Earlier this year we took a group of philanthropists and partners to visit some of the social businesses in our portfolio in Uganda including Godson Commodities, Impact Water&Tugende. We also visited Kenya to see some of our pipeline companies. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet not only with the social entrepreneurs, but with the people whose lives have been changed with the products, services and higher incomes that the social businesses provide.

India has an enormous population of 1.4 billion, within it there are a staggering amount of people who live rurally with no access to a reliable or regular electricity supply. Roughly a third of the planet’s electricity deficit is in India with only 82% of its inhabitants having access to electricity – meaning a total of 239 million people are left in darkness (as of 2016).

Is it possible for a fledgling social business to source to a large corporation? Sounds tough, but we know it can work! Corporations have so much to learn from social businesses about putting people and the planet first - and corporations are a great opportunity for a social business looking to scale. It can be the perfect combination. But it needs work.

In this interview, we uncover the steps that Zurich is taking to implement social procurement in their organisation including the nuances of working with the local implementation of an international strategy, as well as ambitions for the future.