Inclusive businesses (IBs) in the ASEAN have the potential to create 1.8 million employment opportunities for those living on less than US$6 – 8 per day in the next five years. By providing the Base of the Pyramid (BoP), which makes up more than half of the population, with a source of sustainable livelihoods IBs present a way that this value-demanding and productive population can be integrated into supply chains to enable commercial viability and sustainable development in one fell swoop.
In 2019, AVPN, in collaboration with the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN), embarked on a programme to develop the ecosystem of investors, businesses and intermediaries in Southeast Asia committed to engaging people living at the BoP across the supply chain as retailers, distributors, suppliers and employees. In this webinar, you will hear about the partnership between LGT Venture Philanthropy, an impact fund, and an inclusive business, Agronomika Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of Kennemer Foods Inc. about how their partnership has impacted farming communities in the Philippines. Learn about the potential for both financial and social impact through investment in inclusive business models and catalyse the conversation on impact investing in Inclusive Business in Europe.
Key Takeaways
- To effectively manage challenges of managing partnerships, maintaining regular and open communication is the key. Stating the requirements and highlighting the issues in a timely manner helps to achieve alignment in tackling challenges. Long-term partnerships have the effect of producing unexpected outcomes that can impact the inclusive business ecosystems positively. Due to the depth of engagement with communities, effective multi-year partnerships also help uncover felt-needs given the unique context-specific challenges faced by the BoP.
- Besides financial support, non-financial support in terms of inputs, training, research, and impact measurement is also important. As an investor, it is critical to put impact measurement frameworks with metrics and key performance indicators in place. The metrics should not be too difficult to collect, but should be useful enough to provide a clear picture of impact made as the business achieves scale and diversifies further, so that informed strategic changes can be implemented.
- Flexibility is essential in designing innovative financing models to suit the unique needs of communities. The models of engagement are often designed to equally involve both men and women at the BoP. However, as in the case of he Philippines it has been easier to engage women, as the society is more gender equal than other countries in the region.
