Benetton and Micro-credit

June 13th, 2008 by Doug Schnitzspahn

I’m excited about the cover story I wrote for the latest issue of Outside’s Go.
benetton go cover
It’s a profile of Alessandro Benetton, heir to the Benetton empire and a Harvard Business School-educated economic savant, but what’s so inspiring about Benetton is his true commitment to socially responsible business. He studied with Michael Porter at HBS in the late 80s early 90s and told me that it was right about this time that Porter began to first introduce the idea of an “ethical” business. Sure, there are places to point fingers at Benetton (the company got bad press a few years back over a native lands’ conflict in Patagonia) but when a $3 billion dollar company pushes for a commitment to social responsibility alongside financial success, it creates ripples that make a difference on the ground. The first big salvo, which I cover in the Go story, is Benetton’s commitment to Yousou N’Dour’s Birima micro-credit program. This is where Alessandro Benetton is changing the company, actually putting big cash into a philanthropic system instead of simply using socially jarring images in stylized ads. The collaboration is called Africa Works, and Benetton has put the full force of its marketing machine behind the project with an ad campaign that includes engaging images of Sengalese workers. Micro-credit, first made popular by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank, provides small, low-to no-interest loans to poor aspiring entrepreneurs (fishermen, weavers, farmers, musicians… ), just enough to get them on their feet so they can start creating their own income from their businesses. Not only does it stimulate local economies, micro-loans have an astounding 99-percent repayment rate. And most importantly they are not handouts. They offer a chance at dignity, for people to work to prove themselves, which is why they work. As N’Dour says, “Africa doesn’t want charity. It wants repayable, subsidized loans.”

Read the story here.

Media Bistro also published a nice piece about the cover and the editorial philosophy of Go. Read it here.

44 Responses to “Benetton and Micro-credit”

  1. ct wrote on 08/13/08 at 11:24 am :

    is ‘repayal’ a word?

    good story, Doug, and congrats on the cover! ‘Repayal’ aside, too bad you couldn’t spell check the Media Bistro article for them, though…

  2. Karl wrote on 11/16/14 at 3:36 pm :

    .

    ñïñ çà èíôó!!…

  3. trevor wrote on 11/17/14 at 7:05 am :

    .

    tnx for info!…

  4. Vernon wrote on 11/18/14 at 5:19 am :

    .

    thanks….

  5. todd wrote on 11/19/14 at 2:48 pm :

    .

    ñïñ….

  6. Melvin wrote on 11/20/14 at 10:33 am :

    .

    ñïàñèáî çà èíôó!…

  7. Frank wrote on 11/20/14 at 12:09 pm :

    .

    thanks!…

  8. Arthur wrote on 11/21/14 at 9:06 pm :

    .

    ñïñ!!…

  9. thomas wrote on 11/22/14 at 5:33 am :

    .

    ñïàñèáî çà èíôó!…

  10. Karl wrote on 11/24/14 at 11:18 am :

    .

    thank you!!…

  11. Ronnie wrote on 11/24/14 at 1:17 pm :

    .

    ñïñ çà èíôó!!…

  12. Cameron wrote on 11/24/14 at 6:13 pm :

    .

    áëàãîäàðñòâóþ!!…

  13. gabriel wrote on 11/25/14 at 6:39 pm :

    .

    thanks….

  14. ralph wrote on 11/27/14 at 8:09 pm :

    .

    tnx!!…

  15. sean wrote on 12/5/14 at 11:53 am :

    .

    ñïñ çà èíôó!…

  16. eduardo wrote on 12/5/14 at 8:06 pm :

    .

    ñïàñèáî çà èíôó….

  17. douglas wrote on 12/8/14 at 10:45 am :

    .

    thank you!…

  18. paul wrote on 12/8/14 at 11:17 am :

    .

    áëàãîäàðþ!…

  19. Eugene wrote on 12/8/14 at 11:49 am :

    .

    ñýíêñ çà èíôó!…

  20. marshall wrote on 12/8/14 at 12:21 pm :

    .

    ñïñ….

  21. Travis wrote on 12/8/14 at 6:42 pm :

    .

    thanks….

  22. Anthony wrote on 12/8/14 at 9:59 pm :

    .

    tnx for info….

  23. harold wrote on 12/12/14 at 4:49 pm :

    .

    thank you!!…

  24. edward wrote on 12/16/14 at 5:18 pm :

    .

    ñïàñèáî çà èíôó….

  25. darryl wrote on 12/16/14 at 5:54 pm :

    .

    áëàãîäàðåí….

  26. warren wrote on 12/16/14 at 7:37 pm :

    .

    hello!!…

  27. benjamin wrote on 12/18/14 at 7:14 pm :

    .

    ñïàñèáî çà èíôó!…

  28. rex wrote on 12/19/14 at 11:16 pm :

    .

    áëàãîäàðñòâóþ!!…

  29. Terrence wrote on 12/22/14 at 9:26 am :

    .

    ñïñ!…

  30. Darryl wrote on 12/22/14 at 12:43 pm :

    .

    áëàãîäàðñòâóþ!…

  31. Fred wrote on 12/24/14 at 10:34 am :

    .

    ñýíêñ çà èíôó!…

  32. Gene wrote on 01/14/15 at 11:14 pm :

    .

    thanks for information!…

  33. ross wrote on 01/14/15 at 11:49 pm :

    .

    good!!…

  34. Ricky wrote on 01/18/15 at 8:53 pm :

    .

    ñïñ….

  35. steve wrote on 01/18/15 at 9:26 pm :

    .

    tnx for info….

  36. Rafael wrote on 01/19/15 at 6:48 am :

    .

    good info!…

  37. Lance wrote on 01/19/15 at 6:11 pm :

    .

    thank you!!…

  38. harvey wrote on 01/22/15 at 7:11 am :

    .

    hello….

  39. Jaime wrote on 01/22/15 at 9:46 pm :

    .

    ñïñ!!…

  40. floyd wrote on 01/26/15 at 3:28 pm :

    .

    ñýíêñ çà èíôó….

  41. Antonio wrote on 02/10/15 at 9:58 am :

    .

    ñïñ çà èíôó!…

  42. Alex wrote on 02/11/15 at 11:10 am :

    .

    tnx for info!!…

  43. jeremiah wrote on 02/11/15 at 11:47 am :

    .

    hello!!…

  44. edward wrote on 02/11/15 at 12:02 pm :

    .

    ñïñ çà èíôó!…