Here’s your Daily Brief for December 8th through December 9th:

Conspicuous Correlation: Coltan and Crisis Reports (via Appfrica) – One of the major factors feeding genocide and violent crimes against humanity is that ruling regimes have established business relations with foreign companies, earning them an political ally and a source of revenue to fuel local conflict. The foreign companies often get exclusive access to local resources in exchange for their unwavering political support and usually a cut off the top. We have seen this in South Sudan with Chinese oil companies, and also in DRC with Coltan mining. This excellent report by Appfrica takes Ushahidi (conflict mapping) data and mashes it with mining data to illustrate the “conspicuous correlation” between the two. Coltan can be found in the capacitors used in your hearing aids, pacemakers, airbags, GPS units, laptops, mobile phones, video games, and the list goes on. 60% of it can be found in the DRC, where conflicts since 1998 have killed an estimated 5.4 million people.

A business plan competition for entrepreneurs that deliver access to clean energy Africa – If you’re an entreprneur working on clean energy solutions for Africa (in particular Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Gambia, Uganda, or Zambia), there is a business plan competition for you! Awards include mentorship, expert advice, consideration for up to $100k in financing, and access to over 100 prospective investors!

The Dragon in Africa: How Chinese Investment Changes The Game (via Triple Pundit) – Interesting question posed: Does China’s appetite for risky investments in some of the most unstable parts of the world (and the investment benefits that come along with it) outweigh its questionable tactics of investment?

Al Jazeera Looks At Investment in Equatorial Guinea

Image Credit: Appfrica Labs

Here’s your Daily Brief for November 23rd:

TerraCycle // Outsmarting Waste – This is a very cool up-and-coming venture that is taking trash collected by members of their site and turning it into eco-friendly products for sale. They currently sell over 50 products available at retailers including Walmart, Target, Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco, and Whole Foods! HT Brooke Estin

Liberate Iraq’s Economy (via NYT) – While Iraqi security seems to be calming, a quiet storm may be growing in the economy — a rising unemployment rate driven by a shortage of jobs and a growing number of job-seekers. The first and most immediate step that must be taken in a change in the current hostile government regulation of the private sector. The potential for economic growth in Iraq is great, but it must be unleashed! Peace will not be sustained if there are no jobs.

Weekend Entrepreneur Links (via Change.org) – Nathaniel Whittemore put together a good collection of links from the last couple of days — the cream of the crop

The Social Entrepreneurship Standard (via Change.org) – Pamela Hawley, founder and CEO of UniversalGiving, wrote this great guest post over at Change.org about how her organization has succeeded at creating a revenue-generating nonprofit through a cross-subsidization model. It’s a great read to get a feel for how an organization can be structured, and to learn more about what Pamela and UniversalGiving are doing!

Here’s your Daily Brief for November 18th through November 19th:

Financial and Economic Reports on Each African Country – Courtesy of Wharton Business School (UPenn), a collection of what looks to be final papers covering the financial and economic states of each and every African country.

The Good and Bad of South Africa’s Fiscal Expansion for Investors (via Afribiz) – As South Africa prepares for the World Cup, it’s fiscal expansionary policies bring along both pros and cons.

The World’s Most Intriguing Startups: Innovation in a Downturn (via BusinessWeek) – An interesting collection – check it out! HT: Nathaniel Whittemore

Celebrating the art of the possible (via Kiwanja) – Congratulations to Ken Banks and all who have collaborated on FrontlineSMS for being awarded the Tech Awards for a second time! Intel listed the full list of award recipients on their blog.

Interview with Paul Polak: Over 17 Million Poor Customers Served (via Unreasonable Institute) – Teju Ravilochan from the Unreasonable Institute has been doing some great inverviews that can be found on both the UI website and the SOCAP website. Here’s an interview with Paul Polak, whose book Out of Poverty was one of the first books I read on social enterprise!

Don’t forget to head over to the Unreasonable Institute website, as applications have opened for the upcoming class of “Unreasonable Fellows”!

