14 August 2011

More than 100 prominent members of the business, government and non-government organizations attended the launch of the Business Call to Action (BCtA) Jakarta, Indonesia on June 21, 2011. The event, Accelerating Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals through Inclusive Business, sought to highlight successful models of inclusive business that have been implemented by companies in Asia-Pacific. The event was co-sponsored by the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), the Indonesia Global Compact Network and Indonesia Business Links. (See: Event Report.)

Hosted by the Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), the conference provided attendees with an opportunity to discuss how Indonesian companies could move beyond community development initiatives to promote sustainable development.

Amanda Gardiner, Acting Programme Manager for the BCtA, provided welcoming remarks and introduced the overall objectives for the workshop. Ms. Gardiner highlighted BCtA's increasing efforts to reach businesses in the Asia-Pacific marketplace. She also introduced the keynote speaker Diah Saminarsih, Deputy to the Special Envoy on the MDGs of the President of the Republic of Indonesia.

Inclusive business could play a significant role in raising the living standards and improving the life quality of communities, particularly the lower-income segment of population, said Ms. Saminarsih. But in Indonesia, as in many places around the world, these approaches are slow to be adopted.

To overcome this challenge and many of the barriers to inclusive business requires joint action suggested Jacqui de Lacy, Minister Counselor at AusAID. She noted that cross-sector partnerships between business, government and civil society are vital to scaling up inclusive business efforts.

Graham Baxter from the IBLF further explored the challenges and opportunities for inclusive business during a high-level interactive session featuring Noke Kiroyan of Kiroyan Partners, Y.W Junardy, President Commissioner of Rajawali Corpora and Sinta Kaniawati General Manager of Unilever Indonesia Foundation.

Participants also got to hear first-hand from companies that have incorporated inclusive business approaches into operations. BCtA member companies Sumitomo Chemical and LifeSpring Hospitals presented on their inclusive business models and Express Taxi, Ranch Market, and Unilever also shared insights on how to create models that achieve business and development impact.

Key insights are captured in an event report.