Business Videos - ViewChange.org

White Gold: Tracing Cotton and Fashion in Africa

African fashion entrepreneurs are attempting to breath new life into Mali's declining cotton industry. Mali is one of the largest countries in Africa and also one of the poorest; the country is dependent on money from cotton to pay for food and basic social services like schools and housing. But could traditional cloth-making skills hold the key to a more prosperous future?

Why Women Count: Uganda - Enterprising Women

Grace Lwemamu is manager of the family business Mulya Maize in Uganda. Mary Kaddu runs her own supermarket business. But both felt their lack of management expertise was holding them back. Now they have taken part in a new national mentoring scheme, pairing experienced businesswomen with would-be entrepreneurs in Uganda, equipping them with new confidence and negotiating skills.

Beyond a Dollar a Day

Pro Mujer, a development organization working with women in Latin America, started out focusing on training. But it discovered that education only goes so far, and began issuing microloans so that women could start their own businesses and improve not only their lives but also the lives of their families.

Dorah's Story: Loyalty Through Quality Care

Dorah Nyanja runs a micro-franchise clinic in Kibera, a slum of Nairobi. She works 14-hour days to serve a community that desperately needs her, and she has found satisfaction in her work that equals the relief her patients receive from her.

Kandahar Treasure

The Taliban's home city of Kandahar is a volatile and dangerous place. In the midst of the ongoing conflict there, Rangina Hamidi, an Afghan-American woman, has started a business that provides local women with jobs creating embroidery. Earning their own money empowers these women, raising them out of poverty, improving their self-esteem, and enabling them to make independent financial decisions.

Ethiopia: Insuring Against Famine

Can risk management techniques from global financial markets help people in the developing world avoid the worst effects of famine? The World Food Programme's new director of business planning thinks this approach could revolutionize the aid industry.

Investing in Africa from Your Lazy Chair

In the past, investing in African enterprises was too complicated a task for anyone except banks or large companies. But now, thanks to websites such as MYC4, just about anyone can use their capital to fund small businesses and individual entrepreneurs in developing nations -- all from the comfort of their own home.

The Business of Change

This mini-documentary discusses a new business model promoted and executed by Dean Cycon, founder and CEO of the Dean's Beans coffee company. His model, which he challenges other companies to adopt, is based on the idea that business can be a vehicle for social change, while also maintaining profitability.

TED: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – Want to Help Africa? Do Business Here

We know the negative images of Africa: famine and disease, conflict and corruption. But, says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, there's another, less-told story happening in many African nations: one of reform, economic growth, and business opportunity.

TED: Iqbal Quadir Says Mobiles Fight Poverty

Iqbal Quadir tells how his experiences as a kid in poor Bangladesh, and later as a banker in New York, led him to start a mobile phone operator connecting 80 million rural Bangladeshi

Realizing Rights with Street Vendors in Liberia

Street vendors in Liberia are organizing themselves to gain rights and improve their working conditions. Helped by groups such as Realizing Rights, these informal workers are fighting hard for greater security and prosperity.

Making Profit from Waste in Ghana

Plastic waste is an enormous problem in Ghana: you can see it almost everywhere you look. But local people have found ways to use these plastics to create jobs and a make a profit, while also improving the environment.