00:00 Uh,
00:00 welcome to the 2nd,
00:01 uh,
00:02 webinar in the Local Economic Development Series,
00:05 Inclusive and Sustainable Recovery.
00:07 Uh,
00:07 this series,
00:08 uh,
00:09 is being started.
00:11 To look at
00:14 how local economic recovery can happen post-COVID.
00:17 And this is the 2nd webinar in this series.
00:20 The first webinar was on
00:22 women's collectives and,
00:24 uh,
00:25 you know,
00:26 institutions and entrepreneurship,
00:28 how we can support
00:29 them,
00:30 the existing work on that
00:32 to really help an inclusive,
00:33 sustainable recovery.
00:35 Uh,
00:36 uh,
00:36 today's
00:37 series is very interesting.
00:39 Uh,
00:39 it's on how can social innovators and
00:41 entrepreneurs support inclusive local economic recovery,
00:45 and we have a very,
00:46 uh,
00:46 distinguished panel,
00:48 uh,
00:49 uh,
00:49 today,
00:50 uh,
00:50 Carlos Centeno,
00:52 uh,
00:53 the leader of Economic prosperity,
00:55 uh,
00:56 Community,
00:58 MIT Sol,
01:00 and,
01:00 uh,
01:00 Cassie Weender Strict,
01:02 principal,
01:04 Sol Innovation.
01:05 Uh,
01:06 future MIT Sol,
01:08 then,
01:09 uh,
01:10 we have Vikas Bali,
01:11 CEO of Intelliap,
01:14 and Alfred Kojo Yaba,
01:16 regional director of Africa Grameen Foundation.
01:19 And I would,
01:20 uh,
01:21 uh,
01:22 uh,
01:22 sort of,
01:23 uh,
01:24 and the closing remarks,
01:25 uh,
01:25 Louis is going to kick us off.
01:27 Louis Scott is our global director for
01:28 social sustainability and inclusion Global Practice.
01:31 And Susan Wong,
01:33 uh,
01:33 our global lead for community-driven development,
01:36 Global Solution Group,
01:37 will,
01:38 will
01:39 kick off the closing remarks.
01:42 Uh,
01:42 to just show you the context,
01:45 can we have the next slide,
01:46 please?
01:46 Yeah.
01:48 Uh,
01:49 so clearly we have clearly in the UN General Assembly also a session going on
01:54 with the World Economic Forum on
01:55 with Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship,
01:58 and they've just produced a 2020 impact report,
02:02 uh,
02:02 which talks about two decades of how
02:04 400 leading social entrepreneurs have
02:08 improved 622 million lives,
02:10 uh,
02:10 190 countries,
02:12 6.7 billion in loans.
02:15 And 25 million people with disabilities,
02:18 homeless,
02:18 or refugees supported.
02:19 So this
02:20 particular
02:21 solution or
02:23 way of doing things
02:25 has proved to be very effective
02:28 on reaching
02:32 on working on social issues as well as
02:35 local economic issues on scale.
02:37 And just to let you know that we also have a
02:42 Uh,
02:42 you know,
02:43 a resource page,
02:44 a local economic development resource page,
02:47 which you can access all the webinars
02:50 as well as other material there.
02:52 So without further ado,
02:54 I'll ask Louis Ku to kick us off.
02:57 Over to you,
02:57 Louis.
02:58 Great.
02:59 Thank you,
02:59 Parmesh.
03:01 And
03:01 hello,
03:02 everyone,
03:02 and welcome to,
03:04 to this webinar today.
03:06 It's a real pleasure to be here.
03:08 It focus,
03:09 as you know,
03:10 everyone now is,
03:10 we're all focused on the recovery,
03:13 which we hope will come soon,
03:15 and how to make it more inclusive,
03:17 and how
03:19 today's seminar,
03:19 as Parmesh said,
03:20 is how social
03:21 innovators and entrepreneurs can support this recovery at the
03:24 local level to make it even more inclusive.
03:28 We know that there's a lot,
03:30 we're starting from the premise that there's large
03:32 parts of the population
03:34 that are at risk of not being part of the recovery.
03:38 They've been terribly impacted by COVID,
03:41 that have,
03:42 that have been further,
03:43 that faced inequalities and exclusion before COVID,
03:47 that got worse during the epidemic
03:49 and now find themselves even further behind and at
03:51 risk of not participating and benefiting from this recovery.
03:56 We are now needing to look across all
03:59 opportunities to see how we can bring resources,
04:02 creativity,
04:03 and ideas
04:04 to making this recovery,
04:06 that inclusive recovery and getting us back on track to achieve the SDGs.
04:11 To me,
04:12 when I,
04:12 they asked when Ashatosh and Parmesh asked me to open this uh brown bag,
04:17 this seminar.
04:19 I,
04:19 I had to pause because I have to admit,
04:21 I,
04:22 I
04:22 didn't really understand and don't fully understand social entrepreneurship,
04:27 didn't understand and not totally convinced of
04:30 how we can make it work and scale it up at a large level.
04:33 So I did what we all do today.
04:35 We go to the internet and I googled it.
04:38 And I found a really fascinating definition.
04:41 It's acknowledged that there are many definitions and that I
04:43 wasn't alone and not really understanding what was social entrepreneurship.
04:47 But the definition I found on Stanford's web page was really inspiring.
04:52 That a social entrepreneur identifies a stable
04:56 but inherently unjust equilibrium that causes exclusion,
05:00 marginalization,
05:01 or suffering for a segment of humanity
05:05 that lacks the financial means or political clout
05:08 to achieve any
05:09 transformative benefit on its own.
05:11 And I think this is what we talk about today when we look at indigenous peoples,
05:15 Afro-descendants,
05:17 certain black communities,
05:19 disabled.
05:20 LGBTI
05:22 women experience gender-based violence.
05:24 These are the people that we are concerned,
05:26 the extreme poor,
05:27 migrants,
05:28 displaced people
05:29 who are in that category today and not
05:32 potentially not able to benefit from this recovery.
05:38 What does a social entrepreneur do?
05:39 What do they bring to that story?
05:41 We're all
05:42 very preoccupied by that challenge,
05:43 but what does a social entrepreneur bring?
