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Corporate Social Responsibility
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2.06.2007 - 04:46pm ET
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'The Private Sector in Development Initiative' Launches Formal Association
(CSRwire) WYE RIVER, MD- February 6, 2007 – More than 25 organizations met in Wye
River, Maryland for a meeting this past weekend and agreed to work
together to bring about a new phase of global development focused on
giving private enterprise and entrepreneurs the tools to fight subsistence
poverty.
Jennifer Potter, CEO of the Initiative for Global Development said,
“Economic growth and job creation in developing countries requires a
vibrant private sector. Promoting and increasing the availability of debt
and equity financing, and of high-quality technical and managerial advice,
to small and medium-sized businesses would have an enormous impact on
poverty reduction in poor countries – and this group is on the leading
edge of creating a broad strategy to accomplish this.”
The group, comprised of funds, non-profits, and advisors focused on
entrepreneurship beyond microfinance, will launch a formal association
that will invigorate private sector involvement in development.
Organized by the Aspen Institute and Dalberg – Global Development
Advisors and sponsored by the German Marshall Fund of the United States,
this group of practitioners aims to focus on job creation, building
capital, and generating revenue while providing needed health, energy and
other social services in emerging and developing countries.
“Thousands of entrepreneurs in developing countries build growing and
profitable businesses while at the same time having a significant social
impact,” said Peter Reiling, Executive Vice President at the Aspen
Institute. “These small and medium-sized businesses play a critical
role in creating jobs, opportunity and hope.”
The group includes some of the most innovative professionals in the
development field with a proven track record of building competitive
businesses world-wide, benefiting those who live “at the bottom of the
pyramid.”
Entrepreneurs in emerging and developing countries face immense barriers
to success, operating in risk-averse societies where financing and
mentorship are scarce. This is particularly challenging for small and
medium-sized ventures that are too large for micro-credit and have not
reached scale to access larger investment funds or financing.
Over the next several months this group will:
Compile facts about the size, reach and impact of its investments and
business-building efforts to date;
Compare the “bang for the buck” of the emergent private sector
models to best-in-class parallel efforts in the traditional, aid,
development, and philanthropy world;
Attract top professionals to careers linked to “business solutions
to development challenges”;
Define common standards for measuring and reporting economic, social
and environmental impacts;
Expand the association membership that will take private sector
development forward; and,
Build an alliance of high-profile supporters from the worlds of
finance, industry, high-tech and venture philanthropy.
Annex: List of organizations participating in the Private Sector in
Development Initiative
Acumen Fund
Agora Partnerships
Ashoka
Aspen Institute
BlueOrchard Finance, S.A.
BroadReach Healthcare LLC
Dalberg Global Development Advisors
De-risk
Developing World Markets
E and Co
Ecologic Finance
Endeavor
Generation IM
German Marshall Fund of the United States
IFC Grassroots Business Initiative
Initiative for Global Development
International Business Leaders Forum
Medley Partners
Richmond Management LLC
Scojo Foundation
SEAF
Technoserve
United Villages, Inc.
William Davidson Institute
World Bank Development Marketplace
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