A few weeks ago I was invited to go and speak to the Edinburgh University Business Schools International Business in Emerging Markets Masters course.
The talk was part of a set of guest lectures from people designed to drive interest in other ways of doing business. To inspire and to give the students a taste of what it’s like to do business in the real world.
My talk was split between discussing various types of input such as aid, volunteering, business and assistance. I spoke to the students about our Challenges Business model and used various case studies to illustrate how we work in developing countries, and highlighted some of the difficulties of working in rural (and urban) emerging markets.
I discussed the concept of Aid, how while certain Aid projects are good and beneficial, others can also be very damaging to a countries infrastructure and various businesses.
As an alternative I explained how Challenges uses a business model based on developing businesses to create jobs and income for communities. We looked at examples of how investment, done responsibly and sustainably, supported by Challenges Worldwide can help to create strong companies and communities which will provide the return that is needed to ensure people keep investing in the developing world.
The main aim of my talk was to encourage the students to think about ways in which business can work alongside the third sector and really help people in developing countries.
If you would like to learn more about Impact Investment you can read more on our website at http://www.challengesworldwide.com/
For further reading : http://bit.ly/oPDXiK