05:46 Well,
05:46 they identify an opportunity in this unjust equilibrium,
05:50 develop a social value proposition,
05:53 and bring to bear inspiration,
05:55 creativity,
05:55 action,
05:56 courage,
05:56 and fortitude.
05:58 Challenging this stable state,
06:01 this unequal stable state.
06:03 And from that,
06:05 and it can be what we're gonna hear from today,
06:07 I imagine with Grain.
06:09 About the role of,
06:10 of microfinance,
06:11 um,
06:12 and some of the work we're gonna hear from as well,
06:15 um,
06:15 from our colleagues at MIT.
06:17 But forging,
06:18 and the third part of what a social entrepreneur does is forges a new
06:23 stable equilibrium that releases trapped potential and
06:26 alleviates the suffering of the target group
06:29 and creates a stable ecosystem around this
06:32 new equilibrium that ensures a better future.
06:35 So I guess what was inspiring to me is when
06:37 you think of they gave the example of Andrew Carnegie,
06:40 it's one thing to create a library in your community,
06:43 that's not necessarily a social entrepreneur,
06:46 but someone who is able to create
06:48 and build the foundation for a system of
06:51 public libraries that run across the United States,
06:54 that is a social entrepreneur,
06:55 someone who is able to scale up
06:57 a model or an approach to deal with a a social problem.
07:02 So,
07:03 I got very intrigued,
07:04 very excited about the
07:06 that this can bring
07:08 for somebody working in the World Bank,
07:09 leading the global practice on social sustainability and inclusion,
07:14 learning more about how we can get
07:16 to a new stable equilibrium to address some of the
07:18 very serious challenges and the persistent inequalities that we're seeing today
07:22 is top of our strategy.
07:24 So with that,
07:25 I hand it over to our panel,
07:26 back to Parmesh and to our panelists just to say I'm really
07:30 looking forward to,
07:31 to discussion today.
07:32 And,
07:33 and what we can learn.
07:34 Thank you very much.
07:40 Parmesh,
07:41 over to you.
07:42 Yeah,
07:42 thanks a lot,
07:43 Louis.
07:43 Much appreciate your remarks and,
07:44 and setting the context there.
07:46 And,
07:47 and personally,
07:48 so I had the privilege of working with many social entrepreneurs across
07:52 so many years.
07:53 I started
07:54 also interacting with Muhammad Yunus
07:57 when he started the Grameen Bank.
07:59 I also interacted with Doctor Kuran when he started the famous Amul approach.
08:04 And all this I'm talking to you about 2030 years back.
08:07 These people were ahead of their time.
08:09 They were the first foundational social entrepreneurs
08:13 in the world,
08:14 and they really showed how
08:17 sort of a social issue or a problem
08:20 of inclusive development can be taken to scale,
08:23 but using a business model.
08:24 And Muhammad Yunus also currently is working on
08:28 the concept of social businesses,
08:30 and he's really trying to see
08:32 if he can sort of work on a new kind of issue,
08:36 moving away from microfinance to social businesses.
08:39 So I think we are privileged today.
08:41 We have a very good panel.
08:43 So I'll straight away go to the panel and start with Carlos Centeno.
08:47 And Carlos,
08:48 uh,
08:48 you have been involved in the
08:51 uh MIT Solve's recent good jobs and inclusive entrepreneurship Challenge.
08:56 And uh there are lots of people who are competing and what are,
09:00 what are you seeing
09:02 uh through this challenge?
09:03 What are the issues which are coming up
09:05 and what are some of the very
09:07 innovations which social entrepreneurs are bringing to the table?
09:10 And can you also talk about your current
09:13 ongoing challenge with the World Bank Group,
09:15 which is the 2020 ion billion Challenge,
09:18 the West Africa Prize.
09:20 Uh,
09:20 over to you,
09:21 Carlos.
09:22 Thank you,
09:23 Parmesh.
09:23 Yeah,
09:23 as you know,
09:24 um,
09:25 uh,
09:25 Solve is an initiative of the president of MIT
09:27 to solve the world's greatest challenges and and the way we do this is by launching
09:31 uh challenges in in in the areas of learning,
09:34 sustainability,
09:35 health,
09:35 and economic prosperity.
09:37 Uh,
09:37 so the challenge this year for economic prosperity,
09:41 really,
09:41 um,
09:42 when we launched it in February,
09:43 we had no idea that the world was going to change the way it has changed.
09:46 And so the the the call for the challenge became an urgent call for solutions.
09:51 That enables small,
09:52 small businesses and entrepreneurs to weather the crisis.
09:55 We needed solutions that connected workers to social safety nets,
09:58 financial security,
09:59 and we needed solutions to equip workers
10:01 with the right tools to get back into this very changing economy,
10:04 right?
10:04 Uh,
10:04 a lot of transformation happened in a very short time.
10:07 Uh,
10:08 and so
10:09 this urgent call to action meant we had a 30% uh record plus of applications.
10:15 We had,
10:16 um,
10:17 for the challenge,
10:18 which in itself was
10:19 Um,
10:21 trying to get solutions that uh address how,
10:23 how marginalized populations can access and create
10:26 good jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities for themselves.
10:29 You can see some of the numbers from
10:31 the past uh challenges we've had.
10:33 We had 130 solver teams so far,
10:35 uh,
10:35 headquartered in 36 countries,
10:38 and it's a bit of a mix of uh the type of organization that is,
10:41 the majority is for-profit,
10:43 and then non-profit and hybrid are about 39%.
10:46 That's just to give you an example of
10:48 Where the other challenges stand.
10:49 But we go to the next slide,
10:51 um,
10:52 the,
10:52 the challenges that we launched this year are in the
10:54 areas that I mentioned and we launched an extra challenge
10:57 on health security and pandemics to respond to what was going on.
11:01 We received solutions,
11:02 uh,
11:03 2600 solutions from 135 countries
11:06 and next slide for the
11:08 um economic prosperity challenge in particular,
11:11 we received a whopping 705 innovations from 100 countries.
11:15 So what are we seeing in terms of trends?
11:17 Um,
11:18 you know,
11:18 it's,
11:19 it's,
11:20 it's,
11:20 um,
11:21 solutions to improve jobs and job matching
11:23 and in continental pathways that's anything from
11:26 job matching through an artificial intelligence,
11:28 um,
11:29 uh,
11:30 enabled platform that connects
11:32 the skills to the demand,
11:33 which is an issue right now.
