Publications: Inclusive Business

Oct 18, 2022

Increasing Access to Health Services Through Inclusive Digital Health

This report aims to share knowledge on how healthcare providers can embed digital health into their business models to expand access to health services among the underserved, or individuals at the base of the pyramid.

English - 16 pages | Español - 16 pages | 2022 IFC

Mar 5, 2021

Building Inclusive Supply Chains

IFC’s latest publication “Building Inclusive Supply Chains” shows how MUJI has built an inclusive supply chain positively impacting on small producers at the base of the pyramid (BOP) who are mostly women, and how its stakeholders perceive its benefits. The report reflects direct feedback gathered during interviews and surveys conducted by IFC with different stakeholders in MUJI's supply chain -- including producers, customers, employees, and management. The report highlights key challenges and opportunities that stem from engagement with the BOP producers in emerging markets. It also provides insights into good practice in incorporating the BOP producers into global value chains, drawing on MUJI’s experiences.

May 27, 2020

Leveraging Inclusive Business Models to Support the Base of the Pyramid during COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis is expected to roll back some of the progress made against global poverty over the last two decades, with the greatest impact on individuals at the base of the economic pyramid. Inclusive businesses that expand access to goods, services, and livelihoods for these individuals are responding to the crisis by reorienting and adapting their inclusive business models and operations. This note highlights seven actions that companies are taking to address needs at the base of the pyramid. We present their actions here as examples of what other businesses could do in response to the needs of those at the base of the pyramid.

Feb 5, 2020

Ashesi University

Ashesi University was established to develop entrepreneurial and ethical leaders with the skills to tackle Africa’s pressing challenges and the integrity to shun corruption. Since opening in 2002, Ashesi has taken on a leadership role to promote quality tertiary education and to encourage more centers of excellence in Africa.

Mar 27, 2019

Fedecrédito (Spanish)

Fedecrédito is the largest federation of 48 Credit Unions and 7 Workers’ Banks offering loans, savings accounts, family remittance payments and other financial products throughout El Salvador. The case study highlights best practices the federation employed to achieve its financial results while maintaining its social mandate.

Mar 27, 2019

Fedecrédito (Summary)

Fedecrédito is the largest federation of 48 Credit Unions and 7 Workers’ Banks offering loans, savings accounts, family remittance payments and other financial products throughout El Salvador. The summary highlights best practices the federation employed to achieve its financial results while maintaining its social mandate.

Dec 12, 2018

Goodlife Pharmacy

Goodlife Pharmacy offers safe, high-quality medicine to consumers in Kenya and Uganda, including lower-income 'emerging consumers'. Ultimately, Goodlife aims to become a health hub—a one-stop-shop to meet basic primary health care needs through pharmaceuticals and health care services. In the four years since it was founded in 2014, Goodlife has become East Africa’s largest pharmacy chain.

Apr 12, 2018

Eurasia University

Xi’an Eurasia University provides high-quality, employment-focused private education in Shaanxi, China and is changing the perception of privately-run tertiary education in the country. With an education philosophy to maximize the employment potential of its students, Eurasia is committed to offering a combination of an applied curriculum and student-centered learning with hands-on industry experience. In 2016, 85 percent of students secured a job prior to graduation.

Jan 31, 2018

Luminus

Luminus Education is committed to transforming technical and vocational education (TVET) in Jordan and advancing the Education 4 Employment philosophy. Based in the region with the highest youth unemployment rate in the world, Luminus offers high-quality, market-oriented programs and recognizes that equipping Jordanian youth with vocational skills is important for both economic and security reasons.

Jan 17, 2018

Expanding Access to Improved Sanitation for the Poor

IFC and its client Manila Water recently completed an in-depth study of sanitation conditions, practices, and preferences among low-income households in urban and peri-urban Philippines. The summary report shows that these households face multiple challenges to improving their sanitation conditions such as costs, land ownership issues, and lack of space. The findings present both the drivers of demand and the barriers to access that low-income households face, concluding that the key to reaching these populations include technological innovation, development of new methods of financing, and close coordination between the public and private sectors.

Apr 26, 2017

salauno

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 center 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. For more information on salauno visit their website at http://www.salauno.com.mx/.

Mar 1, 2017

Corporación Grupo Fybeca S.A. (GPF)

Fybeca a pharmaceutical retailer with a history of innovation, 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, GPF launched SanaSana — its first pharmacy for low-income customers.

Sep 16, 2016

Built for Change: Inclusive Business Solutions for the Base of the Pyramid

IFC 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.

Sep 16, 2016

bKash

bKash is a mobile financial services company founded in 2010 in Bangladesh. The company brings the unbanked into the formal financial system. It has played a major role in building Bangladesh’s mobile financial services industry from scratch and is the country’s leading player, accounting for 75 percent of the market. It enables 23million people who once dealt only in cash to send remittances, save, and pay for products and services using their mobile phones. This case study is in the 2016 Built for Change report which features companies that are employing unique strategies to integrate people living at the base of the pyramid into the companies’ business operations.

