Business Reporter: How Inclusive Businesses Are Putting People at the Bottom of the Economic Pyramid Back on Their Feet

LONDON, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The huge disparity in worldwide living standards is well documented – 4.5 billion people worldwide survive on less than US $8 a day, 400 million do not have access to essential healthcare, and 121 million of the world's children don't go to school. But what's less acknowledged is the potential, opportunity and growth that's being wasted by keeping so many people in a cycle of hardship.

As shown in its award-winning short film, the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN) is working in developing countries such as Kenya and Myanmar to not only improving lives but also businesses and economies. The UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals call on businesses to find creative solutions to development challenges, and iBAN has helped introduce inclusive business models to help rice farmers, coffee growers and many other local businesses flourish, and also works to improve access to education and healthcare. iBAN also manages an innovative online knowledge platform on Inclusive Business and publishes the insightful online magazine CLUED-iN. Users can sign up for both here.

The spending power of entrepreneurs can be leveraged to invest in businesses and services, tapping into the huge potential of the billions of people who live at the bottom of the economic pyramid, and making their lives better as a result. The estimated value of the BOP is nearly $5 trillion, and inclusive businesses in this area often drive innovation and uncover new sources of profitability. But inclusive business isn't just an opportunity – it's also a necessity. "Business solutions are an integral part of achieving a world in which, by 2050, even beyond 2030, more than nine billion people can live well within the limits of what the planet can sustain," says Filippo Veglio of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

So how can businesses make the move to becoming inclusive, and how do existing inclusive businesses work to scale up their models? iBAN provides companies and governments in developing countries and emerging markets with capacity-building measures and practical insights, customised training for business interested in becoming inclusive, and collaborates with partners, policy makers and national governments.

"Inclusive businesses are not only the private sector contribution to achieving the SDGs, they also provide a triple-win situation for companies, people and government," says Christian Jahn, Executive Director of iBAN.

Read the full article here.

Notes for editors

This press release has been provided by Business Reporter (www.business-reporter.co.uk).

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About iBAN

The Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN) is a global initiative supporting the scaling and replication of inclusive business models. Through its strategic pillars iBAN blue and iBAN weave, iBAN manages an innovative online knowledge platform on inclusive business (www.inclusivebusiness.net) and offers a focused Capacity Development Programme for policymakers and investment seeking companies in developing and emerging countries.

iBAN creates a space where evidence-based knowledge transforms into learning and new partnerships. With its focus on promoting the upscale of inclusive business models and consequently improving the lives of the poor, iBAN is actively contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

iBAN is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union. It is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.