has seen the light and changed course. They are the unsung heroes of the modern world, struggling against tremendous odds to help the local business sector in poor countries. The system is still overwhelmingly against them, but they make new converts every year. We who live well, who already benefit from a local business sector, salute them. This book gives you a window into this new sub-field of international development that aims to fight poverty through local business. Read it for inspiration, both practical and spiritual: it gives you ideas to use and adapt elsewhere if you're in the sub-field or want to join it. And, most of all, it gives us hope that all is not lost.' William R. Duggan, Columbia University, USA and Co-Author with Glenn Hubbard of The Aid Trap:Hard Truths About Ending Poverty 'This is a book of inspiring and important stories for anyone interested in making this world a better place. Whether you are a CEO, student or aspiring professional, this book provides a refreshing perspective on how and why entrepreneurs around the world are pioneering innovative business solutions to poverty.' Zahid Torres-Rahman, Founder and Director, Business Fights Poverty and CEO, Inspiris Ltd 'In my years of working in developing countries, I have always been struck by the power of entrepreneurship as an effective means of poverty reduction. This global perspective on entrepreneurship as a means of poverty alleviation is a welcome addition to the ongoing development conversation.' Howard S. Friedman, Columbia University, USA and author of Measure of a Nation ’The cases analysed in this book are, no doubt, inspiring for researchers, theoreticians and practitioners in CSR, green economy and sustainable development. They offer excellent basic material for in-depth discussions in classes of both new generations of sociologists (and economists in p
