"Fighting Poverty through Business" by Zahid Torres-Rahman
Back in the heady days of 2005, Africa was at the top of people’s minds. The Commission for Africa Report , Jeffrey Sachs’ “End of Poverty” and the Make Poverty History Campaign all contributed to an unprecedented level of international public awareness, policy interest and widespread expectation that we could make a real difference to the lives of Sub-Saharan Africa’s more than 300 million people living in extreme poverty. But today we remain severely off-track in our progress towards halving poverty in Africa by 2015, one of the targets of the UN’s “Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs).
Since the Commission for Africa, Business Action for Africa has grown into an international network of hundreds of businesses, business organisations and partners in the international development community. The three beliefs that sparked its creation three years ago remain at its heart today.
First, while the emphasis on Africa has been welcome, the proposed solutions have tended to be only partial. In focusing on aid and debt relief, hardly any attention has been paid to the priorities of Africans themselves: the opportunity to get jobs, grow their businesses and trade in a fair world market.
Second, Africa is often portrayed as if it were one country on the brink of disaster. In fact the Africa that any business that does business in Africa will tell you about, is one of huge diversity and immense opportunity. On a wide range of economic and political indicators, strong progress has been made
in many countries right across the continent.
And third, a vibrant private sector – from family farms and small scale entrepreneurs to larger national and international businesses – is the most effective and sustainable means of reducing poverty.
In this publication - reproduced in an interactive format here on Business Fights Poverty - we have invited a wide selection of leading thinkers, from within our network and beyond to share their views on the evolving discussion. The result is an insightful and thought-provoking assessment of the private sector’s role in accelerating progress towards the MDGs in Africa and the key priorities moving forward. We are very grateful for their contributions, and in particular, I would like to thank Lord Nicholas Stern, who chaired the original Commission for Africa business group, and who continues to be an inspiration to many.
A central theme that emerges from the articles and the accompanying case studies is the importance of collective action – building new partnerships with each stakeholder harnessing their core capabilities and recognising that we are now a critical part of each other’s capacity to deliver successful business and development outcomes.
Zahid Torres-Rahman is the Director of Business Action for Africa
Since the Commission for Africa, Business Action for Africa has grown into an international network of hundreds of businesses, business organisations and partners in the international development community. The three beliefs that sparked its creation three years ago remain at its heart today.
First, while the emphasis on Africa has been welcome, the proposed solutions have tended to be only partial. In focusing on aid and debt relief, hardly any attention has been paid to the priorities of Africans themselves: the opportunity to get jobs, grow their businesses and trade in a fair world market.
Second, Africa is often portrayed as if it were one country on the brink of disaster. In fact the Africa that any business that does business in Africa will tell you about, is one of huge diversity and immense opportunity. On a wide range of economic and political indicators, strong progress has been made
in many countries right across the continent.
And third, a vibrant private sector – from family farms and small scale entrepreneurs to larger national and international businesses – is the most effective and sustainable means of reducing poverty.
In this publication - reproduced in an interactive format here on Business Fights Poverty - we have invited a wide selection of leading thinkers, from within our network and beyond to share their views on the evolving discussion. The result is an insightful and thought-provoking assessment of the private sector’s role in accelerating progress towards the MDGs in Africa and the key priorities moving forward. We are very grateful for their contributions, and in particular, I would like to thank Lord Nicholas Stern, who chaired the original Commission for Africa business group, and who continues to be an inspiration to many.
A central theme that emerges from the articles and the accompanying case studies is the importance of collective action – building new partnerships with each stakeholder harnessing their core capabilities and recognising that we are now a critical part of each other’s capacity to deliver successful business and development outcomes.
Zahid Torres-Rahman is the Director of Business Action for Africa
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BAA MDGs report WEB.pdf, 1.3 MB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by KREUTZER on
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I think it is important to distinguish god bussiness and bad busssiness .
Nowdays (2nd July 2009) ,we can say that Madagascar is living a civil war in low intensity .
There are much discussion on conflict and post conflict situation ,but it is important to emphazise the civil war in low intensity .
You can take the situation of Madagascar for this case study .
Mainly civil war in low intensity increases bad bussinness ,instead of God bussinness , instead of Tourisme we have prostitution ,instead of agri-bussinness we have drug and trafficking .
I fear without your help and advice and Good will ,Madagascar will be an other Burma (Myanmar Republic) which will increase poverty and violence in East Africa .
Thank you for your attention .
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