Publication database

The idea of Inclusive Business is taking Africa by storm. The timely publication of a new concise book 'Inclusive business in Africa': A business model aims to take readers on a journey into the subject of Inclusive Business in Africa and shows how companies can be agents of change, contributing to inclusive development and growth. The publication brings together research supported by the Partnerships Resource Centre (PrC), a specialist research centre at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) and RSM’s Professor Rob van Tulder. 

This report covers SPRING Acccelerator's learning so that other accelerators, programmes, donors and ecosystem-builders can build on their experience to better support businesses to innovate for impact. SPRING broke up their learning into four sub-themes: the human-centred design process, business models for girl impact, accelerator design and investment. 

This publication documents the success stories of the ASEAN Inclusive Business Awards finalists and nominees from various sectors across the region. It aims to inspire companies to embrace change and innovation in their corporate culture. The case studies presented can serve as a guide for other emerging inclusive businesses.

“Can health microinsurance (HMI) schemes achieve sustainability?” As with many seemingly simple questions, there is no simple answer. The answer to this question is of interest to a variety of parties. Insurance providers seek to understand if there is a viable business case for offering an HMI product. Health-care providers and pharmaceutical companies are interested in whether or not HMI can be a means for broadening coverage. Donors and other funding organizations want to know if HMI is a viable investment as a means to improve health-care access, health outcomes and financial protection for the low-income population. Governments consider how to use HMI schemes as a step towards universal health coverage.

This paper seeks to answer this simple yet crucial question based on the experiences of five schemes in South Asia.

This report summarises practical lessons learned from IFC's inclusive business clients including 21 profiles from agribusiness, health, housing, ICT, retail and utilities. It illustrates lessons for different parts of the value chain – including procurement, product development, distribution and retail, and marketing and sales.

Microcare originated out of a desire to find more effective ways to provide low-income communities with access to better quality healthcare. Pre-paid healthcare offered an opportunity to accumulate and channel resources so that poor people would get cashless access to healthcare services and service providers would benefit from better cash flows. Microinsurance Paper #24 examines the factors that contributed to the rise and fall of Microcare as a provider of low-cost health insurance. It seeks to draw lessons from Microcare’s experience that will further the development of a more successful business model for health microinsurance.

Value-added services are an increasingly important component of health microinsurance. Though evidence on their impact is limited, they demonstrate potential to increase demand and improve health outcomes. Briefing Note #16 provides an overview of current developments, highlights the experiences of those already providing them, and points to the potential they hold.

Two important challenges in establishing and sustaining community-based insurance (CBI) schemes are low rates of community member enrolment and high lapse rates. These factors lead to low CBI coverage which in turn results in low levels of revenue for the risk carrier and limited risk-pooling, which leave CBI schemes financially and organizationally vulnerable to unexpected changes in incomes or high disease incidence. In Research Paper #15, an experimental design is used to examine how the relationship between insurance providers and health care facilities - and more specifically payment mechanisms for services delivered by health workers - can influence uptake and renewals. The research discovers that the way health care workers are remunerated by the risk carrier can crucially determine CBI performance and quality of health services as payment mechanisms also influence the way healthcare is delivered. Based on the results from this experiment, a revised CBI payment system based on health workers preferences was introduced in the Nouna district of Burkina Faso in January 2011.

Some health microinsurance (HMI) schemes require that patients pay cash at the time of receiving health care services, and then seek reimbursement from the insurer at a later date. For low-income households, this can be a severe financial barrier. One common way to alleviate this barrier is to set up a third-party payment (TPP) mechanism with selected health care providers. A TPP mechanism is a model for claims payment in which insured patients are not required to pay the entire cost of health services covered by the HMI scheme at the time the services are rendered. Microinsurance Paper #13 draws on the experience of various health microinsurance schemes and presents the pros and cons of using a TPP mechanism. It also presents key issues to address when establishing and managing a TPP mechanisms, as well as tips and solutions collected from case studies and experts` interviews.