WHAT IS INCLUSIVE BUSINESS ?: World Bank´s definition and resources.

Inclusive business is a private sector approach to providing goods, services, and livelihoods on a commercially viable basis, either at scale or scalable, to people at the base of the pyramid by making them part of the value chain of companies’ core business as suppliers, distributors, retailers, or customers.

Inclusive businesses expand access to goods, services, and livelihood opportunities for low-income people in commercially viable, scalable ways. These businesses provide opportunities for people living at the base of the pyramid (BOP) to step into new roles: as suppliers, as distributors, as retailers, or as customers.

An inclusive business customizes its business model to take advantage of opportunities to work with people who live at the BOP on less than $8 per day in purchasing power parity or without access to the basic goods, services, and income generation opportunities that they need.

Not only do low-income people benefit when these businesses provide greater access to basic goods, services, and livelihoods—the businesses benefit as well.

Inclusive business models are helping businesses turn underserved populations into dynamic consumer markets and diverse new sources of supply.

In the process, businesses are developing product, service, and business model innovations that have the potential to tip the scales of competitive advantage in more established markets. Inclusive businesses are providing clean water, electrical power, modern communications, health care, education, financial services, and income-generating opportunities to millions of people at levels of quality and affordability they have never experienced—if they ever had access—before.

Interesting articles and material on the topic

• “Segmenting the Base of the Pyramid,” Harvard Business Review
• “The Great Leap: Driving Innovation from the Base of the Pyramid,” MIT Sloan Management Review
• “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid,” C.K. Prahalad
• “Tackling Barriers to Scale: From Inclusive Business Models to Inclusive Business Ecosystems,” Harvard Kennedy School
• “The Base of the Pyramid: Re-perceiving Business from the Bottom Up,” Nicole Boyer