Sep 16, 2016

MicroEnsure

MicroEnsure has developed pioneering insurance solutions for low-income people in Africa and Asia living on less than $4 per day. Founded in 2008, the company has introduced over 200 types of insurance for life, health, and accidents for the poor, and distributes its products through mobile network operators, microfinance institutions, and other organizations that low-income customers trust. The company reaches more than 40 million customers in 15 countries in Africa and Asia. This case study is in the 2016 Built for Change report which features companies that are employing unique strategies to integrate people living at the base of the pyramid into the companies’ business operations.

Sep 16, 2016

Probiotech

Probiotech is a leading processor and producer of animal health and nutrition products in Nepal. The agribusiness was founded in 2000 and produces animal feed for small-scale farmers in Nepal, among other lines of work. The company improves the productivity of its 12,000 feed customers by offering training on farm management and by leveraging its extensive distribution network to provide high quality inputs. This case study is in the 2016 Built for Change report which features companies that are employing unique strategies to integrate people living at the base of the pyramid into the companies’ business operations.

Sep 16, 2016

NephroPlus

NephroCare Health Services Private Limited (NephroPlus) is a provider network of kidney dialysis services across 15 states in India. Founded in 2010, NephroPlus delivers these services in large metropolitan areas as well as underserved, small cities at prices that are 30 to 40 percent lower than hospitals. As of 2015, the company has 75 centers across India that service more than 6,000 patients and provide approximately 50,000 dialysis treatments each month. This case study is in the 2016 Built for Change report which features companies that are employing unique strategies to integrate people living at the base of the pyramid into the companies’ business operations.

Sep 16, 2016

Bridge International Academies

Bridge International Academies is an education organization founded in 2008 in Kenya, and grown to serve almost 100,000 students in over 470 locations in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and India. The company offers affordable, low-cost education to primary school children in underserved, low-income communities. The schools employ low-cost technology to provide teaching content to its teachers and to monitor the delivery of the content and teaching techniques on a real time basis. The company reaches more than 40 million customers in 15 countries in Africa and Asia. This case study is in the 2016 Built for Change report which features companies that are employing unique strategies to integrate people living at the base of the pyramid into the companies’ business operations.

Sep 7, 2016

G20 Inclusive Business Report for the 2016 Summit

Leaders at the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, China emphasized the need for sustainable and inclusive growth, and welcomed the 2016 Inclusive Business report and the launch of the G20 Global Platform on Inclusive Business www.g20inclusivebusiness.org. The Platform is a global partnership that seeks to accelerate the adoption of inclusive business policies and programs globally.

Nov 17, 2015

G20 Inclusive Business Framework and Leaders’ Call to Action

Leaders at the G20 Leaders Summit in Turkey issued a call to action to public and private sector representatives, international organizations and civil society to advance the ability of businesses around the world to integrate low-income people into their value chains. The call highlights inclusive business’ important role in the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals aimed at ending poverty by 2030. As part of the Call to action, the G20 endorsed the G20 Inclusive Business Framework, which presents policy options for G20 and non-G20 governments, companies, and international financial institutions to promote and support inclusive business.

Aug 1, 2015

Faculdade Mauricio de Nassau

Mauricio is a leading forprofit provider of undergraduate, graduate, and technical education programs in northern and northeastern Brazil. Founded in 2003 with one campus in the city of Recife in Pernambuco state, FMN now operates nine campuses across five states. FMN was one of the top 15 post-secondary education providers in Brazil in terms of sales in 2010.

Feb 4, 2015

Corridors for Shared Prosperity: Spotlight on India-Africa Inclusive Business Transfer

IFC’s new study ‘Corridors for Shared Prosperity’ contributes to building a shared understanding of successful approaches and challenges in replication. It proposes a framework for systematic replication using examples of 11 Indian inclusive businesses that have been replicated across border. It analyzes the demand for inclusive business models in Africa in three high-impact focus sectors for transfer: agriculture, healthcare and renewable energy, and discusses key drivers of transfer of inclusive models from India to Africa. The study is a foundational effort to encourage systematic transfer of Indian inclusive business models, and to lay down a framework based on empirical evidence to guide such work.

Feb 4, 2015

Landscape of Inclusive Business models of Healthcare in India: Business Model Innovations

IFC’s new study ‘Landscape of Inclusive Business Models of Healthcare in India' aims to inform the healthcare ecosystem of the opportunities in the health inclusive business space and suggestions for catalyzing growth of innovative business models in the health sector. While the innovative models have shown great potential, only a few have gone to scale and thereby maximized impact. The study analyzes the ecosystem in which they operate including regulatory issues, value chains, support services, as well as enterprise-level issues. This would enable stakeholders to gauge what is needed and examine what role they can play to improve the ecosystem.

Dec 12, 2014

Impact of Efficient Irrigation Technology on Small Farmers

IFC recently commissioned a series of studies to better understand the impact that adoption of efficient irrigation technology can have on smallholders’ farming practices and livelihoods. The studies also analyzed the main factors that enable the adoption of such technology, focusing in particular on assessing the financing solutions for smallholder investments in efficient irrigation. The highlights from these studies are presented in this brochure.

Nov 18, 2014

Shared Prosperity through Inclusive Business: How Successful Companies Reach the Base of the Pyramid

This IFC report summarizes the practical lessons that we can learn from IFC’s inclusive business clients. There are lessons for each phase of the value chain – including procurement, product development, distribution and retail, and marketing and sales.  Each lesson is illustrated by a profile of an IFC client that is using that approach to reach the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) on a commercial basis.