25

Turning challenges into opportunities

Creating positive change through collaboration

Partnerships and collaboration are key for expanding and scaling up inclusive business models so innovative entrepreneurs can continue to make a difference.

A strong enabling environment and support system allows inclusive business founders to learn from peers who have faced similar struggles and to grow.

Inclusive businesses can support a just transition to a more sustainable and inclusive future.

Inclusive businesses are facing challenges including inflationary pressures and climate change, yet these can also present new opportunities to innovate.

Inclusive Business has an important role to play in addressing many of the major challenges of our times, with the support and collaboration of an evolving global ecosystem of partners and changemakers.

African farmer planting corn

Inclusive businesses need a supportive environment to grow. 

Creating an enabling environment to support inclusive business

Partnerships and collaboration are key for expanding and scaling up inclusive business models so innovative entrepreneurs can continue to make a difference. iBAN has worked closely with partners who continue to do this important work around the world; we have asked them to share their views about the direction Inclusive Business will take in this final issue of CLUED-iN. For example, United Nations ESCAP is partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support Inclusive Business Models in Agriculture and Food Systems in India, Thailand and Viet Nam. Marta Pérez Cusó of UNESCAP believes that supportive measures will continue to grow in the future: “We will also see the development of a greater enabling environment at the national level, and beyond, to promote inclusive businesses. For instance, many ASEAN Governments are now putting in place strategies and programmes to promote inclusive business.” A strong enabling environment and support system allows inclusive business founders to learn from peers who have faced similar struggles and to grow.

man planting tree

Inclusive Business is growing in ASEAN.

Harnessing opportunities to address global challenges

The process of writing the feature story for CLUED-iN and interviewing entrepreneurs and experts each month has allowed me to see how many solutions can be found on the local level that address global issues such as food security, inclusive healthcare and climate change. It was fascinating to discover how entrepreneurs are using technology and data to further their reach and solve challenges, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, we spoke to Moses Kimani from Lentera Africa for our Inclusive Data issue of CLUED-iN and learned how they use real-time satellite and weather data to help farmers adapt to climate change through crop specific advice regarding fertilizer, pests and water management. This helps farmers adapt their agronomy practices in line with changing climate patterns.

Filipe Di Matteo from Agribusiness Market Ecosystem Alliance (AMEA), a global network supporting farmer organizations, tells us, “I also believe that data and new technologies will play an ever increasing role in inclusive business. There is so much data out there waiting to be organized into inputs and information for action. We need to harness this information, improve our knowledge about inclusive business and the populations for which these businesses are supposed to bring benefits, and act upon the opportunities that arise.” 

solar panels

Inclusive Business can help create a green transition.  

Moving towards a sustainable and inclusive future

Inclusive businesses can support a just transition to a more sustainable and inclusive future. Going forward, Dr. Stuart Hart explains that global demographic changes will require wholesale transformation over the next decade to solve pressing challenges. What does this mean for inclusive business? “For business and inclusive business entrepreneurs, this transformation means focusing on sustainability-driven purpose, inclusion-driven strategy, and a commitment to larger system change,” he argues.

“For inclusive business to be sustainable and leave no one behind, it will be critical to pay greater attention to how these enterprises are supporting environmental sustainability and women’s empowerment,” Pérez Cusó advises. 

Inclusive businesses are facing challenges including inflationary pressures and climate change, yet these can also present new opportunities to innovate. “Climate change may also necessitate inclusive businesses having to make adaptations to accommodate the effects and ensure their operations remain eco-friendly and sustainable,” says Oladunmade Otitoola of African Food Changemakers. “This may range from altering their business models to better involve the use of climate-smart technologies to leveraging carbon credits and green finance.” 

