Building Markets

📣 Are you a Federal employee or retiree? The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is your chance to give back and make a difference! Through CFC, you can support Building Markets and help create jobs that bring dignity and opportunity where it’s needed most. Giving is simple—set up payroll deductions or contribute through your retiree annuity to make a lasting impact all year long! 👉 Visit givecfc.org and use charity code 88803 to make your gift today! #GIVEHAPPY #CFC #CombinedFederalCampaign #FederalGiving

Partner Spotlight 🤝 This week, team members from the ¡Adelante Nasdaq! employee network united for Nasdaq Purpose Week 2024, volunteering their expertise to empower two outstanding Colombian businesses in Building Markets Latin America's network. These entrepreneurs had the opportunity to present their business models to Nasdaq employee experts, gaining valuable insights on sales, marketing, and financing strategies that will drive growth and deepen their impact in their communities. A heartfelt thank you to the dedicated team at Nasdaq and the Nasdaq Foundation (Jailan Griffiths, Jill Blackford, Alice Zients) and the ¡Adelante Nasdaq! employee network the for their commitment to supporting entrepreneurs in underserved markets. We're grateful to be working together to build pathways to economic self-reliance and advance economic progress for all! cc: Building Markets Latin America #NasdaqPurposeWeek #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusinessBigImpact #EcnomicOpportunity

Refugees are employable, hardworking, credit-worthy, and ultimately, investable. It’s time for donors to support their ingenuity and entrepreneurship with a sustainable funding approach: refugee lens investing. Barri Shorey, senior program officer of our Refugees initiative, explains how this blended finance model invests in refugee-owned and refugee-serving businesses. We work with impact investing partners like Lev Plaves from Kiva, RIF - Refugee Investment Facility, Danish Refugee Council / Dansk Flygtningehjælp, iGravity, Acumen, Refugee Investment Network, Building Markets, among others, to build refugee self-reliance and fuel local economies. #SOCAP24 Learn what #donors can do to invest in #refugees: https://lnkd.in/g3mxzQwh

📢 Sharing this important message from the team at Building Markets ! We see similar challenges in the work we do at the SME Climate Hub in supporting small businesses globally to take climate action and join in the net zero transition. We need #philanthropy to support us in catalyzing the huge potential impact of #SMEs! Radha Rajkotia Elizabeth Brown #smallbusiness #netzero #climateaction

Why is #philanthropy still hesitant to support small and medium size enterprises in low- and middle-income countries? In the past 10 years, overseas development aid supporting SMEs has risen from 1% to 3%—a tiny amount. And the list of US and European private foundations that have a primary focus on SME growth is extremely small, just over a dozen. Radha Rajkotia, Elizabeth Brown, and Allison Anderson, Ph.D. draw on their experience supporting these firms at Building Markets and examine why the investments in SMEs remain small and what can be done to increase them.

Did you know? Every $1 donated to Building Markets can help generate $8 in revenue for small businesses, creating jobs and supporting economic resilience in underserved communities, and we now partner with The Giving Block to help people make impact easily and tax efficiently with crypto. Crypto donations support Building Markets work to empower entrepreneurs and build self-reliant communities worldwide—let’s leverage the power of crypto to create change that lasts.👇 #CryptoForGood https://lnkd.in/eM_3KVNm

“But are they really poor?” It’s one of the most common questions we hear from funders about business leaders in our network, and their staff. The traditional $2.15 per day is critical in finding and supporting the ultra poor. But as this excellent article from Max Roser of Our World in Data clearly lays out, with only 17% of the global population living on more than $30 a day, we need to re-think what it means to be economically healthy and resilient. Business leaders in Building Markets network live in the lowest wealth quintiles in their communities, one crisis (a pandemic, an earthquake, a period of hyper inflation) can easily push them into poverty. Many of our business leaders in Turkiye have experienced all of those crises ON TOP OF displacement. I hope this proposal of a new measure for poverty gains traction so we can broaden the spotlight to focus on the ultra-poor as well as the billions of others living in immense economic vulnerability. Paywall should be lifted- comment if not.

Excited to join this discussion on interventions that work to support small business growth. Thanks to Center for Global Development, Growth Teams, and Charter Cities Institute for the invitation. Building Markets

"Technology is a great enabler to create a new ecosystem because it is now observable and traceable." - Carolina Duran of Building Markets during the #FIW24 session hosted by sponsor Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Register today to view this session recording, and don't forget to tune in for #FinclusionWeek live sessions through October 18th: https://lnkd.in/e7wexZgE

Tomorrow, join us for a powerful conversation during Financial Inclusion Week! From Crisis to Opportunity: The Power and Potential of Refugee Lens Investing, will explore how targeted investments can support refugee entrepreneurs worldwide and shift the way the humanitarian and development worlds understand quality funding. Hear from: Carolina Duran, Director for Latin America, Building Markets Wanji Ng'ang'a, Associate Director, Acumen Lev Plaves, Investment Director, Kiva Barri Shorey, Senior Program Officer, Refugees, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation 📅 Wednesday, Oct. 16, 9:00-10:00 a.m. PT Register: https://lnkd.in/eHE2kdCT Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) #FINclusionweek #RefugeeLensInvesting #FinancialInclusion