In mid-July, over 50 executives took part in a workshop designed to generate ideas about how they could grow their businesses by engaging with low-income communities. The participants came from a wide variety of sectors, including construction, manufacturing, agro-industry, financial services and business consulting.

The workshop featured panel discussions, presentations by leading companies and thought leaders in this field, and break-out groups aimed at developing some of the ideas generated in the early sessions into more detailed and concrete business concepts. Participants were also given time to look over the application to the Corporate Leaders Program and seek one-on-one advice from the IDB and Dalberg experts in the room. You can find a comprehensive summary of the workshop here, incl. links to presentations.

Applications to the program, through which selected companies will receive valuable support in turning their inclusive business concepts into detailed business plans, is open to all companies. The application deadline is Monday, August 16, 2010 at 6 pm EST.

For application forms in English and Spanish, information on eligibility, and much more, please visit www.majoritymarkets.org/corporateleaders. If you have any questions, please contact corporateleaders@majoritymarkets.org. 

Se ha lanzado el portal negociosinclusivos.org.  El portal surge de la iniciativa de instituciones líderes en el sector de los Negocios Inclusivos, que unieron fuerzas con el fin de promover y compilar en un sólo lugar información y recursos sobre este modelo de negocios.

En el portal encontrará: información detallada sobre los Negocios Inclusivos, estudios académicos y casos prácticos, metodologías de aplicación y medición de impacto de los mismos y, noticias y eventos relacionados con los Negocios Inclusivos.

negociosinclusivos.org es una iniciativa única, pues ha logrado compilar en un solo lugar información que hasta ahora estaba dispersa, además. Además ha creado sinergias, pues ha establecido una alianza con el blog Next Billion en español para que este sea el espacio de opinión sobre los Negocios Inclusivos. El portal está dirigido para que organizaciones, empresas, instituciones públicas y toda persona interesada en los Negocios Inclusivos, tenga un especio de información, difusión y trabajo en red sobre este tema.

Negociosinclusivos.org es promovido por: SNV, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Fundación AVINA, World Resources Institute y FUNDES. 

A ellos se han sumado como socios: Ashoka, Laboratorio de la Base de la Pirámide - Barcelona, Laboratorio de Aprendizajes en Negocios Inclusivos de la Universidad Alberto Hurtado de Chile y la Red de Conocimientos sobre Emprendimientos Sociales - SEKN.

Para mayor información puede contactar a Paula Carrión, Tel.: + 593 2 323 0131 / + 593 2 323 0076 ext. 413.

Vietnam's Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) – a think-tank under Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment – has studied Unilever Vietnam as a model of foreign direct investment. CIEM aims to help the government design better policies for multinational companies to operate within, and how best to harness that investment to generate growth, jobs and wealth.

Unilever, which directly employs 1’200 people and creates up to 8’000 indirect jobs in Vietnam, began operating in the country in 1995.

The study (see full report and executive summary) analyzes the impact of Unilever Vietnam in 3 key areas:

- Impact of operations: The most important impacts that Unilever Vietnam makes on society are those through its direct business operations

- Impact through the value chain: Wider direct and indirect impacts along the value chain. The study focuses on those small and medium-sized enterprises that manufacture Unilever Vietnam's products, together with suppliers, distributors and consumer

- Voluntary contributions: Voluntary contributions made to the community and wider society, often in partnership with not-for-profit organizations

The research involved in-depth interviews with government officials, retailers, consumers, employees and other beneficiaries of the business. It highlights several key findings

• Unilever Vietnam is a long-term investor, who has been deeply rooted in the economy, having strong forward and backward linkages and, by and large, serving domestic consumers. The company recognizes that it will prosper if Vietnam grows well and vice versa.

• The Unilever Vietnam case is a real model of a constructive partnership and efficient collaboration between a multinational company and local businesses, which results in a win-win situation for both sides.
• Through coaching and training by Unilever Vietnam personnel, the small and medium-sized enterprise partners obtain necessary skills, experience, techniques and working discipline to become even more efficient and competitive.
• 'Trickle-down' effects may be far-reaching, and are not only confined to capacity-building and technology transfer but also affect social and environmental areas.
• By incorporating selected national priorities into the business agenda and implementing them, Unilever Vietnam has achieved a double target of advancing both national and corporate agendas.
• The company has developed and is implementing a strategy to serve the poor majority who live in rural areas.

Marijn van Tiggelen, Chairman, Unilever Vietnam, explains why socio-economic development is critical to Unilever as a business: "If Vietnam prospers, Unilever Vietnam prospers. Improving the well-being of the Vietnamese is central to Unilever Vietnam's growth and we are very proud to have played an active role in the overall socio-economic development of the country."

Read more:

- Unilever’s website section focused on the company’s economic impacts on society

- Measuring Unilever’s Economic Footprint: The Case of South Africa

- Unilever in Indonesia: links between international business & poverty reduction?

Aiming to share its experience in how to design, deliver and scale sustainable microinsurance products and to help set the right course for next steps, Allianz has published a new microinsurance report, titled Learning to insure the poor (pdf, 40 pages).

The new report is based on research, conducted in collaboration with the Emergia Institute, to consolidate the wealth of insights Allianz has gained in the first years of developing its microinsurance business. Key facts on the state of microinsurance today, case studies on existing Allianz microinsurance projects and perspectives from experts on the future of microinsurance round out the report.

The report is structured by the five steps of a learning process:

- Idea: What is microinsurance?

- Design: How do we create products for low-income people?

- Operations: How can we deliver on what we promise?

- Sales: How can we convince our customers?

- Growth: How can we be profitable and gain scale?

Each chapter features an in-depth case study of Allianz microinsurance engagement in India, Indonesia and several countries in Africa. In addition, background information and expert interviews provide an overview of the sector to date and its developments.

Background

Today, half of the world's population comprises the market for microinsurance. Four billion people live on incomes of less than eight dollars per day. Of that number, 2.6 billion get by on less than two dollars per day. With few assets, these individuals are more vulnerable to risk and less able to cope with loss. Shocks like natural disaster, loss of property or harvests, and  the illness or death of a family's breadwinner can quickly lead to destitution.

Microinsurance could be a part of the remedy. Premiums are small enough to afford, and microinsurance provides protection against loss to those who need it most, when they need it most. Yet, while micro-loans are more widely understood and widespread in developing countries, the concept of microinsurance is not as familiar. From the provider perspective, it is often considered to be too complex and cost-intensive to be marketed successfully in the world's poorest rural regions.

Not so, according to Allianz. The company first began to look into the market of low-income households six years ago. In 2004, it launched a small credit life insurance portfolio in India. Fast forward to today and Allianz has sold life insurance, property insurance and health insurance to 3.8 million microinsurance customers in India, Indonesia, Africa and Latin America. In June, Allianz announced that it will launch a microinsurance division in Brazil next year, citing a rapidly growing microinsurance market in the country with potentially 50 to 60 million Brazilians needing life and housing coverage.

Despite this success, Allianz still sees insuring the poor as a learning process. A considerable number of challenges remain unresolved, such as how to calculate risks in the absence of data, how to sell and administer policies efficiently and how to get more people, who live in deep poverty, to understand insurance benefits and to invest in them.

More information:
Case story Reducing the risks of the poor through microinsurance: Allianz