11:34 There's a gap there in,
11:36 in a lot of countries.
11:37 Um,
11:39 It's also matching jobs in rural communities and scaling
11:43 that up to bring people back into the workforce.
11:45 Then we're seeing also solutions that provide
11:48 digital entrepreneurial skills
11:50 for everyone to be inclusive so everybody can
11:52 start a business or restart their business.
11:55 So that's everything from,
11:56 you know,
11:56 skilling workers in refugee camps to work remotely
11:59 to remote educational opportunities for offline communities.
12:04 Um,
12:04 they sound simple,
12:05 but this is the stuff that you can really scale,
12:08 and it takes an entrepreneurial
12:11 mindset to do that.
12:11 And then finally,
12:12 we're seeing
12:13 a lot of solutions around supporting micro and
12:15 small businesses who have taken the biggest hit,
12:18 and as you know,
12:18 they are the biggest job generators,
12:20 whether it's the US or North Africa.
12:23 Uh,
12:23 so that's about,
12:24 uh,
12:25 we're seeing solutions about connecting
12:27 hyperlocal artists and markets to the global marketplace and training them how
12:31 to do that and give them a transparent and fair field.
12:35 Um,
12:35 and then just to the last uh 20 seconds,
12:38 let's talk about the,
12:39 uh,
12:40 the partnership with the World Bank.
12:41 The,
12:42 the,
12:42 the,
12:43 the challenge was how can informal sector workers in West
12:45 Africa more easily participate in the social protection programs.
12:49 That's a partnership between ID4D.
12:51 And uh the West Africa Uni Identification,
12:55 uh sorry,
12:55 regional integration inclusion Program.
12:58 That we did together for the Mission Billion Challenge
13:00 and we received 370 solutions from over 50 countries.
13:05 The challenge closed in mid August
13:08 and we have prices totaling over $150,000
13:12 which will be announced during the World Bank's annual meeting in October.
13:15 This is a great example,
13:16 by the way,
13:17 of
13:18 what
13:19 the bank can do to surface these innovators and
13:22 use those solutions going forward to scale them up.
13:30 Sherman.
13:31 Yeah,
13:31 thank,
13:32 thanks a lot,
13:32 Carlos.
13:33 Really much appreciate you showing the global
13:36 outreach
13:37 of how you have been able to
13:38 source innovative solutions which social entrepreneurs are bringing
13:42 almost every day and bringing them to solve a particular problem which
13:46 we are facing post-COVID and the collaboration you have with the bank.
13:49 Before I go to Casey,
13:50 I just want to,
13:51 uh,
13:52 uh,
13:53 tell everyone who the views on YouTube.
13:55 That please start posting your questions on the chat
13:59 box there because we will source all these questions and engage the panelists
14:03 in taking your questions in the last round there.
14:06 And first,
14:06 we will go through rounds with the panelists.
14:09 In the last 20 minutes,
14:10 we will take the questions from the
14:12 audience to do that.
14:13 So please start posting your questions
14:16 uh to all the presenters who are presenting their ideas in the panel.
14:20 I'll now go to uh Casey
14:23 and Casey,
14:25 uh,
14:25 you are really have the solve innovation.
14:28 You are heading the Solve
14:29 Innovation Future.
14:31 MIT solves philanthropic venture vehicle.
14:34 Now
14:35 please tell me,
14:36 how do you support these innovations through the MIT
14:40 Solve Innovation Future.
14:41 Absolutely.
14:43 And can you just want to make sure you can hear me.
14:45 Is that correct?
14:46 Yes,
14:47 we can hear you perfect.
14:48 Excellent.
14:49 Well,
14:49 thanks so much for having me today join the conversation because I think
14:53 what we're trying to do with Solve Innovation Future is actually
14:56 address the needs that we hear from our entrepreneurs specifically.
15:00 Um,
15:01 and that it really comes in two ways.
15:03 We heard from our entrepreneurs was that
15:06 grant capital is great,
15:07 um,
15:08 but in a lot of ways to be able
15:09 to scale there is a continued need for investment capital
15:13 which is not always as risk tolerant as
15:16 necessary to actually scale or.
15:18 Commercialize a business.
15:20 Part two of that is that the capital that is
15:22 available is often very expensive and not particularly founder friendly,
15:27 and that's,
15:28 uh,
15:28 especially a challenge
15:29 when you're working in emerging markets
15:31 or keeping impact at your core and trying to
15:33 serve the hardest or the most needy populations.
15:37 So we've had a lot of conversations with our solver
15:39 teams and we said tell us what you need um
15:41 and what we heard was
15:43 especially our for-profit teams are looking
15:45 to raise between $500,000.06 million dollars
15:49 and that there are a couple of challenges in
15:51 working with traditional funders um or traditional investors in that
15:55 in that stage,
15:57 um.
15:57 The first is that check size continues to be a challenge.
16:00 So because,
16:01 of course diligence is expensive,
16:03 if you're looking for checks of between,
16:05 call it $50 and a million dollars,
16:08 that's a pretty heavy undertaking for some of the more established players.
16:11 And part two,
16:12 as I mentioned before,
16:13 the risk tolerance is,
16:14 is really there,
16:15 um,
16:16 it it really is not there.
16:18 So we put together Solve Innovation Future which if we go ahead to the next slide.
16:22 Is our philanthropic venture vehicle.
16:24 Uh,
16:25 we take donations to MIT solves.
16:27 The source of capital is philanthropic,
16:29 and then we make direct investments in our solver teams,
16:32 uh,
16:32 in the form of debt equity and alternatives,
16:34 and that alternatives piece is particularly important.
16:38 The structure of the fund is particular is is specific and purposeful.
16:42 We are structured as a donor advised fund,
16:44 which means that our donors,
16:45 um,
16:46 have the tax advantage of making a gift to MIT.
16:50 However,
16:50 oh thank you,
16:51 um,
16:52 on the back end all of the.
16:53 Proceeds from the investments are recycled back into
16:55 the fund and reinvested in future solver teams.
16:58 So we believe both the source of capital and
17:00 the structure of the fund align the incentives of
17:04 solve Innovation Future as the investor
17:06 and our founders specifically.
