Antalaya, November 17, 2015—Leaders at the G20 Leaders Summit in Antalaya, Turkey issued a call to action to public and private sector representatives, international organizations and civil society to advance the ability of businesses around the world to integrate low-income people into their value chains.
“The private sector has a strong role to play in development and poverty eradication. Through our G20 Call on Inclusive Business we stress the need of all stakeholders to work together in order to promote opportunities for low income people and communities to participate in markets as buyers, suppliers and consumers,” the leaders said in their year-end Communique, which also featured statements on boosting investments as a powerful driver of growth and implementation of previous G20 commitments.
The call highlights inclusive business’ important role in the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals aimed at ending poverty by 2030.
“This recognition by G20 leaders raises the bar on supporting inclusive businesses and illustrates the critical role the private sector can play to boost growth for all in developing countries. We look forward to answering the call and helping businesses directly contribute to shared prosperity,” said Toshi Masuoka, Director of the Development Impact Unit at International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.
“Inclusive business approaches go beyond corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, and impact investment by connecting poor people to markets. They encompass business approaches that directly improve the lives of the poor by making them part of the value chain of companies’ core business as suppliers, distributors, retailers, or customers,” said Magdy Martínez-Solimán, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of Bureau for Policy and Programme Support.
As part of the Call to action, the G20 endorsed the G20 Inclusive Business Framework, which presents policy options for G20 and non-G20 governments, companies, and international financial institutions to promote and support inclusive business.
The G20 Call on Inclusive Business welcomes continued joint work by the World Bank Group and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on how to support countries and other stakeholders to lay a foundation for that enables inclusive businesses to grow, thrive and support development at the national and community levels.
The IFC’s work on inclusive business is captured in its November 2014 report: Shared Prosperity through Inclusive Business. The report offers challenges and solutions for businesses at the four stages of the business value chain: procurement, product development, distribution and retail, marketing and sales.
UNDP has been working on inclusive businesses issues for many years pointing the way to companies and governments alike on how best to develop business models and to explore policy that support inclusive businesses.
