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

WBCSD launches "Inclusive Business Challenge"

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has launched The Inclusive Business Challenge, an easy-to-use presentation and simulation tool to help companies and stakeholders identify and implement models that profitably engage low-income populations across companies' value chains and develop affordable products and services that meet the needs of low-income populations.

The tool (click through the presentation below for a quick overview) aims to help companies raise awareness of the role of business in development and to introduce the challenges, drivers and principles of inclusive business. It presents good practice examples, and suggests ways to integrate inclusive business into company strategy. A key feature of the tool is in the simulation activity which is designed to be used in an interactive workshop setting to identify risks and opportunities in building inclusive business.

WBCSD Future Leaders Team says farewell to Bangalore and ushers in phase 2 with inspiration and enthusiasm

The Future Leaders Team (FLT) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is designed to enable future business leaders to become effective ambassadors for sustainable development through experiential learning, knowledge creation and the building of networks and skills. This year the FLT brings together a multicultural team of some 15 young and ambitious managers who are focusing on development issues and looking at assessing and improving their company's impact and contribution to development. The team spent one week in Bangalore, India, meeting with experts from business and non-business, and shared reflections and impressions on a daily basis in 4 previous posts. This is the fifth and last installment of reflections and impressions from the meetings in India, with Sonia Medina (EcoSecurities) and Pramod Arikal (Allianz Group) reporting back on behalf of the FLT.

Smiles, solutions and the streets of Bangalore

This is the fourth installment of reflections and impressions from the meetings of the WBCSD's Future Leaders Team (FLT) in India, with Sonia Medina (EcoSecurities) and Pramod Arikal (Allianz Group) reporting back on behalf of the FLT.

To get a flavor of the real India we left the comforts of the Infosys campus and headed into Bangalore. We started the morning off with an invigorating session with Amit Vatsyayan and Shrashtant Patara from Oxfam and Development Alternatives respectively. They gave us the much needed NGO perspective, which interestingly mirrors our views on the topic of business and development in many ways.

WBCSD’s Future Leaders dialogue on sustainability and inclusive business with their peers in India

This is the third installment of reflections and impressions from the meetings of the WBCSD's Future Leaders Team (FLT) in India, with Sonia Medina (EcoSecurities) and Pramod Arikal (Allianz Group) reporting back on behalf of the FLT.

Wow, when we thought that the week couldn’t get any better, it did. Today we had the opportunity to practice our stakeholder engagement skills with a dialogue on sustainable development and inclusive business. The challenge is clear: we need to enable sustainable livelihoods for the 9 billion people that will be in this world in 2050, within the limits of one planet. The challenge is enormous – bringing people together is always a good start.

Manage yourself: empowering people through inclusive business and stakeholder dialogue

This is the second installment of reflections and impressions from the meetings of the WBCSD's Future Leaders Team (FLT) in India, with Sonia Medina (EcoSecurities) and Pramod Arikal (Allianz Group) reporting back on behalf of the FLT.

We have finished the day today with a lovely taste in our mouth. We are not just talking about the delicious meal we had for dinner but also the last panel which was amazing and kept us captivated for the better part of the evening. Neelam Chibber, Founder Director of Industree and Raj Menon, Country Manager of InterfaceFLOR spoke at length about their businesses and how they are tackling sustainability issues in India and beyond. This is what we call inclusive business.

A shared passion to advance the business contribution to sustainable development – WBCSD Future Leaders Team’s reflections from Bangalore

This is the first installment of reflections and impressions from the meetings of the WBCSD's Future Leaders Team (FLT) in India, with Sonia Medina (EcoSecurities) and Pramod Arikal (Allianz Group) reporting back on behalf of the FLT.

The objective of this week is to understand more deeply the topic of inclusive business, by evaluating the work that we have been doing individually since we first met as Future Leaders in March at the WBCSD Liaison Delegates Meeting in Montreux. Everyone has put a lot of effort into their projects and over the next few days, we believe that there will be significant input on how to improve the WBCSD Measuring Impact Framework (MIF) and how to incorporate it into our businesses to make them more inclusive. But, what is inclusive business in any case? We understand inclusive business as a corporate that understands its impact (direct and indirect) on the environment, society and economy and adapts their business models to improve their impact not just on the bottom-line but also on society. A company that has a holistic view of itself can manage risks better and be more successful in the future.