17:09 What that allows us to do
17:11 is to
17:12 is two things.
17:13 First,
17:14 uh,
17:14 we can make investments that
17:16 are founder friendly,
17:17 um,
17:17 and we do that both in terms of our participation,
17:21 um,
17:21 and our expectations for not necessarily return because we do look to
17:26 invest it in market rate projects,
17:28 um,
17:28 but from our expectations of timing more than anything else so we can be a
17:31 little bit more patient in our expectations of when the capital will be returned.
17:35 Part two is that we're.
17:37 Exploring alternatives,
17:38 um,
17:38 and really what that means is re revenue linked financing,
17:41 uh,
17:41 as well as equity buybacks and employer employee ownership structures
17:46 that allow our entrepreneurs to really figure out what
17:49 the best fit corporate structure for the endeavor is
17:52 and then help we can help support that effort rather than saying
17:56 this is high octane growth equity
17:58 and you've gotta hit our benchmarks.
18:00 We don't care if impact goes by the wayside while you grow,
18:03 grow,
18:03 grow,
18:04 grow,
18:04 grow.
18:05 Um,
18:05 so
18:06 it's been a really interesting endeavor on our end.
18:09 We launched in May of,
18:10 of 2018.
18:12 We made our first investments,
18:13 uh,
18:13 in,
18:14 excuse me,
18:14 in 2019.
18:15 We made our first investments in 2020,
18:17 um,
18:18 and our focus now is really thinking about.
18:20 How do we support these entrepreneurs now that they're in our portfolio
18:24 both in terms of connecting them with future investment dollars
18:27 but also in terms of measuring and monitoring their impact,
18:30 um,
18:30 and looking for partnerships
18:32 um
18:33 in the specific ecosystem in which they're working.
18:39 Thank you,
18:39 Casey,
18:40 uh,
18:41 very much appreciated.
18:41 I think I like these concepts of regenerative philanthropy and
18:45 donor advice funds.
18:46 So I think a lot of patient capital,
18:48 uh,
18:49 restructuring finance,
18:51 uh,
18:51 reimagining finance for this,
18:53 uh,
18:54 you know,
18:54 category of social entrepreneurs is required,
18:56 and that's why institutions like the World Bank need to learn
19:00 how to work with these kinds.
19:01 Of problem solvers
19:03 there.
19:04 So I think,
19:04 I think
19:05 clearly I will come to this question in the 2nd round of
19:08 how the World Bank can work better and scale up these efforts
19:12 because we are used to having large ticket sizes in both bank and IFC.
19:16 And so how do we really reach up to these kinds of classes that both of,
19:19 so Carlos and Casey
19:21 very much appreciate you bringing MIT Solve and,
19:24 and also the financing um of how does this work
19:28 together.
19:29 Now,
19:29 I'm moving on to Intellia.
19:31 Uh,
19:31 now,
19:32 Vikas Bali,
19:33 uh,
19:33 so Inteligap has been active on,
19:35 on,
19:36 on this front by starting Sanal Forum
19:39 in Africa and Asia,
19:41 and also then,
19:42 uh,
19:42 IntelliA is providing a lot of advisory services,
19:45 and then Avishkar is your
19:47 fund,
19:47 which really funds lots of these activities.
19:50 So in somehow,
19:51 somewhat kind of similar trajectory,
19:53 but can you explain with us
19:55 what your experiences have been on local economic development?
19:59 And post-COVID recovery to date.
20:01 Over to you,
20:01 Vikas.
20:03 Sure,
20:03 thank you very much,
20:04 uh,
20:04 Parmesh.
20:05 Uh,
20:05 hopefully I'm audible.
20:07 Yes,
20:08 you are.
20:09 Uh,
20:09 great.
20:10 Thanks.
20:10 Uh,
20:10 before I get to answer your question,
20:12 Parmesh,
20:13 just a quick 30-second introduction to the group,
20:15 uh,
20:15 Avishkar Group and Intelica.
20:18 Uh,
20:18 the group was started about 20 years ago with
20:20 $100 and a dream to create a more sustainable,
20:23 equitable society.
20:24 Uh,
20:25 today,
20:25 we manage a portfolio of about $1.1 billion
20:30 450 million dollars.
20:38 We have lost you,
20:39 Vikas.
20:40 I can't hear you.
20:43 Am I audible?
20:43 Perm?
20:44 We had lost you in between.
20:45 Please start again,
20:46 yeah.
20:47 Right.
20:47 Uh,
20:48 so,
20:48 um,
20:49 a quick introduction to the Avishkar Group.
20:51 We started with $100 in 2000 and with a vision to create a more sustainable,
20:56 equitable society
20:57 and deliver products and services to the underserved communities.
21:01 Today we are a $1.1 billion group with $450 million in equity investments in 70
21:08 enterprises who are solving the problems of clean energy,
21:12 agriculture,
21:13 water sanitation.
21:14 Uh,
21:15 labor livelihood issues in India,
21:18 in Sri Lanka,
21:20 in Indonesia,
21:22 and in Bangladesh,
21:24 we have a microfinance institution which has
21:28 2.3 million women beneficiaries.
21:31 We have a finance vehicle which is targeted towards providing capital to.
21:37 uh enterprises.
21:38 This is essentially debt capital.
21:42 That's on the capital side of the business on Intelicap.
21:45 Our mission is to build enabling ecosystems,
21:47 channelize capital to build a more sustainable,
21:50 equitable society.
21:51 We believe capital,
21:52 knowledge,
21:53 and networks,
21:53 all three need to come together in order to address the needs of social development.
21:59 And in that,
22:01 we have a knowledge business,
22:02 an investment banking business,
22:04 as well as Sunalp,
22:05 which you referred to.
22:08 Platform which is designed to bring the social entrepreneurship
22:13 issues at the heart and center of the developmental agenda
22:16 and bring together developmental financial institutions,
22:19 philanthropic foundations,
22:20 corporates,
22:21 regulators,
22:22 all to address the challenges of the impact entrepreneurs
22:25 and see how we can progress towards Global Goals 2030.
22:30 We have done 23
22:31 Sankalps so far in India,
22:33 in Nairobi,
22:34 in Jakarta,
22:35 as well as in the city of Hague.
