Publication database

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.

In Ecuadorian cities in the mid-1990s pharmacies were plentiful, but they catered to middle and high-income customers, neglecting the urban poor. Against this backdrop, Corporación Grupo Fybeca S.A. (GPF), a pharmaceutical retailer, saw an opportunity to complement its high-end pharmacy chain, Fybeca, with a down market chain so that customers could access quality medicines at economical prices. In 2000, the retail company launched SanaSana — its first pharmacy for low-income customers.

Salauno’s mission is to “eliminate needless blindness in Mexico” by providing affordable and accessible eye care services to patients of all income levels. In the first five years since its founding in 2011, the company has provided eye care to over 230,000 people and grown from one surgical centre in Mexico City into a network of ten mid-sized Diagnostic Centers with a staff of over 200, offering a range of services throughout the Mexico City Metropolitan Area and the broader Valley of Mexico.

This publication presents five in-depth case studies of inclusive businesses and identifies the common strategies these companies are employing to do business with people living at the base of the pyramid. Ranging in geographies and sectors (agriculture, education, financial services, and healthcare), each company has a unique path but their shared strategies provides insights that can spark innovation among future business entrepreneurs. The case studies are based on interviews with the companies’ founders, chief executive, and senior management.

This collection of case studies was launched together with a framework for systematic South-South transfer of inclusive business models. The case studies summarise the business models, challenges and lessons learned in transferring the business models from India to African countries.

This case study assesses the business model and the social, environmental and economic impact of BananaPad, a Ugandan enterprise that produces sanitary pads made from banana tree fibres.

Financing health for low income households is a significant challenge. Naya Jeevan is trying an innovative approach: in order to make quality health services affordable to low-income workers in Pakistan, it seeks sponsors to pay the majority of the premium on behalf of workers whom they employ or have a business relationship with.

Esta investigación presenta casos en Guatemala, Bolivia, Perú, y Sudáfrica en los que se construyeron alianzas que desarrollaron formar innovadoras en la prestación de servicios básicos a las personas de la base de la pirámide.

This case study examines the poverty profile of Indian healthcare enterprise ZHL’s clients in the states of Odisha (formerly Orissa) and Punjab using the Progress out of Poverty Index. It measures the poverty rates to better understand what factors might drive the company’s outreach to the poor (particularly poor women), and it tests a more cost-efficient method of measuring poverty levels through phone surveys.

This study examines 12 social enterprises – six in the health sector and six in the agriculture sector in Vietnam. It investigates the objectives, practices and challenges faced by these social enterprises and it explores ways of overcoming these challenges.