From Istanbul to Tokyo to Stockholm, Inclusive Business Has Come of Age

Commitments in inclusive business from leading emerging-market corporations show that inclusive business has come of age.

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UNITED NATIONS, 19 September 2013 - Leading global businesses announced significant commitments toward the Millennium Development goals today. Turkish internet giant TTNET, the Brazilian subsidiary of Spanish financial services provider Santander, Japanese retailing conglomerate MUJI, and many other large multinational and domestic companies have rallied the Business Call to Action (BCtA) and taken concrete steps to include the poor in their core business operations, as consumers, producers and entrepreneurs.

Launched in 2008, the Business Call to Action is a multi-stakeholder initiative that challenges companies to develop innovative business models that achieve commercial success and development outcomes.

From Turkey to Japan, to India and to Sweden, companies are creating innovative business models in agriculture, financial services, nutritional supplements and retail products. BCtA's Annual Event featured these members innovative business models; showcasing how they have overcome challenges in the markets of the poor and created social impact, while creating economic profit.

Inclusive business is gaining momentum. When emerging market corporations from Brazil, India and Turkey stand alongside corporations from Sweden, Japan and the United States to be united in their pursuit of corporate and social impact, we know that BCtA and UNDP are at the forefront of leading change, said Sigrid Kaag, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy at UN Development Programme.

To date, 82 companies worldwide have responded to the Business Call to Action with concrete inclusive business initiatives as commitments. Member companies benefit from the BCtA's ability to provide a global leadership platform, its research and impact measurement assistance and its global advocacy capabilities.

Sustainability must be an objective for the Group Santander as a whole, contributing to the social and economic development of communities where we operate. The Group Santander has important Microcredit Programs in countries such as Brazil, Chile and El Salvador. In Brazil, the operation has already assisted more than 182,000 customers, being 70% women, has disbursed over US$ 822 million and represents the largest microcredit operation among private banks in the country, said Carlos Nomoto, Director of Sustainability, Santander Brazil.

Recognizing that public-private partnerships at the country level play a vital role in enabling effective inclusive business initiatives, the BCtA event also featured public sector leaders from Kenya and the Philippines, alongside donor government USAID and UN agency the World Food Programme.

The evidence is clear: the markets of the poor necessitate urgent collective action to overcome challenges to sustainable and inclusive business. Cooperation between the public and private sectors, which takes advantage of specialized competencies is necessary to overcome these challenges, said Rapa Lopa, Executive Director of the Philippine Business For Social Progress (PBSP), a public economic development agencies in the Philippines.

Some quotes from our participating member partners:

AJINOMOTO, Japan: "Contributing to nutrition improvement in the world is one of the core missions of Ajinomoto Group. We are pleased to expand our commitment and our programs in Ghana to help nourish and build the capacity of Ghana's child and mother population, as a BCtA initiative," said Masatoshi Ito, President and CEO of Ajinomoto.

SANTANDER, Brazil: "Sustainability must be an objective for the Group Santander as a whole, contributing to the social and economic development of communities where we operate. The Group Santander has important Microcredit Programs in countries such as Brazil, Chile and El Salvador. In Brazil, the operation has already assisted more than 182,000 customers, being 70% women, has disbursed over US$ 822 million and represents the largest microcredit operation among private banks in the country," said Carlos Nomoto, Director of Sustainability at Santander Brazil.

MUJI, Japan: "We are honored to be a part of this annual event of BCtA as a newly joined member of the BCtA. We believe that our commitment to develop capacity of local producers in developing countries such as in Kenya, Kyrgyzstan and Cambodia by training them how to produce simple, high quality and eco-friendly consumer products will contribute to this unique initiatives and networks of BCtA," said Masaaki Kanai, the President of MUJI.

DRISHTEE, India: "Remote Communities worldwide are facing a challenge on their basic sustainability. Drishtee is supporting the local entrepreneurs stand up for their communities by gaining required skills and developing local rural enterprises for providing livelihood as well as basic services. Our association with BCtA would help these entrepreneurs find a suitable company who can partner in their success," said Siddhartha Shankar, Board Member, Drishtee.

FINO Paytech, India: "We are pleased to be associated with an initiative such as the BCtA as it provides FINO PayTech a strategic advantage of sharing ideas with global platform. By way of our engagement with the BCtA, FINO PayTech plans to expand its existing platform to deliver a range of comprehensive financial services and products. This is in line with our commitment towards making complete financial inclusion a reality thereby contributing to making world a little better," said Mr. Mujahid Ahsan, VP-Products & Solutioning, FINO PayTech Ltd.

IKEA, Sweden: "More than 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas. IKEA's commitment to purchasing Better Cotton will increase incomes of rural farmers and create a positive environmental impact while providing us with a sustainable supply of cotton for our consumers," said Greg Priest, Head of Sustainability Policy, IKEA.

Standard Chartered, UK: "Standard Chartered's SME training and education programme was piloted in 2008 in response to the BCtA. Since launch, we've trained over 400 SMEs in five countries. Having now expanded to Asia and Africa, we're reaching a further four new countries this year alone. We believe that through SME training, we can help create sustainable growth, contributing to social and economic development in the markets where we operate," said Mark Devadason, Group Head of Sustainability and Regions, Standard Chartered.

BCtA is proud to announce that 24 companies have joined the movement since September of last year. This year's members hail from Brazil, France, India, Japan, the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States. Over the lifetime of their initiatives the longest of which will finish in 2022, these BCtA member companies have collectively committed to:

  • Secure employment for 1.8 million people in 12 middle and low-income countries.

  • Improve healthcare outcomes of 12 million people;

  • Provide vocational training and capacity building opportunities to 3 million people;

  • Serve 2.5 million people with access to financial services;

  • Improve the nutritional outcomes of 1.2 million people; and

  • Assist 40 thousand farmers to improve their agricultural yields.

Business Call to Action's newest members include:

  • Ajinomoto Co., Inc.

  • Aravind Eye Care System

  • Babajob Services Pvt. Ltd.

  • ClickMedix, LLC

  • Drishtee Skill Development Center Pvt. Ltd.

  • DSM

  • EMPOWER Pragati Vocational & Staffing Pvt. Ltd.

  • Envirofit International

  • FINO PayTech Ltd.

  • FirstRand Bank

  • Global Easy Water Products Pvt., Ltd.

  • Hapinoy/MicroVentures, Inc.

  • Hippocampus Learning Centres

  • IKEA

  • L'Occitane en Provence

  • Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Ltd.

  • Novartis International AG

  • PharmaSecure, Inc.

  • Pupa Empreendimentos Educacionais e Representacao.

  • Ryohin Keikaku Co.,Ltd. (MUJI)

  • Banco Santander Brasil

  • Shree Kamdhenu Electronics Pvt. Ltd.

  • TTNET

  • Ziqitza Health Care Limited

For more information about the BCtA and company commitments, please contact Karen Newman, at karen.newman@undp.org or at +1-212 906-5194.

Business Call to Action is a global initiative that challenges companies to develop inclusive business models that offer the potential for development impact along with commercial success. The initiative is the result of a partnership between the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, UK Department for International Development, US Agency for International Development, United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Global Compact, and the Clinton Global Initiative to meet the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Companies report on progress toward commitments on an annual basis. To learn more, please visit www.businesscalltoaction.org or join the conversation on Twitter at @BCtAInitiative.

Studio Elias