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

Corporate Leaders Program for Success in Majority Markets: deadline for applications is 16 August!

In early June, we announced the launch of the "Corporate Leaders Program for Success in Majority Markets", developed by the Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) Opportunities for the Majority initiative, in partnership with management consulting firm Dalberg Global Development Advisors. The program is designed especially to help the region’s private sector businesses achieve long-term commercial success and corporate leadership in designing new and inclusive business models for the base of the pyramid.

In mid-July, over 50 executives took part in a workshop designed to generate ideas about how they could grow their businesses by engaging with low-income communities. The participants came from a wide variety of sectors, including construction, manufacturing, agro-industry, financial services and business consulting.

Business perspectives and impacts on the Millennium Development Goals

Matthew Lynch, Program Manager of the WBCSD’s Development Focus Area, was recently the keynote speaker at a high-profile event in Amsterdam examining the role of business in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The event was organized by the National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO) and hosted by ING.

IDB launches “Corporate Leaders Program for Success in Majority Markets”

The Latin America and Caribbean region has experienced significant growth in profitable business activities that focus on the “base of the pyramid’ (BOP) in recent years, especially in the micro-enterprise and SME sectors. However, despite these successful innovations and some notable initiatives by medium and larger sized companies, there are still large opportunities waiting to be tapped in the region’s $500 billion per year low-income consumer markets.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is now offering a unique new program, titled Corporate Leaders Program for Success in Majority Markets, designed especially to help the region’s private sector businesses achieve long-term commercial success and corporate leadership in designing new and inclusive business models for the base of the pyramid.

Impact measurement as a driver for improved business performance and greater development impact

There is widespread consensus that we need to know much more about how different business models deliver improved development impact. Understanding that impact, and in so doing getting a better idea of how to invest and target resources most effectively, is increasingly important for businesses and for development agencies that are investing donor resources in enhancing the role of the private sector.

Given the potential cost and complexity of undertaking impact assessments, a key consideration in strengthening the business case for doing more in this important area is ensuring we become better at translating impact measurement results in to continuous business performance improvements that deliver greater development impacts.

2010 World Business and Development Awards launched

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) have opened nominations for the 2010 World Business and Development Awards in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – eight internationally-agreed goals to alleviate poverty by 2015.

Created in 2000, the Awards recognize the key contributions the private sector has made to the MDGs, demonstrating how innovative business models, backed by strong partnerships, can enjoy commercial success and at the same time improve the lives of millions of people.

Moving the field of inclusive business forward

Companies are still struggling with the challenges associated with starting and scaling inclusive business models. These challenges range from lack of knowledge about the target market to scarcity of financing and technical expertise suited to the task. Companies, donors, development finance institutions, civil society organizations, and others are increasingly interested in working together to address these challenges and unlock the potential of inclusive business for development.

In this context, on April 9, 2010, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Harvard Kennedy School convened a select group of practitioners for a day-long dialogue intended to: (1) Develop a better understanding of the ways public and private donors and development finance institutions can work with large firms to start and scale inclusive business models more effectively; (2) Identify opportunities where collaborative action among these actors could be catalytic in driving the inclusive business agenda forward.