22:38 That's to give you a context of who we are,
22:41 um,
22:41 uh,
22:42 Parmesh to your question on COVID and um
22:46 As the emerging trends,
22:47 um,
22:48 before I get into the micro,
22:49 a little bit of a macro picture,
22:51 uh,
22:51 from globalization to localization is a very,
22:54 very clear trend,
22:55 uh,
22:55 that we are seeing.
22:56 Uh,
22:57 social distancing to digital bridges is another very,
23:00 very key trend that we see.
23:02 And third is moving away from products to products plus services.
23:06 Uh,
23:07 so these are the three macro trends,
23:09 um,
23:09 uh,
23:09 that we see in the situation,
23:12 which is,
23:13 uh,
23:13 post-COVID.
23:15 very clearly from a micro standpoint,
23:18 a number of sectors have got very adversely affected,
23:21 and some sectors have seen opportunities emerge.
23:25 The sectors which are seeing opportunities emerge are very clearly healthcare,
23:30 agriculture,
23:31 and in particular AgTech is seeing a lot of new initiatives coming through.
23:37 We are seeing that on the financial
23:39 inclusion side there are very serious challenges.
23:43 Finance institutions,
23:45 uh,
23:46 NBFCs,
23:47 which are particularly focused on lending to MSMEs,
23:51 are under very serious strike,
23:53 um,
23:53 and,
23:54 um,
23:54 on the fintech side again we are seeing a very different behavioral pattern
23:59 on the payment side,
24:00 uh,
24:00 there are very significant opportunities with the digitization
24:03 of payments getting adopted across large swaths of
24:08 rural markets.
24:10 Uh,
24:10 but on the lending and on the insurance side again we see a lot of strife.
24:16 So in a,
24:17 in some sense it's a little bit of a mixed bag with no clear trends emerging
24:24 per se.
24:26 On the gender agenda,
24:27 I think again it's very important to understand that
24:31 they have been more adversely impacted.
24:33 Women owned,
24:34 women focused businesses have been more adversely impacted.
24:38 We actually ran a survey about 400 enterprises across Southeast Asia,
24:43 South Asia,
24:44 and sub-Saharan Africa,
24:45 and we got some very interesting insights where almost 2x the
24:51 number of
24:52 enterprises which are women-owned and women run are likely to face closure.
24:59 About
25:00 more than 1/4 of the participants who were surveyed
25:03 said that the risk of closure was very,
25:05 very significant for them.
25:08 So in that sense,
25:09 there is a very,
25:10 very clearly a significant challenge that the
25:13 global community faces in addressing the.
25:17 Uh,
25:17 uh,
25:17 last mile entrepreneurs
25:19 who have been very significantly impacted,
25:22 they're very clearly aware of the problems of migration
25:26 and the loss of,
25:27 uh,
25:27 livelihoods for all those who have migrated back from the urban developments,
25:32 uh,
25:32 into the rural markets.
25:34 So in that sense,
25:35 uh,
25:35 these are some of the key challenges,
25:37 um,
25:38 uh,
25:38 that,
25:38 um,
25:39 we see,
25:39 uh,
25:40 the overall development standpoint,
25:42 uh,
25:42 permission.
25:44 Thank you very much,
25:44 Vikas,
25:45 and I appreciate you giving us the whole spectrum of things which you are seeing
25:49 from your standpoint,
25:50 uh,
25:51 uh,
25:51 and with your continuing engagement with a number of,
25:54 uh,
25:55 uh,
25:55 social entrepreneurs across the,
25:57 the spectrum in India and Africa.
25:59 Uh,
26:00 I'll now come to Alfred.
26:01 Uh,
26:01 Alfred,
26:02 uh,
26:03 Grameen Foundation has been working,
26:05 uh,
26:05 in,
26:06 in many parts of the world.
26:07 Uh,
26:07 uh,
26:08 can you describe,
26:09 uh,
26:09 what
26:10 you have seen?
26:11 Uh,
26:12 what you have done,
26:13 uh,
26:13 in terms of working with
26:15 smallholders,
26:16 agribusinesses,
26:18 and,
26:19 uh,
26:19 SMEs and young people
26:21 in terms of solving the problems of local economic development.
26:25 Over to you,
26:25 Alfred.
26:27 Yeah,
26:27 thank you very much,
26:28 uh,
26:29 Parmash.
26:29 Thank you also for the opportunity to share
26:32 how Grameen Foundation's work
26:34 has taken inspiration from the work of Professor Yunus and the Grameen,
26:39 and the Grameen back
26:40 when it comes to microfinance and social business.
26:44 So Grameen Foundation's approach and differences
26:47 in how we use digital technology.
26:50 And data to understand the entire ecosystem of local economic development actors
26:56 and then empowering them
26:58 to meet and elevate their everyday realities.
27:00 There are many problems of local economies,
27:04 especially in a COVID setting,
27:05 call out for integrated approaches.
27:08 And at Grameen,
27:09 we work with a partnership model
27:12 to ensure
27:13 that digital agriculture and financial services solutions
27:16 match the problem.
27:18 What we know to do best is to fight poverty with data-rich solutions.
27:24 Next slide,
27:24 please.
27:25 In 2016,
27:26 we set out to empower 25
27:29 million people by 2025.
27:32 So far,
27:33 the 30,000 community agents deployed globally
27:37 have impacted close to 13 million individuals with
27:41 digital innovations in agriculture and digital financial services.
27:45 55 million have indirectly been
27:48 impacted
27:49 by a cutting-edge localized solution,
27:51 less like this.
27:53 In 2009,
27:56 Grameen established a pioneer fund to offer early-stage
27:59 patient
28:00 investment capital for enterprises
28:03 that are committed to a social mission.
28:05 Grameen worked with Musoni,
28:07 which is a Kenyan,
28:09 a Kenyan microfinance institution,
28:11 institution to use mobile-based agricultural loan products.
28:15 To serve low-income segments of the Kenyan market.
28:17 Of the 18,000 soft loans that have been disbursed,
28:21 women-owned enterprises received 55% of the loans.
28:26 The shift to a full-blown mobile-based
28:28 agricultural loan right from loan origination.
28:32 Disbursement and repayment
28:34 via a mobile,
28:35 via mobile money wallet is removing the need for human
28:39 intervention in the process,
28:41 and this is in compliance actually
28:43 with social distancing
28:45 protocols.