“Given the complex nature of poverty and the systemic barriers people face, our view is that we need to collaborate across business, government and civil society with a new sense of urgency and purpose,” writes Zahid Torres-Rahman, CEO of Business Fights Poverty in his article, Facing The Poverty Tsunami: How Business Can Support the Lives, Livelihoods and Access to Learning of the Most Vulnerable People and Communities. Inclusive business has an important role to play in addressing many of the major challenges of our times, with the support and collaboration of an evolving global ecosystem of partners and changemakers.

smiling people

Inclusive Business can help address the major challenges of our times.

Picture credits
  • Slider: © GIZ/Thomas Imo (planting), © African Food Changemakers (presenter), © GIZ/Ute Grabowsky (solar panel)
  • African Farmer: "Planting Corn" by Rod Waddington is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
  • Asian farmer planting tree: © GIZ/Ranak Martin
  • Solar panels: © GIZ
  • Laughing women: © GIZ/Michael Tsegaye
Alexandra Harris

Alexandra Harris is a writer, editor and communications specialist with a focus on sustainable private sector development. She previously worked for the International Finance Corporation and the Asia Foundation.

Article

Voices of the Editorial Committee

What does the future of Inclusive Business hold? In this Voices piece, our CLUED-iN Editorial Committee members share their thoughts about important issues and trends in Inclusive Business alongside advice for entrepreneurs.
Alexandra Harris
Table of contents

graphic summary

GRAPHIC SUMMARY

Learn more about collaboration and our partners by reading this twenty-fifth edition of the online magazine on Inclusive Business! The illustration was developed by Christopher Malapitan, a visual practitioner and trainer based in Brussels.…

Christopher Malapitan

editorial

From collaboration to co-creation

In his editorial, iBAN Executive Director Christian Jahn reflects on the program's journey and shares examples of positive change through collaboration that reflect the philosophy iBAN has followed: "We have always tried to identify partners with whom we can collaborate in order to co-create."

Christian Jahn

feature story

Creating a supportive ecosystem to help entrepreneurs address global challenges

Our current global landscape faces many challenges, from food security to climate change. “Yet, in those very challenges there are opportunities – for inclusive businesses to innovate in areas of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), in the areas of clean energy and agri supply chains,” Royston Braganza of Grameen Capital tells us. Local entrepreneurs are embracing innovative ideas, but they rely on an ecosystem of partners, investors, policymakers, and peers. In this final issue of CLUED-iN we feature partners and editorial committee members who have collaborated to support entrepreneurs and share their stories.

Alexandra Harris

Voices of the Editorial Committee

What does the future of Inclusive Business hold? In this Voices piece, our CLUED-iN Editorial Committee members share their thoughts about important issues and trends in Inclusive Business alongside advice for entrepreneurs.

Partnering for Inclusive Business in Southeast Asia

“The moment for impact businesses has arrived. Social enterprises and inclusive businesses are no longer a rarity, and a whole movement to make impact business more common is taking place.”

A collaborative approach to pandemic recovery

“We will need to be innovative in the recovery, and balance the demand for short-term crisis management support alongside longer-term investments to build economic, social and governance resiliency.”

Strengthening farmer organisations for genuine inclusion

“The businesses wanting to do justice to being called inclusive will need to heed the signs and act upon the societies’ most pressing needs.”

Inflation and climate change: Overcoming obstacles together

“It is likely inevitable that inclusive business models will need to undergo some form of adaptation/evolution if they are to stand the test of time in an ever-changing world.”

Facing The Poverty Tsunami: How Business Can Support the Lives, Livelihoods and Access to Learning of the Most Vulnerable People and Communities

COVID, conflict and climate change are among a confluence of challenges driving a tsunami of poverty that is already crashing into the lives of vulnerable people and communities around the world. This article explores these trends and the role businesses can and should play.

Voices of Partners

iBAN partners share their thoughts about CLUED-iN and the pressing issues in Inclusive Business they are tackling in their work.

Voices: Behind the scenes

In this Voices piece, the CLUED-iN team takes you behind the scenes to share what inspired us and what we will take away from the experience of working on the online magazine.