Here’s your Daily Brief for August 11th:

New corporate form for low-profits has a ways to go (via Anne Field) – Here’s an update on the social enterprise camp’s battle for a unique “low-profit, limited liability company (L3C)” incorporation structure.

María Otero Confirmed as Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs – Press Releases on CSRwire.com – Congratulations Maria Otero! Maria was previously CEO of ACCION – a global microfinance institution. This illustrates more shift in the State Department, which is great to see!

How to save the world at work (via Fortune Magazine) – Fortune Magazine is picking up the social enterprise message! “For-profit companies with a social mission are growing — and hiring — thanks to a new breed of venture capitalists.”

Here’s your Daily Brief for August 5th:

Paul Farmer out for USAID? (via Foreign Policy) – It appears as if Paul Farmer, the man recently rumored to be appointed head of USAID, is no longer in the running. The culprit seems to be the daunting vetting process itself, including a form requiring the candidate to list every foreign national he/she has come into contact with of the past several years.

How is AID-reform supposed to take place if nobody can get in to reform it???

In the works: Major social enterprise rating and reporting systems – It looks like some big changes to the social capital markets world may be in the works. The first is the “Impact Reporting and Investment Standards” — an initiative toward creating a common language for assessing social and environmental impact. The second is the “Global Impact Investment Rating System”, a B-Lab-like system for rating global private equity and investment portfolios. I could see the latter being a huge success — leading to increased private investment in such funds/portfolios.

Interview with Marie Konaté, CEO of a leading producer of fortified infant cereal products in Côte d’Ivoire – Protein Kisèe-La is a company delivering cereal-based foods designed to fight malnutrition while promoting the production of local food crops.

Quote of the Day:

Clinton Re-Affirms US Commitment to Africa Partnership (via VOA) – “Today, Africa counts for two percent of global trade,” she said. “If Sub-Saharan Africa were to increase that share by only one percent, it would generate additional export revenues each year greater than the total amount of annual assistance that Africa currently receives.” – Hillary Clinton

What do you think about the Daily Brief? Let me know!

Here’s your Daily Brief for August 4th:

Investment Into Rwanda to Rise 10% in 2009 (via Reuters) – Hat tip to @whitakergroup for this gem: A more positive outlook than the NYT piece; This Reuters article reports a 10% increase in investment to Rwanda. The growth is attributed to an honest and disciplined government, though there is still red tape to be cut for investors.

Just When Africa’s Luck Was Changing (via NYT) – This article from the New York Times takes a look at the impact of the global credit crisis on investment in Africa. Just as major investment projects were on the rise throughout the continent, companies have had to scale back due to the current economic climate. What I like about this article is that it makes the argument FOR business in Africa. Quoted in the article is M Nathaniel Barnes, Liberia’s ambassador to the United States and the country’s former finance minister:

““Instead of talking to Usaid, I’d rather be talking to a company like Nike,” Mr. Barnes said. “Having a partner like that means jobs and economic growth, and you just don’t get that from aid.”

The article further illustrates examples of business investments throughout the African continent. This is something that is rare and much needed in the US Media – painting a more accurate picture of Africa and its numerous investment opportunities.

Trade a powerful development tool (via Business Daily Africa) – Ron Kirk, a US Trade Representative in Kenya, wrote this Op/Ed piece in the Business Daily Africa. He stresses the need for African countries to expand and diversify trade in order to achieve sustained economic growth. Additionally, he calls on African Countries to improve their own business environments by nurturing entrepreneurial initiative and simplifying/modernizing border procedures.

Diary of a Social Venture Start-up (via GOOD) – This is a series of blog posts over on the GOOD Magazine website that looks pretty intriguing

The Latest Open Source Innovators: Nike and Best Buy? (via Triple Pundit) – The video on this site really does a great job of covering the evolving nature of network-centric information-sharing and the significance this can have in driving innovation.