28:46 Since 2014,
28:47 Grameen has also incubated social enterprises and helped
28:50 them efficiently
28:52 utilize technology and data for decision-making.
28:55 One example is PTA Roma.
28:58 An Indonesian for-profit social enterprise that has more than 70,000
29:03 agents
29:04 serving over 700,000 poor clients with prepackaged
29:08 business in a box model of micro franchising.
29:12 The other example is Grame's Community agent Network that has
29:16 already brought financial services to more than 1.3 million people
29:20 in India,
29:21 the Philippines,
29:22 Uganda,
29:23 and Burkina Faso.
29:25 These agents train local communities in digital and financial literacy,
29:29 connect people to financial services,
29:32 provide a suite of services
29:33 that actually ends up strengthening livelihoods and health,
29:36 and more importantly,
29:37 grow their own
29:38 microenterprises.
29:39 The Grameen Micra
29:42 model in India is yet another example of a self-sustaining social enterprise.
29:47 That extends financial inclusion to previously unreachable populations
29:52 by enhancing the ability of women and others uh
29:55 and a safe group to save,
29:56 invest,
29:57 and also have a access to comprehensive package of digital products and services.
30:02 These mitras are actually receiving
30:05 training on digital financial literacy via Grammy's,
30:08 GLA platform,
30:09 and augmented reality
30:11 training tool uh kits
30:13 loaded
30:14 on their mobile phones.
30:15 Our response
30:17 Has been to rapidly transition from face to face engagement to innovative ways
30:22 that strongly hinge on digital aspects of communication to ensure that
30:26 small-scale producers have relevant and accurate information and services.
30:31 These standards include the use of radio,
30:33 voice messages,
30:34 short videos
30:35 recorded in local languages to share productivity enhancing.
30:39 Technology.
30:40 And also in West Africa,
30:41 we've deployed the use of a digital farm tool
30:44 that is used by field officers.
30:46 And basically what it does is
30:48 uh uh is to analyze data collected,
30:50 combined with some smart logic
30:52 so that farmers have access to personalized farm investment
30:56 plans.
30:56 And we believe that these plans,
30:58 which has a 7 to 10-year
31:00 time period,
31:01 can help them to better manage their cost and financing.
31:04 Thank you.
31:05 Thanks a lot,
31:06 Alfred,
31:07 for a very crisp presentation,
31:08 and I think there's a range of work which Grameen Foundation is involved in,
31:12 and it shows the potential of,
31:14 if you have created this network
31:17 of social entrepreneurs in,
31:19 when it comes to COVID crisis,
31:21 we see that
31:22 flourishing and resi being more resilient than the other forms of,
31:27 you know,
31:28 service delivery and entrepreneurship at that stage,
31:30 and we are seeing
31:31 evidence of that on the ground.
31:33 I would just like to remind the audience that uh please start putting your questions
31:38 in the chat box
31:40 so that we can have one round of discussion using your questions
31:44 and sourcing the issues which you would like to raise.
31:47 So please start posting your questions and we will
31:50 assemble them at the end of the discussion.
31:52 Now we go for a second round of conversation
31:55 and basically we are now trying to see
31:59 how do we,
32:00 there are two parts to the 2nd round.
32:02 Uh,
32:03 which you should
32:04 answer in 11 response.
32:07 One is that what do you see as the major trends
32:11 in the post-COVID recovery
32:13 from the social innovators and enterprise perspective?
32:16 And then
32:17 what do you see as the role of the World Bank
32:20 in terms of supporting
32:22 this way of doing things?
32:23 Over to you,
32:24 Carlos,
32:24 for the next round.
32:27 Thank you,
32:27 Parmesh.
32:28 I think uh and thanks Alfred,
32:29 that's very inspiring and actually connected to this answer.
32:32 I think um
32:34 it's a it's a really good question.
32:35 It's an urgent question now as I've mentioned before and
32:38 uh you know,
32:38 social entrepreneurs,
32:40 they're able to plug gaps in public services,
32:42 right?
32:42 When and and now is when we most need it.
32:45 Um,
32:45 they're they're the front lines of solving these issues that impact them
32:48 the most and so they know best what solutions are out there.
32:51 Um,
32:52 and these are solutions that may not meet
32:54 the standard of uh your traditional investment sectors.
32:56 So,
32:57 um,
32:58 they're ultimately um
33:00 very necessary during,
33:02 uh,
33:02 and,
33:02 and after and during the recovery of the of the crisis.
33:05 But we also know that small businesses
33:07 or entrepreneurs create the majority of jobs.
33:09 Um,
33:10 as I mentioned before,
33:12 anywhere in the world,
33:12 um,
33:13 between 70 and 80% of jobs are created by small businesses.
33:17 They're the engine of that recovery.
33:19 So during times of crisis,
33:20 and I've been hearing this from the entrepreneurs that we work with,
33:23 during times of crisis,
33:24 that's when we need multilateral organizations like the bank and
33:27 that's when we need governments to step in and provide
33:29 a safety net
33:30 so that those entrepreneurs
33:32 who need to take a risk to to to launch their their their venture uh can do that.
33:38 Uh and so that could be either to withstand the crisis right now
33:40 as a business uh and continue to generate or keep those jobs,
33:44 uh,
33:44 or solve those issues.
33:46 Or for somebody who's trying to solve um uh problems right now in the community
33:51 uh and and and and need to be able to take that risk.
33:54 And I think that's how you bring back the economy.
33:57 Um,
33:58 it's,
33:59 it's um sometimes easy in the west to think
34:01 about being an entrepreneur and taking that risk,
34:03 but in other countries,
34:05 the opportunity costs are huge for you to take that risk.
34:07 So that's where we need
34:09 uh the bank to step in and and it does it in two ways,
34:12 I think.
34:12 Um.
34:14 Uh,
34:15 there's two ways to leverage this,
34:16 this,
34:16 this power of the bank and other multilateral institutions.
34:19 One is
34:20 investing in these entrepreneurs that are already doing
34:22 really good work to solve the challenges.
34:24 Um,
34:26 because to solve them,
34:26 you need organizations that that are small enough,
34:29 agile,
34:30 they can pivot.
