To meet the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the private sector will need to play a greater role. Inclusive businesses are companies that: “provide goods, services, and livelihoods on a commercially viable basis, either at scale or scalable, to people living at the base of the economic pyramid making them part of the value chain of companies’ core business as suppliers, distributors, retailers, or customers.”[1]
There are valuable models of inclusive business - many agribusinesses - across Asia and the Pacific that are commercially viable and have social impact at scale. By providing capacity building and technical assistance, inclusive business models promote MSME development in agribusiness and support smallholder farmers and MSMEs integrate into regional and global value chains. Inclusive businesses are supporting sustainable and inclusive economic growth through digital transformation by harnessing technologies to improve production and link farmers and MSMEs to global markets, and through business innovations that create entrepreneurship opportunities.
Access to finance remains an issue for many inclusive businesses seeking to expand their operations or deepen their impact. This national investment forum organized by ESCAP, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and in collaboration with the Office of SMEs Promotion (OSMEP) of Thailand, seeks to identify concrete actions to promote inclusive business models and facilitate investments towards this sector.
[1] As defined by the Inclusive Business Framework of the G20 and referenced in the Guidelines for the Promotion of Inclusive Business in ASEAN.
