Increasing Effectiveness of Inclusive Business a Key Contributor to the SDGs

New York, 22 September – The Business Call to Action brings together inclusive business stakeholders with a focus on concrete development impacts.

The Seventh Annual Forum of Business Call to Action (BCtA)organized in conjunction with the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly brought together leaders from prominent BCtA member companies, along with senior decision makers from governments, bilateral donors, civil society and the United Nations to maximize the contributions of inclusive business to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“In an era where official development assistance is shrinking, the private sector is critical for development – as a job creator, a provider of products and services, a technological innovator and the largest collective investor in the world. And while the responsibility for inclusive business rests with entrepreneurs, the environment in which the private sector operates is just as important as the nature of the business itself,” stated Magdy Martínez-Solimán, UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, at the opening of the event. He further added, “Governments should be encouraged to create an enabling environment in each sector, improve poor people’s access to markets and create incentives for the unique contributions that inclusive business can make to development.”

At its Seventh Annual Forum today, the Business Call to Action (BCtA), announced 44 new commitments put forth by 40 new companies including the optics company Essilor, women-focused social enterprise Northern Ghana Shea and Bhutan’s first foreign private investment initiative, Mountain Hazelnuts. There were also new commitments from four existing BCtA members: Dimagi, Jaipur Rugs, ¡Échale! A Tu Casaand MicroEnsure – building on the success of their original commitments and scaling to improve more lives and livelihoods worldwide. In all, 178 companies have made 182 inclusive business commitments since the leadership platform was launched in 2008. This year’s member companies are working in 17 countries worldwide, with nine companies covering multiple countries and regions. The Annual Forum provided companies with an important opportunity to share lessons learned and build upon the growing body of data on the impact of inclusive business – both for businesses’ bottom line and for development.

By 2030, these combined commitments is expected to result in increased access to financial services for22 million people,improved access to energy for8 million people,improved health outcomes for over 500 million people and a 438-million-ton reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, along with many other positive outcomes.But there is still much work to be done: inclusive businesses need support to increase their development impact.

At the event, the BCtA and the Global Reporting Initiativealso launched the report, Measuring Impact: How Business Accelerates the Sustainable Development Goals, which provides a firsthand look at how business tools, impact measurement and sustainability reporting can be utilized to accelerate businesses’ contributions to these goals.

“Business Call to Action member companies have demonstrated that there is real demand for products and services at the bottom of the economic pyramid – including in healthcare, financial services and renewable energy,” said Marcos Neto, Director, UNDP’s Istanbul International Center for Private Sector Development. There is also greater recognition of developing markets’ importance for business growth; however,the majority of private investment remains concentrated at the top of the pyramid. There are still considerable opportunities for business impact in low-income markets.We need to accelerate our efforts with the business community and work towards a future in which inclusive business reaches the mainstream. That is the key to achieving the SDGs.”

BCtA is assisting inclusive businesses in leveraging the SDGs to build inclusive value chains that empower local communities while ensuring healthy returns. The year 2016 has seen a remarkable increase in the diversity and scope of inclusive business commitments in support of the SDGs, from large multinationals to social enterprises and developing country-based ventures that are including low-income communities as suppliers, distributors, retailers and customers.While these companies are engaged across many areas of business, from agriculture to information and from education to energy, they have a common objective: contributing to the SDGs through scalable and sustainable inclusive business models.

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About the Business Call to Action (BCtA): Launched at the United Nations in 2008, the Business Call to Action (BCtA) aims to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by challenging companies to develop inclusive business models that offer the potential for both commercial success and development impact. BCtA is a unique multilateral alliance between key donor governments including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UK Department for International Development,US Agency for International Development, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Finland, and the United Nations Development Programme — which hosts the secretariat. For more information, please visit www.businesscalltoaction.org or on Twitter at @BCtAInitiative.

Read Report: Uncharted Waters: Blending Value and Values For Social Impact Through the SDGs

Read Report: Measuring Impact: How Business Accelerates the Sustainable Development Goals