WBCSD-SNV Alliance: Creating inclusive business opportunities by linking local communities with big business

At the crossroads between business case, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability

Sahba Sobhani, Program Manager, and Austine Gasnier, Research Associate at the Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) recently wrote an article titled The Poverty and Environment Nexus: A Business Opportunity?, in which they highlight inclusive business models that contribute to both human development and environmental sustainability. They showcase examples in the domains of water provision, energy generation, agriculture, recycling, and tourism.

Their article also underlines that grasping these business opportunities “is difficult due to numerous market constraints, such as limited market information, inadequate infrastructure, ineffective regulatory frameworks, missing knowledge and skills, or restricted access to financial services.” Entrepreneurs have found successful strategies to overcome these constraints by adapting their products, investing in infrastructure and education, leveraging the strengths of the poor, combining resources and capabilities with others, or engaging with governments. But Sobhani and Gasnier rightly argue that “further research is needed to get a better understanding of how economic, social and environmental value is created and distributed, and what results can inclusive business models generate.”

The Coca-Cola Company, Technoserve and the Gates Foundation partner to boost incomes of 50,000 small-scale fruit farmers in east Africa

The Coca-Cola Company, nonprofit TechnoServe, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have launched a four-year, US$ 11.5 million inclusive business partnership (see the press release) to enable over 50,000 small-scale mango and passion fruit farmers in Uganda and Kenya to double their incomes by 2014 and empower them to supply Coca-Cola’s growing local fruit juice business.

With a $7.5 million grant provided by the Gates Foundation to TechnoServe, $3 million provided by The Coca-Cola Company, and $1 million by bottling partner Coca-Cola Sabco, the project aims to create new market opportunities for local farmers whose fruit will be used for Coca-Cola's locally-produced and sold fruit juices. As the implementing partner, Technoserve will train participating farmers in improving quality, increasing production, getting organized into farmer groups, and will facilitate access to credit.

Best of inclusivebusiness.org in 2009

Happy New Year to our readers! We appreciate your continued interest in our work. A warm thanks also to those readers that provide comments and send through suggestions for topics. Keep them coming! To kick off the year, here is the “best of” list of the most popular articles posted on inclusivebusiness.org in 2009 in both English and Spanish.

Latin America's development: business as part of the solution

As we wrote a few weeks ago, BBC World recently launched a series of documentaries analyzing how Latin America is coping with globalization and socio-economic inequalities. The fourth episode, titled Trade not Aid, discusses the role of business in fostering economic opportunities in the region. One way through which companies can be part of the solution is through inclusive business, that is, sustainable business initiatives that involve low-income communities along a company’s value chain – as employees, entrepreneurs, suppliers, distributors, retailers, customers, or sources of innovation in financially viable ways.

The 20-minute episode features examples of inclusive business models being implemented by Dole (bananas) and CEMEX (cement), Perhusa (coffee). The video also includes interviews of business representatives, the families incorporated in the value chains, and experts such as W. Robert de Jongh, Latin America Director for SNV Netherlands Development Organization and Michael Reid, The Economist’s Americas Editor and author of Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul.

Webcast of Nestlé's Creating Shared Value Forum in New York

On 28 April, Nestlé organized the first Annual Forum on Creating Shared Value (CSV) in New York City, in conjunction with the United Nations Office for Partnerships and the Swiss Mission to the United Nations. The forum featured some of the world’s leading experts in business strategy, nutrition, water, and rural development (notable names in the agenda included Michael E. Porter, C.K. Prahalad, and Jeffrey Sachs). The day-long event dealt with needed action and policy changes at the global and national policy level, opportunities for progress, and the role of business, including the food business, in helping advance solutions to the challenges facing society in water, food, and nutrition security. The day-long event was webcast live (see this website for videos and reference documents).

According to Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, "the financial crisis which has resulted in the current deep recession revealed once more a basic business axiom: if you fail to work on behalf of the public interest and take shortcuts that place the public at risk, you will also fail your shareholders. We believe that to have long-term business success you must simultaneously create value for shareholders and for the public. At Nestlé, we call this Creating Shared Value, and it is the fundamental principle behind the way we conduct business at Nestlé."

3 casos de negocios inclusivos en Bolivia – video

En el marco de la Alianza WBCSD-SNV para los Negocios Inclusivos, el Consejo Empresarial para el Desarrollo Sostenible (CEDES) Bolivia, como miembro de la red regional del WBCSD, y la oficina local del SNV, han asumido en Bolivia el desafío de desarrollar y difundir el concepto de negocios inclusivos como una solución sostenible que contribuya a la reducción de la pobreza, con la participación y el liderazgo del sector privado. En este video de 13 minutos se presentan 3 casos bolivianos de negocios inclusivos que contribuyen a la superación de la pobreza a través de la incorporación de ciudadanos de menores recursos en la cadena de valor de las empresas.

Negocios Inclusivos en Bolivia @ Yahoo! Video