sOPHIa Oxford, the University of Oxford’s first social enterprise spinout, will provide businesses with tools to measure and respond to poverty amongst their employees and their families, contractors, and in their supply chain. Building upon the work and experience of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), sOPHIa Oxford aims to expand the use of multidimensional poverty measurement to the private sector. sOPHIa Oxford has an exclusive worldwide license to the Business Multidimensional Poverty Index (bMPI), developed by OPHI in partnership with the business association Horizonte Positivo, which has pioneered the implementation of the bMPI in Costa Rica. The first company to use the bMPI, BAC Credomatic in Costa Rica, has announced that the bMPI identified 12% of its employees in poverty and has rolled out a series of initiatives to help its employees.

sOPHIa Oxford was created by OPHI with the support of the Oxford Department of International Development and the University’s innovation arm, Oxford University Innovation (OUI).  In Costa Rica partner Horizonte Positivo has already implemented the bMPI with 42 businesses successfully.

See the full press release here.