Kuv Capital and Emergent Entrepreneur Ecosystems (via Change.org) – Nathaniel published this quick post on Kuv Capital and its founder Herve Cuviliez. Kuv Capital focuses on seed funding for early-stage entrepreneurs, but also on creating the appropriate ecosystems for entrepreneurship to thrive. Herve will be at SOCAP09.

The Hub: Bay Area Launches With Fantastic Forum (Video) – I’m including my own post on today’s Daily Brief — I posted video from the launch of The Hub: Bay Area. This is a must-watch for anybody in the field, or anybody working on getting into the field!

Saw this yesterday and forgot to include it — enjoyable read:

An Open Letter to the Development Posse: Lighten Up Already! – Posted on the fantastic NextBillion blog, Philip LaRocco posts an open letter to the development community sharing a philosophy that I personally share — lighten up and have fun with what you’re doing, you’ll do better!

I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time now, however the launch of Transparency Solutions has been quite time consuming. So with no further ado, per the request of a reader: A look at B-Corporations!

I was first introduced to B-Corporation (B standing for benefit, and B-Corp for short) a few months ago at the Global Engagement Summit by ­­­­Alex Michel of HubSF. Part of what Transparency Solutions seeks to do is certification of businesses and organizations in the developing world that comply with certain standards of accountability and transparency. Alex had suggested I take a look at B-Corp as an example/model of an organization acting as a certifying agent.

Being a “B-Corporation” is not a legal status of incorporation (yet), but more a symbolic recognition that a business meets and applies, “comprehensive and transparent social and environmental standards,” set forth by B-Lab (the non-profit organization that runs this whole thing). Beyond the “symbolic recognition” – designed to support consumer-driven change, B-Lab is working on pooling exclusive resources and investment opportunities for registered businesses.

What Makes a B-Corporation?

To become a certified B-Corporation, a business must first complete a survey measuring its procedures and protocol against standards of social responsibility set by B-Lab. Certified B-Corporations must submit documentation validating approximately 20% of the questions on the survey. Additionally, 10% of B-Corporations are audited every year – creating a one in five chance of being audited within the corporation’s two-year term.

After the survey is complete, B-Lab asks for an incorporation of its “Legal Framework” into the company’s governing documents. This Legal Framework calls for the consideration of both short-term and long-term prospects and interests of employees, suppliers, customers, and the community in which the company or any of its subsidiaries work.

Businesses then sign a “Term Sheet” – an agreement with B-Lab that certifies their relationship. Additionally, the organizations signs a “Declaration of Interdependence” – which reads:

We envision a new sector of the economy which harnesses the power of private enterprise to create public benefit. This sector is comprised of a new type of corporation – the B Corporation – which is purpose-driven and creates benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

As members of this emerging sector and as entrepreneurs and investors in B Corporations,

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That we must be the change we seek in the world;

That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered;

That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.

To do so, requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.

Benefits of Being a B-Corporation

Certified B-Corporations are able to be recognized for their corporate values and focus on social responsibility. It gives support to the growing number of social enterprises out there, who have substituted maximizing profit and short-term returns to shareholders as their driving motivation, for effecting social change through business and maximizing general long-term and sustainable welfare.

Those values are incorporated in the company’s governing documents, and transparently accessible through the B-Corp Community website.

This third-party voice allows organizations to show that they fully embody these values, not just market themselves as socially responsible.

It also allows companies to join a community of change-driven entrepreneurs, consumers, and investors.

The Future of B-Corp

B-Lab hopes to see B Corporations become legally recognized by states, given tax preference by the IRS, and be given increased recognition and preference by consumers. The more companies that sign-up, the closer this vision can come to achieving reality.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes!

B-Corporation Video

Given my affinity to posting videos, this post would be incomplete without:

Side Note:

Andrew Kassoy, one of the founders of B-Lab, will be a speaker at SOCAP09. I’ll try and meet up with him there and will post anything new I learn!