Innovations In Emerging Markets

Social Entrepreneurs in Emerging Markets Show the Way

Egypt's Sekem company is revolutionazing the organic farming business locally, while pioneering sustainable methods of working the land and protecting the habitat. Since its establishment in 1977, the company has expanded its business from farming to the manufacture of foods, textiles, and health products.

By 1993, three years after Sekem began working with the Egyptian government to encourage the use of organic methods to control pests and improve crop yields, Egypt banned crop dusting. Meanwhile, the local rural communities where Sekem operates have access to the schools, vocational training, clinics, and cultural services the company established. The Sekem example and others are featured in the International Herald Tribune article "Good Works: A Lesson from Small Businesses".

The IHT title underlines the fact that small businesses in emerging markets are the ones providing lessons on how to embed sustainable environmental and social practices in profitable business practices. Sekem has partnered with IFC on several projects. The most recent was IFC's 2003 investment in Sekem's organic farming project. Click here for details.

Mexico Cement Industry Leader Helps Boost Home Ownership for the Poor

In Mexico, where roughly 50 million people live on less than $2 a day, cement industry leader Cemex now sells its building materials to a market it never thought of previously: the poor, an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review says. The summer 2005 article, "Block by Block: How One of the World's Largest Companies Builds Loyalty among Mexico's Poor" details how a crippling national currency devaluation forced the company to rethink its business model.

With help from an urban planner and much firsthand research into the home-building patterns of Mexico's poorest, Cemex developed a global model to reach previously ignored communities. Among the products it developed is a program "Patrimonio Hoy" (Personal Property Today), which combines aspects of "microlending with community money-pooling to help low-income Mexicans build homes faster and better." According to the article, the success of the program is leading Cemex competitors in materials building to develop their own versions.

A recent conference on Housing Finance was held at the IFC. Click here for information.