The Netherlands development organization SNV and the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development are to co-operate on promoting
‘pro-poor’ business ventures in the developing world.
The two bodies say the alliance will ‘provide a platform for
progressive companies to pursue business opportunities with low-income
communities’.
The Latin American holding company GrupoNueva, which has set a target
of ten per cent of its sales revenues from ‘low-income communities’ by
2008 and is willing to share experience with others, is involved.
GrupoNueva hopes to sell irrigation systems to Guatemalan farmers,
raising their incomes – and turning a profit for the company.
The WBCSD wants to link parties that would not normally do business
together. SNV supports organizations working in development in 28
countries.
GrupoNueva was founded by the WBCSD’s honorary chairman, Stephan
Schmidheiny, who has placed all the company’s stock in a trust fund ‘to
promote leadership for sustainable development in the region’. He is no
longer involved in the running of the company.
