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.”

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.

Business innovation to fight climate change and poverty

Are there successful business innovations for the global South that help mitigate climate change and its impact on the poor? What types of innovative models are emerging? How can these be brought to scale? What is the role of governments and donors to encourage investment and innovation for the poor?

Access to energy in low-income markets: what are the best business models?

1.6 billion people do not have access to electricity. 3 billion people still use traditional biomass for cooking. This has serious consequences on the affected populations in terms of health, education, well-being, or development.

A recent report (pdf, 2.2 MB) highlights different projects allowing energy access to poor sections of the population from developing countries. The study, produced by Ashoka, the world’s largest association of social entrepreneurs, and Hystra, a global consulting firm focused on addressing social and environmental problems, highlights that “market-based solutions for access to energy are powerful, necessary, and are ready to scale up. Entrepreneurs are in urban and rural areas, serving the needs of low-income people for cooking, lighting, communications, and income generation.”

WBCSD magazine highlights business role in linking development to energy and climate

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) recognizes the urgent need for companies to support development while spurring a move toward a global low-carbon economy, the economy of the future.

The latest edition of its magazine Sustain (pdf, 2.5 MB) highlights the important links between energy, climate and development. As Sir Nicholas Stern, economist and author of the Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change, says, "development and climate change are the central problems of the 21st Century. If the world fails on either, it will fail on both. Climate change undermines development. No deal on climate change which stalls development will succeed."

Social inclusion meets environmental sustainability – summary of Cornell event on “The Great Convergence”

In early June, under the leadership of Prof. Stuart Hart,one of the world’s leading thinkers on the implications of sustainable development and environmentalism for business strategy, the Cornell Global Forum on Sustainable Enterprise brought together some 100 people from institutions engaged in innovative approaches to clean technology and inclusive business. The topic of the event was “The Great Convergence”, i.e., the intersection of clean technology and business development at the base of the economic pyramid, with the aim of fuelling economic growth through the incubation and rapid commercialization of new, sustainable technologies.