MICROCAPITAL EVENT: 2008 World Business and Development Awards, for Which Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are Eligible, Currently Accepting Nominations

WORLD BUSINESS AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS

SEPTEMBER 24, 2008, NEW YORK

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), an institution promoting trade and investment across borders since 1919, announced on April 16th through a press release that the bi-annual World Business and Development Awards (WBDA) are now accepting nominations for the 2008 competition. The awards will recognize private sector institutions which support the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), one of which is the eradication of extreme poverty, the primary social motive for many microfinance institutions (MFIs).

The ICC first introduced the WBDA in 2000. The UNDP, a member of the United Nations’ (UN) international development network with 2006 programme spending of USD 4.3 billion, and the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), a not-for-profit organization promoting sustainable economic development around the world since 1990, joined the ICC as co-organizers of the WBDA in 2004.

The WBDA web site invites nominations “from companies and other organizations that document business activities leading to progress in achieving one or more of the Millennium Development Goals.” The eligibility criteria suit many MFIs and three out of the ten 2006 recipients were MFIs or conducted microfinance activities as an element of their integrated services. These institutions included Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund, EcoLogic Finance, and the Siwa Sustainable Development Initiative in Egypt conducted by Environmental Quality International (EQI).

Interested organizations may complete the nomination form available here, and return it to Tina Launois of the ICC at tina.launois@iccwbo.org by May 30th.

Recipients will be contacted in August and the awards will be presented on September 24th in New York in association with the Financial Times (FT), the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative (CSRI) at Harvard University‘s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

The international judging panel is comprised of the following members: Poonam Ahluwalia (Executive Director of the Youth Employment Summit), Khalid Alnahdi (Chief of Staff for Dallah Albaraka), Lisa Dreier (Associate Director for Public-Private Partnerships at the World Economic Forum), Oby Ezekwesili (the former Nigerian Minister of Education and current World Bank Vice President for Africa), Muni Figueres (the former Costa Rican Minister for Foreign Trade), Jane Nelson (Director of the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s CSRI), Jeffrey Sachs (Director of the Earth Institute and the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University), and Guy Sebban (Secretary General of the ICC).

In addition to Catherine Foster (+33 1 49 53 28 22) at the ICC, enquiries can also be directed to the IBLF at info@iblf.org or Sausan Ghosheh at the UNDP (sausan.ghosheh@undp.org). The official WBDA brochure can be found here.

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund: Home

Department for International Development: Home

EcoLogic Finance: Home

Environmental Quality International: Home

Financial Times: Home

Harvard University: Home, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative

International Business Leaders Forum: Home, History

International Chamber of Commerce: Home, What is ICC?, Press Release

United Nations: Home

United Nations Development Programme: Home, Millennium Development Goals, Procurement