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Innovation, Technology, and Finance to make SMEs Stronger and More Productive
An initiative driven in El Salvador by IDB Invest, IDB Lab, and Banco Cuscatlán promotes digital transformation and adopting financial and non-financial products.
Superfoods also take care of Amazonia’s health
The development of sustainable value chains for quinoa, cocoa, sesame, and other high-nutritional-value crops can foster integration into international markets, benefit the region, and contribute to sustainable development goals.
By Adopting Traceability in Its Supply Chain This Company Managed to Become More Sustainable
In a world where sustainability is part of the DNA of business, an Ecuadorian company implemented standards to guarantee socially just and ecologically respectful practices throughout the value chain.
From knowledge to reality: Leveling the playing field for women
What a coincidence that during the same week, the IMF published “Women, Work and the Economy”, the Clinton Global Initiative announced numerous initiatives to empower women and the IDB hosted Jackie VanderBrug to kick off a speaker series highlighting influential professionals who promote women in the private sector. While long overdue, the issue of gender is getting the traction it deserves.
The private sector and trade: ensuring hardware and software compatibility
Like a computer, hardware and software must be compatible. The absence of one or the lack of coordination among the two can leave the whole system inoperable. When it comes to trade, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is making gains in “software” in the form of free trade agreements (FTAs), trade finance and customs modernization, yet more is needed to bolster integration “hardware” – infrastructure and logistics, such as roads, rails, ports, airports and broadband connections.
Measuring results and unlocking value
The more meetings and events I attend, the more results measurement is part of the conversation. What are the goals and targets? How are you going to measure results? Are those results the most meaningful?
Renewable Energy: Approaching the tipping point
Renewable Energy: Approaching the tipping point Imagine pushing a cumbersome and heavy ball up a steep incline with the goal of arriving at the top and having it roll down the other side by itself to a final destination. The initial time invested and physical strength exerted would seem worthwhile if you could just arrive at the summit – the tipping point. This is oftentimes the feeling in the renewable energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Although there is increasing activity in renewable projects and frameworks, developers, investors, engineers and others in the relatively nascent industry in LAC seem to be trudging up a hill, sweating and hoping that the industry can soon move itself without assistance. http://vimeo.com/65930811
Key Findings from the Base of Pyramid Week
By Elizabeth Boggs Davidsen* Last week, top executives of multinational and regional companies, leading impact investors, members of government, and international organization representatives came from around the US and the globe to learn from the IDB and each other about how business models for the base of the pyramid can launch and scale quickly and profitably. The event was organized by Opportunities for the Majority (OMJ), the IDB department in charge of spotting, nurturing and funding business models to engage base of the pyramid markets on a large scale in Latin America and the Caribbean.
How to mainstream impact investing?
We have consensus that Impact Investing is a fast growing field attracting a lot of attention. The Monitor Group estimates it could grow to $500 billion in the next 10 years, whereas others estimate this figure in the trillions. However, we still lack consensus on what exactly Impact Investing is and what is needed to bring it mainstream. In Tuesday’s Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and GIIN Forum on Impact Investing in Latin America and the Caribbean, GIIN's CEO Luther Ragin defined Impact Investing as an investment made by an investor with the express intention of 1) achieving positive social and/or environmental benefits and 2) earning a rate of return.