Publication database

There is a growing number of enterprises - green and inclusive businesses (GIBs) - that are primarily investing in BoP-centered adaptation and environmental solutions. This report makes recommendations for ASEAN member states on how to support GIBs.

The Inclusive Business Coaching and Mentoring Guide (IB-CM) is aimed at business consultants and facilitators working with companies that want to establish new inclusive business lines or wish to turn their existing business lines inclusive. In addition to general guidelines for inclusive businesses in Cambodia, it introduces four practical tools to support the coaching and mentoring process.

The tools are available in English and Khmer.

This study analyses how Inclusive Business and social entrepreneurship intersect with women’s economic empowerment (WEE). Across 13 case studies from ten ASEAN member states, it identifies two clear paths of WEE impact and four modes of IB and WEE engagement. Based on these findings, the study gives recommendations on how to increase private sector engagement in this field.

Interest in inclusive business in the Philippines began in 2012, when a market scoping study in the Philippines was conducted by the Asian Social Enterprise Incubator, Inc. (ASEI) for the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The study looked at seventy companies with inclusive business models.

Ten years later, this study takes a second look at companies featured in the 2012 study to see how resilient their inclusive business models are and how they have progressed over the past decade. This study also looks at companies that were registered and accredited with the Board of Investments (BOI) as inclusive business projects to eventually qualify for fiscal incentives. This study shows, aside from the growth and accomplishments of the companies, the challenges they had to surpass as they reach viability and scale. 

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. 

This report includes a market study of current inclusive businesses in Viet Nam (with profiles of 18 real and potential IB models) and an assessment of the enabling environment. It also provides recommendations for promoting inclusive businesses.

The landscape study was conducted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN), in order to support the development of an enabling environment for inclusive businesses in Viet Nam. It was produced upon request of the Agency for Enterprise Development (AED) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).