What is Inclusive Business?

Inclusive businesses provide livelihood opportunities and close access gaps for people living at the base of the economic pyramid. They do this in ways that are commercially and financially self-sustaining by focusing on poor and underserved individuals across their value chain as supplier, employee, distributor, retailer, or customer.

Why is Inclusive Business important?

Inclusive businesses play a fundamental role in achieving the World Bank Group’s goals of reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity. These companies address pervasive development gaps, including the 2.4 billion people who lack access to basic sanitation, the 2 billion people who are unbanked, the 1.2 billion people who lack reliable electricity, and the 121 million children who are not in school, among others. COVID-19 is deepening these gaps and pushing millions more into poverty, making inclusive businesses as critical now as ever. The G20 recognized the importance of inclusive business in the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals aimed at ending poverty by 2030.