How Does One Explain Inclusive Business? Theoretical Efforts of My Maniacal Mind.

We know inclusive businesses are beneficial for the society because they include the less fortunate sectors of the society in the business value chain. But still, this information is too generic and some amount of confusion lingers. One of the most effective ways to tattoo the concept of inclusive business in our brains is to dissociate it from corporate social responsibility (CSR). As a rule of thumb, just so one never muddles the two, CSR is not really looked upon as a business venture while inclusive business is. Inclusive business is non-loss, i.e. it has to depend upon itself to generate enough profits to make the whole venture sustainable. Another, perhaps more important distinction between the two is that CSR is only a part of the business agenda of a company, while inclusive business is the sole agenda of a company willing to develop such models.

So are we still on the same page? I hope so, because now since we have described inclusive business, we can employ the full use of our creativity and contemplate business plans which could be called inclusive businesses. This is the fun part, because often if we can imagine and come up with a practical scenario, the concept becomes crystallised in our minds. We should be able to take virtually any business out there in the economy and then flip it and turn it into an inclusive business model. When people keep rambling on about international development, it can get quite boring for the average person whose interests might lie elsewhere. It doesn’t mean he/she isn’t concerned about extirpating poverty; it’s just that they wish they could understand the details better and preferably in at a field which they are more comfortable in. This is one case where the bigger picture is understood by all, but it’s the comprehension of the smaller picture which piques their interest.

Therefore that is what I’ll precisely attempt to do. If we do a search for things which fit the definition of universal, music has to be one of the top candidates. I shall now attempt to take the music industry and make it inclusive. Perhaps, I shall run into obstacles. But it’s definitely worth the try if we want to analyse how broad the scope of inclusive business is. It’s the best way to understand inclusive business in my opinion.

Current situation: There are many recording companies. If they like your music, they might sign you and promote you as an artist and your music. Through the sales of albums and concerts, they will keep a hefty percentage. But the figure retained by the musicians isn’t all that bad, especially if they go platinum plus. Besides, the artist is also entitled to royalties and the fame propels them to newer heights from where they can launch their own businesses. The system works obviously because of the huge demand for music worldwide. As per the law of economics, wages are the highest when the demand for that particular skill is high and the supply of it is low. So at the current moment, the recording companies and artists are pretty well off. So the system works, but it doesn’t include the poor in the value chain, well not systematically nor in huge numbers at least. A village kid living below the poverty line might get signed to a big recording company and turn his life around, but that’s just like solving a drop of a problem in an ocean as big as the pacific.

Proposed innovation: How about we set up a music institution at the heart of the rural villages? The institution will have classes teaching potential musicians about the music industry and music itself so they can improve their craft as well as be more cognizant about their professional opportunities. The institution will also house recording studios and a marketing department for creating and advertising the music respectively. Basically, it’ll be a recording company for the poor. Notice how all the characteristics of an inclusive business are falling right in line with what I’m hypothesising.

1) It helps the poor of the society by economically empowering them. Obviously it won’t be possible for every kid out there to make it big, if that was the case then the supply of musicians would bloat and as per the aforementioned economic laws, their earnings would greatly decrease. They wouldn’t even have the star power anymore because of the supply glut. So the aim should be to produce only a handful of artists but the wealth generated would be spread around to create other businesses in the rural area.

2) It’s a non-loss company. After the initial investment, it will be expected to sell the music and generate enough profits to make the program sustainable.

3) Providing world class music production opportunities to the poor is the main goal of the whole project, it is not some sideline item in some big corporation’s CSR agenda.

Issues of contention:

1) The idea is farfetched for the simple reason that music is not a very financially rewarding profession in Bangladesh. We don’t have the culture of buying an album which’s price is in excess of BDT100. Nor are the big Bangladeshi companies too excited about sponsoring a musician, which by the way is another mega source of an artist’s income. The only way to overcome such culture is to change it. Change in culture is inevitable anyway because of rapid globalisation and soon the world will only do the things which make business sense. Or, social business sense we should hope. So I don’t see why we can’t create a more profitable market for music in Bangladesh. The middle class and the upper middle class spend their pay checks on various things and sometimes in copious amounts too, so why not music?

2) So far we have included all the poor people by making suppliers, distributors and employees out of them by means of the rural recording company. They will produce and distribute the music and the facility will obviously have to hire people as employees. But what about the consumers? It would be a bona fide inclusive business if the consumers too were amongst the poor. But this is where we have to ask ourselves whether entertainment industries such as music do anything to reduce poverty? In other pure social businesses, the objective of the business itself is very noble such as the sale of devices which purifies unhygienic water or the sale of cheap healthy food. Therefore, the consumption of the thing itself brings enormous advantages to reduce poverty or achieve any other millennium development goals. But with a thing such as music, the benefits of being entertained pales in comparison to solving hunger or healthcare issues.

If we dig deeper I’m sure more problems will arise but that is the beauty of understanding a concept. It’s only by solving a myriad of problems that you truly understand a whole subject. I earnestly hope I have been able to paint a clearer picture of what inclusive business really is. I encourage you to try and look into an industry and see how you would make it inclusive. All your queries and anxiousness about the subject will recede. I promise.