34:31 Um,
34:32 they're not ministries who have a harder time,
34:34 um,
34:35 pivoting to solving,
34:36 for example,
34:36 a health crisis in a particular community.
34:39 Um,
34:40 this isn't,
34:41 um,
34:42 sort of their,
34:42 their core.
34:43 So that's where you need
34:44 Um,
34:45 large organizations to invest in this entrepreneurs in some way or another.
34:48 And then the second way to do that is we need to know who these people are,
34:51 who these entrepreneurs are.
34:52 So,
34:53 uh,
34:54 organizations like the World Bank can invest in surfacing,
34:57 uh,
34:57 where the solutions are,
34:59 what they're doing,
34:59 and showcase who they are and,
35:01 and,
35:01 and get more attention,
35:03 uh,
35:03 uh,
35:04 to them,
35:04 um,
35:05 especially those,
35:06 um,
35:07 entrepreneurs living in the pain points or the
35:10 pain point areas and through the pain points.
35:12 Um,
35:13 surfacing those solutions,
35:14 it's,
35:14 it's kind of like what the bank was doing with the,
35:17 the challenge
35:18 that I mentioned before,
35:19 the mission billion challenge with the uh solva MIT,
35:23 um,
35:24 that's brought out hundreds of entrepreneurs who are doing great work,
35:27 uh,
35:28 and some of those will be selected and invested in.
35:30 So identifying,
35:32 uh,
35:32 who those are and bringing them out is one thing that the bank can support in
35:36 and investing in those entrepreneurs already doing great
35:38 work is the other thing that I think
35:40 Casey will talk about too.
35:43 Very much,
35:43 Carlos,
35:44 and Casey,
35:45 can you also take the same question about uh what should be the
35:49 post-COVID uh innovations and financing and
35:53 what would you see the World Bank playing the role
35:56 in uh really developing this uh financing of this innovation sector?
36:02 Yeah,
36:03 yeah,
36:04 I think there are a couple of things in terms of,
36:05 of recovery,
36:07 and what we're seeing,
36:08 I think,
36:09 um,
36:09 that's really exciting is that the COVID scenario or context has allowed
36:14 entrepreneurs to do two things with technology and from a growth perspective.
36:19 The first is that most of our or all of our solver solver teams
36:22 are using technology and innovative ways to
36:24 tackle the world's most pressing problems,
36:26 and COVID allowed,
36:28 um,
36:28 and encouraged those entrepreneurs to take the existing technology
36:32 and to apply that in new ways.
36:33 So one of my favorite examples is a team that was working on effectively mapping,
36:38 um,
36:39 called the Broad healthcare ecosystem.
36:41 In
36:42 urban slums in Nigeria,
36:45 uh,
36:45 and that means everything from hospitals to chemists to clinics,
36:49 um,
36:49 so that there was a better data set
36:51 available for exactly where those organizations were.
36:54 That was the plan before COVID.
36:56 When COVID hit,
36:57 the team was able to pivot very quickly
36:59 and say rather than trying to sell that information to Big Pharma among.
37:03 Others we can actually use this information
37:06 to better track where there are appropriate um
37:09 sort of COVID response items.
37:11 So where is their PPE?
37:13 Where can you buy a mask?
37:14 Where is there enough hands hand sanitizer,
37:17 and where isn't there enough hand sanitizer,
37:20 and so really seeing to Carlos's point,
37:22 the small business,
37:23 the engine that is behind recovery.
37:26 Taking initiative to apply technology in new ways to combat COVID
37:29 is pretty remarkable,
37:31 um,
37:31 and I think really exciting.
37:33 Another example that we often use is,
37:34 uh,
37:35 an investee of Solve Innovation Future,
37:37 Access Afia,
37:38 uh,
37:38 really was focused on taking their existing
37:41 technology and their existing growth plan,
37:43 which Access Afia is essentially,
37:45 um,
37:45 the modern healthcare solution for the urban poor.
37:47 So really focused on clinics and field-based
37:50 healthcare,
37:52 um,
37:52 for folks in need.
37:54 And that team was had planned effectively to move or uh to
37:59 utilize
38:00 telehealth.
38:01 Um,
38:01 COVID,
38:02 as you can imagine,
38:03 put a lot of pressure on the team to
38:04 actually accelerate that movement or that adaptation of technology,
38:08 and I think that's really beneficial for a team that's
38:10 hoping to grow to have this impetus to say,
38:12 hey,
38:13 we have this plan to.
38:14 Move to telehealth over 5 years,
38:16 we need to do this now.
38:18 What that requires either the adaptation of technology to use a new
38:22 way or the acceleration of of for technological adoption plan to support growth
38:27 is capital that
38:29 both can be
38:31 flexible and nimble enough to get into the hands of entrepreneurs quickly.
38:35 But also can be flexible and nimble enough to
38:38 support their growth expectations that might look slightly different
38:42 than again like a high growth,
38:43 um,
38:44 equity um investment or
38:46 even a grant with very specific terms around that.
38:49 So the need for a flexible entrepreneur friendly capital has never been greater,
38:53 and I think the World Bank,
38:55 anything the World Bank can do to either match,
38:58 support,
38:59 um,
38:59 or encourage that type of capital in the market is hugely important.
39:04 Thank you very much,
39:05 uh,
39:06 Casey,
39:06 for that perspective.
39:08 And then over to you,
39:09 Vikas,
39:10 uh,
39:10 what do you see as the trend,
39:12 uh,
39:12 in the post-COVID recovery
39:14 from your perspective,
39:15 and what is your,
39:18 uh,
39:18 uh,
39:19 recommendation to the World Bank on how to
39:22 invest in this kind of approach?
39:25 Sure,
39:26 Parmesh.
39:26 Uh thanks for that.
39:27 Um,
39:28 uh,
39:29 uh,
39:29 Parmesh,
39:29 um,
39:30 uh,
39:30 the easier,
39:31 uh,
39:31 answers first,
39:32 uh,
39:32 as to what the World Bank could do,
39:34 and I have three simple suggestions.
39:36 The first is around the income stability and resilience.
39:40 Uh,
39:40 we do realize that,
39:42 uh,
39:42 the impact of COVID could push hundreds of millions of people back into poverty.
39:47 And the World Bank would certainly step in with some very,
39:51 very structured programs providing income stability and resilience.
