In this section, we will update you with announcements from the ecosystem of inclusive business, pre-selected according to their relevance for inclusive business ventures.
Grow Asia, a multi-stakeholder partnership platform that catalyses action on inclusive agricultural development in Southeast Asia, today announced a new partnership which will strengthen its work to increase the productivity, profitability and environmental sustainability of smallholder agriculture through innovative solutions and inclusive business models.
[...] As India emerges as an attractive market for impact investing, there lie some greater synergies with CSR. So far these synergies are not tapped enough but they clearly exist as both CSR and sustainability reflect the need for aligning the business goals with the need for society.
While impact investment and CSR are based on the belief that businesses can be used to affect positive environment and social change, yet there is a fundamental difference. CSR remains voluntary and self regulated, impact investment must demonstrate social as well as financial return.
With demand for sustainable goods and sustainability claims on the rise, Gold Standard, the benchmark standard for climate and development interventions, has launched SustainCERT, a social enterprise that will provide user-centric and tech-driven impact assessment for sustainability-minded businesses and investors. While corporate climate commitments are increasing and impact investing is accelerating – companies and investors still face barriers to credibly and efficiently quantify and report on their social and environmental impacts.
Essilor, a French-based international ophthalmic optics company, commits to further expanding its unique inclusive business and philanthropic programmes to eradicate unprotected and uncorrected poor vision in the Kingdom of Bhutan. The Group has signed Letters of Intent with the Royal Government of Bhutan and the Central Monastic Body to sustainably strengthen the country's vision care infrastructure. By training women and men to become primary vision care providers, Essilor will support them to open up optical stores in their communities.
On Wednesday was the launch of the Inclusive Business Capacity-Building Fund, a seed fund established by the PBSP to kick-start IB projects. The fund has a goal of raising P100 million from the private sector, and has two main objectives: First, to serve as a source of financing for communities and entrepreneurs to launch small businesses, or improve the quality and delivery of their existing products; and second, to fund business and financial management training to community-based enterprises to help them integrate and stay productive as part of larger value chains.
The leaders of Group 20 (G20) gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentine during the last week of November. At the meeting, the global leaders declared that they will endeavor to further create enabling conditions for resource mobilization from public, private and multilateral resources, including innovative financial mechanisms and partnerships, such as impact investment for inclusive and sustainable growth, in line with the G20 Call on Financing for Inclusive Business. Read the full document how the G20 wants to bridge the financial gap for Inclusive Business.
The Inclusive Business in Myanmar report provides an opportunity for businesses, investors, NGOs and the government to learn about the potential impact inclusive businesses have on the country and starts to map a way forward to a more inclusive and sustainable private-sector environment across Myanmar.
Thailand-based East-West Seed outperformed global giants Bayer and Syngenta in the first-ever Access to Seeds Index for South and Southeast Asia, which evaluated the efforts of 24 leading seed companies in the region to support growth in the productivity of smallholder farmers, one of the main targets of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
EVPA has launched the 6th edition of its Industry Survey entitled “Investing for Impact | The EVPA Survey 2017/2018”. Based on data collected from 110 leading organisations in the venture philanthropy/social investment (VP/SI) sector, this report is a comprehensive and quantitative study on the main practices and activities of European VP/SI organisations.