Publication database

The devastating impacts of climate change, rising inequalities within and across countries, increasing fragility and global health emergencies demand a rethinking of socio-economic practices and systems that follow the economic growth paradigm. The world faces profound economic, environmental, and social challenges, as the international community comes to realize that the basic requirements and consumption needs of an ever-growing population cannot be sustainably met by simply maximizing economic output.

In this podcast series, Alissa Stein invites to discuss concepts of economic transformation currently hotly debated. The podcast provides different perspectives from renown experts and practitioners around the world.

The GIIN estimates the size of the worldwide impact investing market to be USD 1.164 trillion, marking the first time that the organization’s widely-cited estimate has topped the USD 1 trillion mark. The report, which was produced with the financial support of Nuveen, also spotlights two areas of development in the market that are becoming increasingly prevalent: green bonds and corporate impact investing.

This guide is for development professionals working in and designing private sector development programmes with an interest in starting an inclusive business policy development programme to help strengthen the enabling environment for inclusive business. The guide draws on the experience of development professionals and inclusive business experts who have designed and run similar Inclusive Business enabling environment (IBee) programmes. It focuses on the first phase of the programme which involves an in-depth landscaping study and stakeholder engagement process that lays the groundwork for the second phase of the programme which translates the work from the first phase into implementation and action. Links to useful tools and documents are provided throughout the guide to help readers through the process.

The report starts by outlining the current state of impact measurement and management. It goes on to shed light on the BCtA’s member companies’ commitments to the SDGs, their adoption of the Inclusive Business model, their engagement with low-income populations in developing countries, and to highlight the main challenges faced by these organizations in measuring and managing impact. It also outlines how Inclusive Businesses can manage their impact on the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP), leading to enhanced quality of life and increased living standards for their stakeholders.

How do we genuinely define Inclusive Business? Is talking about BoP populations still relevant? What challenges does the inclusive ecosystem face? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What opportunities does it offer to entrepreneurs? Is Inclusive Business the entrepreneurship of tomorrow? This white paper expands the concept of IB in an attempt to tackle each of these questions using inspiring examples.

This research is the first ever comprehensive mapping of funders in the last-mile distribution (LMD) sector who are investing in companies at different stages of growth. This research will help LMDs to more effectively navigate the funding landscape; support funders to better communicate and collaborate; and enable us all to identify - and plug - remaining financing gaps.

Across the world, women play key roles as distributors and retailers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), however, the extent of their participation varies. This learning brief introduces how gender equality can be advanced within the distribution activities of the FMCG sector. It presents an emerging business case, the challenges, and recommendations to address these challenges. The brief is based on IFC projects in Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Philippines, and Sri Lanka; desk research; and interviews with market participants. The target audience comprises FMCG sales and distribution teams; FMCG sustainability teams; e-supply chain actors, including business-to business (B2B) distribution platforms; and investors seeking to accelerate gender equality.

This report reflects on the position of social enterprise across 27 countries, across 5 continents and including both developed and developing, stable and fragile countries. It aims to bring evidence together to provide comparisons between social enterprises across the globe, to highlight commonalities and differences, patterns and challenges. This study also considers the policy and support ecosystems for social enterprise in many countries, draws conclusions and makes recommendations based on the evidence.

Over the past decade, a new wave of pioneer healthcare initiatives has emerged that aims to improve the quality of care and access to healthcare of vulnerable populations in LMICs by building commercially viable and scalable enterprises. These pioneers are developing novel delivery models – inclusive clinics and hospitals, pharmacy-based, community-based, and risk-prevention models – and are innovating to solve patient pain points by making use of mobile and digital technologies, offering financing and insurance solutions, and improving access to preventative and primary care. This report reviews the preliminary findings of a study performed by the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, together with Hystra – a consultancy specialized in inclusive business solutions – to learn from pioneer organizations what underlies their early successes and what is limiting them from reaching further scale or impact. It reviews the landscape of global inclusive initiatives and identifies innovations that can strengthen the impact of businesses.