Objectives
The 2nd Inclusive Business (IB) Asian Forum will highlight the latest innovative private sector solutions to job creation and the provision of relevant services (and goods) to low-income and poor people. The event will also discuss how governments and business associations can support or create a better enabling environment for inclusive business. Furthermore, the event will exchange experiences from Latin America with Asia and seek replication.
For more information on the Inclusive Business Forum visit the Practitioner Hub for Inclusive Business.
Description
ADB is organizing the 2nd Inclusive Business Forum for Asia, to be held on 17-19 February 2016 in Manila. The forum will bring together about 250 representatives from business companies, business associations, investors, and governments promoting inclusive business business models in Asia.
The forum will discuss:
- Business solutions to poverty problems;
- The role of development banks and impact investors in promoting inclusive business;
- What business associations and governments can do to foster a better enabling environment for inclusive business;
- Sector solutions to the problems of the poor and low income people in agribusiness, education, finance, health, housing, utilities, and tourism;
- Cross-cutting topics on the relevance of inclusive business for: promoting gender equality, tripe bottom line investments, assessing the social impact of investments, and for using corporate social responsibility more strategically;
- Country-specific inclusive business issues in Southeast Asia, in OECD countries, and in high income Asian countries of Asia;
- IFC/World Bank and the UNDP-BCtA will sponsor a special session on inclusive business in the G20.
Side events on 15-16 February 2016 will include:
- A training for bankers and impact investors on risk assessment and structuring inclusive business finance (in cooperation with Credit Suisse)
- A workshop on inclusive business in agriculture and aquaculture (in cooperation with CSR Asia)
- A business to business (B2B) learning for replicating inclusive business models in Asia (sponsored by IBAN)
- In addition, the development banks working group on inclusive business, the ADB advisory group on inclusive business, and the IBAN advisory board will also meet in the context of the forum.
The forum is organized by ADB, in partnership with:
- Inter-American Development Bank (IADB),
- International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the World Bank group,
- Business Call to Action (BCtA) in the United Nationals Development Program (UNDP),
- World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
- Inclusive Business Action Network (IBAN), and
- CSR Asia
Inclusive businesses (IB) are sponsored by commercially viable for-profit private sector companies with business models that provide – in scale – innovative and systemic solutions to the relevant problems of the poor and low income people (i.e. the base of the income pyramid, or bottom 60%). Inclusive business is the private sector’s contribution to making economic growth more inclusive.
Inclusive business models differ in impact, size and form of investment from inclusive business activities (undertaken by many companies but not core to their business - often done as corporate social responsibility) and inclusive business initiatives (led by social enterprises). While inclusive business models, activities and initiatives can be promoted by large, small and medium-sized enterprises, most inclusive business models that integrate the poor in their core value chain are sponsored by locally based companies, often family-owned, as well and as some specialized global corporations.
Target participants
The event will bring together 250 practitioners from businesses, investors, governments, and development partners. Some companies will also exhibit their business models.
Resource speakers
The speakers for the high level discussions include company CEOs, senior management of development banks, management of banks and impact investors, and other experts in the impact investing field.