Inclusive+Business

Back to Partnerships = = =Inclusive Business - A Resource Page=

Building development partnerships with businesses in and around value chains focuses on building relationships with commercial entities in ways that work to involve them in creating opportunities for the poor. Leading thought on this seeks to discover shared value, as opposed to the offering of charity.

An ** inclusive business ** is a [|sustainable business] that benefits [|low-income] communities. It is a business initiative that, keeping its for-profit nature, contributes to poverty reduction through the inclusion of low income communities in its value chain. In simple words inclusive business is all about including the poor in the business process be it as producers or consumers.

Inclusive business is not corporate [|philanthropy], which has inherent limitations of scope and budget. Rather, it is the search for sustainable [|business models] that "do well by doing good" and have the potential to become part of the mainstream business model within the companies concerned — the key to business having development impact at scale.

The following documents are useful in understanding how inclusive business practice works

__Harvard Business Review: Thought Pieces__
1) ? March 2011 2) ; Michael E Porter and Mark R Kramer 3) ; IFC and Harvard Kennedy School of Management, Beth Jenkins and Eriko Ishikawa; April 2010

__Multilateral Agencies__
1) ; Bill Vorley (IIED), Mark Lundy (CIAT) and James MacGregor (IIED); April 2008  2) ; Sonja Vermeulen and Lorenzo Cotula 3) ; IFC 2010 4) ; World Economic Forum, 2009 5) ; UNDP 2010

__Case Studies__
1) ; Oxfam, Cocal Cola and SAB Miller 2) ; SNV and World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2011

__ **Inclusive Markets** __

1) ; Monitor Group, September 2009 2) Report to the Inter American Development Bank on behalf of the network for inclusive markets

__Useful Links__

 * [|IFC Inclusive Business]
 * [|Growing Inclusive Markets, UNDP-led inclusive business initiative with case studies database]
 * [|DCED overview on inclusive business models debate]
 * [|Inclusive Business website]
 * [|The Practitioner Hub for inclusive business]
 * [|Inclusive Business brochure of the WBCSD-SNV Alliance]
 * [|Video on "Inclusive Business - profitable business for successful development"]
 * [|Promoting Small and Medium Enterprises for Sustainable Development - published by WBCSD in collaboration with SNV]
 * [|Doing Business with the World – The New Role of Corporate Leadership in Global Development]
 * [|Endeva] - research on inclusive business in various sectors