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In August 2020, the Guidelines for the Promotion of Inclusive Business in ASEAN were endorsed at the 52nd ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting. They serve as a non-binding outline on how inclusive business can be supported at the national and regional level, and what institutional setup is required to do so. These Briefing Notes detail how the guidelines can be implemented in Indonesia.

In August 2020, the Guidelines for the Promotion of Inclusive Business in ASEAN were endorsed at the 52nd ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting. They serve as a non-binding outline on how inclusive business can be supported at the national and regional level, and what institutional setup is required to do so. These Briefing Notes detail how the guidelines can be implemented in Malaysia.

Since 2017, when ASEAN leaders called for greater emphasis on creating an enabling environment for inclusive businesses, various governments in the region (including Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Viet Nam) have embarked on promoting IB, and an increasing number of companies – supported by impact investors – have established IB models.

In this context, the government of Malaysia has requested the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN) to conduct this study to explore the relevance of inclusive business for Malaysia, analyse the status of inclusive businesses in Malaysia and assess the environment in which they operate, in order to provide recommendations, where relevant, for promoting inclusive businesses.

The Government of Indonesia has selected wellness tourism as a pilot sector for promoting Inclusive Business in the country. Against this background, the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs officially requested United Nations ESCAP to assist the Government of Indonesia in designing a roadmap for promoting IB in wellness tourism. For that purpose, this report presents an analysis of the enabling environment for IB in wellness tourism, highlights selected IB models in the sector that could serve as good practice examples, and outlines recommendations for a possible roadmap for promoting IB in wellness tourism in Indonesia. 

The report highlights several policy actions and experiences of frontrunners on inclusive business as a potential blueprint for other countries in the region. It takes stock of the progress made and maps public-private collaborations that can further support inclusive business in ASEAN. For instance, in Cambodia, the government is currently considering a national framework – the Inclusive Business Enabling Environment for Cambodia Strategy. In Malaysia, inclusive business has been included in the National Entrepreneurship Policy (DKN2030).