Blog - Center for International Private Enterprise

A New Equation for Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries

People start their own businesses for a variety of reasons — not only to make a living, but also to be their own boss, address a social problem, or fulfill a lifelong dream. No matter one's motivation, the initial step to earning that first dollar is developing and evaluating a business idea. The...

Friday Wrap-Up: Green Growth, Citizen Journalists, and Women in Business and Politics

Recently on the blog: Stephenie Foster answered questions about the importance of women's leadership in economics and politics, and about how to increase women's participation especially at the highest levels of government and business. Protests are heating up in Sudan. CIPE Grants Assistant Sha...

What is the God Particle of Development?

Last week, physicists at the CERN Large Hadron Collider announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, a long-sought particle that helps explain why all things have mass. The boson, first theorized by Peter Higgs in the 1960s but heretofore unproven, has been dubbed the "God particle" because it appea...

Citizen Journalism is Gaining Momentum in Pakistan

“If you’re going to fall out of love with public approval, something interesting will happen: people will be deeply attracted to your work.” ― Jeff Goins Social media has transformed the debate around democracy and access to information in Pakistan by giving citizens and activis...

Engaging Youth in Public Policy – The CIPE-Atlas Corps Think Tank LINKS Fellowship

The voices of youth have been heard loud in clear in Tahrir Square and in other demonstrations throughout the Arab Awakening. Young people are at the forefront of change, demanding that they have a stake in their countries' futures. Yet their participation in the reform process often ends there. ...

Albanian Business Community Unites Against Tax Barriers

Engaging the business community in an open debate not only contributes to better economic policy, but also creates space for the private sector to participate in democracy. Public-private dialogue is an excellent tool for the private sector to discuss the challenges they face in a transparent manne...

2012 Global Editorial Cartoon Competition Deadline Extended

Due to popular demand, the deadline for CIPE's 2012 Global Editorial Cartoon Competition has been extended to September 1, 2012! Cash prizes totaling $5,000 will be awarded to winning entries, as determined by an open online voting process on the CIPE website. CIPE's first Editorial Cartoon Compet...

The Business View of Rio+20

I've been enjoying GreenBiz's coverage of Rio+20 this week. In their piece about environmental public-private partnerships, writers Tensie Wheland (Rainforest Alliance) and John Williams (Domtar Corporation) write: "There's no lack of skepticism about the UN Rio +20 Earth Summit, and when it comes ...

Measuring Green Growth: The Limits of GDP

Many observers were disappointed at the outcome of the recent Rio+20 environmental summit, which produced no major new initiatives. But more than 86 companies and 50 countries did make an important commitment to sustainable development by endorsing a seemingly obscure and technical accounting chan...

The Business Case for a Green Economy

Rio+20 Conference concluded on what many observers describe as a lackluster note: no grand agreements have been reached and even the closing paper ended up not being called a "Rio+20 Declaration" but more modestly Rio+20 Outcomes Document. Attendees did little more than reaffirm the original Rio P...