39:55 Let me take the example of the microfinance sector in India.
40:01 55 million beneficiaries,
40:04 a significant proportion of
40:07 Uh,
40:08 significant debt
40:10 and falling
40:11 trap
40:12 because uh they will not be able to access loans,
40:15 uh,
40:16 and may have to go back to the informal lenders
40:18 and take um loans at very high interest rates.
40:22 So there are two possible interventions that the World Bank Group and IFC.
40:26 Uh
40:28 Working with the microfinance institutions,
40:30 uh,
40:32 And some kind of.
40:44 Them on
40:45 and provide them with.
40:48 so that they
40:49 can get back their livelihoods over the next 12 months.
40:52 We do know that microfinance borrowers repay.
40:56 Means being in the 96,
40:59 97,
40:59 98%,
41:00 very low defaults.
41:02 It's a good class of borrowers and the World Bank Group should certainly look at
41:09 how they can support them.
41:11 The second part of the income stability and resilience is the informal sector,
41:15 and my simple suggestion is if there is a way to connect,
41:18 digitize,
41:19 and
41:20 the informal sector
41:23 in a variety of means.
41:25 Carlos was speaking about earlier
41:29 about the need to put a job market platform in place where MSMEs and the
41:34 suppliers of labor could connect with each
41:36 other depending upon their skill set requirements.
41:39 Um,
41:39 it could be about providing virtual incubation
41:42 facilities to all the migrants who have moved
41:46 away from,
41:47 uh,
41:47 uh,
41:48 their positions,
41:49 uh,
41:49 in,
41:50 uh,
41:50 the urban areas to do and how do we kickstart that.
41:54 So that's,
41:54 uh,
41:55 broadly,
41:55 uh,
41:55 the suggestions around income stability and
41:58 the second suggestion that I would have
42:01 would be to.
42:03 A space of entrepreneurship development.
42:06 Uh,
42:06 while the World Group has significant convening power,
42:11 government-related initiatives,
42:13 maybe there is an opportunity to start exploring
42:17 at the last mile and picking up,
42:20 working directly with the,
42:22 and here I have a simple forest formula which is
42:25 select seeds,
42:26 support,
42:26 and scale enterprises.
42:28 Uh,
42:29 with an objective,
42:31 not wideding finances,
42:32 but with technical assistance,
42:34 but with market linkages
42:36 helping them,
42:37 uh,
42:37 become investor ready,
42:38 all of that,
42:39 uh,
42:39 but with a concerted effort to do it over a period of 3 to 5 years,
42:44 and one could adopt a sector by sector approach,
42:46 uh,
42:46 agriculture,
42:47 clean energy,
42:48 waste management,
42:49 uh,
42:50 such others,
42:50 uh,
42:51 and create centers of excellence in,
42:52 in the sectors,
42:53 uh,
42:54 around this,
42:55 uh,
42:55 theme of search seed support scale entrepreneurs.
42:58 And um the last.
43:02 So is um uh the issue of um uh create
43:06 Yeah
43:08 How the learning uh and replication platform.
43:13 Oh,
43:14 next certainly no.
43:16 and what is um really
43:20 So
43:21 Entrepreneurs can learn from each other and can be provided
43:24 a platform to take their and services into other markets.
43:28 Uh,
43:28 very recently we were running a program.
43:30 We took some entrepreneurs.
43:33 India into East Africa and help them start a business there.
43:38 Uh,
43:39 be with a limited,
43:41 only a few entrepreneurs,
43:43 uh,
43:43 request is if you want to create impact at scale.
43:46 Mm
43:47 Think of a structured
43:49 um and not just case by case basis but a vention to create a global platform global
43:55 platform.
43:58 Uh,
43:58 enterprise to learn from each other's success.
44:03 Beyond their home markets,
44:04 so these are the three broad,
44:05 uh,
44:06 things,
44:06 uh,
44:06 per,
44:06 uh,
44:07 in my mind that the World Bank would do.
44:10 Thank you very much,
44:10 Vikas,
44:11 for giving a lot of thought to what are the key areas there.
44:14 I think these are very good suggestions,
44:15 and I think
44:17 we will definitely brood over it and try to
44:19 incorporate it into our future thinking about these issues.
44:23 Uh,
44:24 I want to go back to Alfred now,
44:26 and,
44:26 uh,
44:26 I think the same question,
44:27 Alfred,
44:28 about,
44:29 uh,
44:29 what do you see post-COVID,
44:31 uh,
44:32 how your work is,
44:33 this work can be scaled up more,
44:35 and what could be the possible collaboration,
44:38 uh,
44:38 with the World Bank can have.
44:40 Uh,
44:41 uh,
44:41 to,
44:41 to really,
44:42 uh,
44:42 support these kinds of activities.
44:44 What do you have?
44:46 Yeah,
44:46 thank you very much.
44:47 So I'll basically talk about an initiative that Grameen is looking to launch,
44:52 and for me,
44:52 I think that,
44:53 uh,
44:54 the World Bank could take some inspiration from this,
44:56 be it through collaboration with,
44:58 uh,
44:59 Grameen Foundation.
45:00 So clearly Grameen has been a driving force behind some of the world's
45:04 most promising solutions to poverty and hunger.
45:07 Uh,
45:07 for us,
45:08 we'rebuilding local economies post-COVID.
45:11 Uh,
45:12 for us,
45:12 will mean enhancing women's economic empowerment
45:16 through
45:17 inclusive digitalization to maximize financial
45:20 security and inclusive business innovations.
45:23 Uh,
45:24 this we intend to contribute to through a new investment fund.
45:29 That uh dubbed Grameen stats
45:31 that will offer a broad range of financing instruments
45:35 including debt,
45:36 equity,
45:37 hybrid,
45:38 and blended finance to incubate and grow
45:41 social enterprises in Africa.
45:43 Uh,
45:43 the investment initiative
45:46 will unlock
45:48 potential of data to drive greater social impacts
45:51 in and served markets through impact investing.
45:54 And will catalyze greater capital to businesses that leverage data to improve
46:00 the lives of the poor
46:01 and underserved the local economies post-COVID.
46:04 The investment fund,
46:06 uh,
46:06 for us,
46:06 we believe will be bundled with a robust
46:09 technical assistance and advisory facility
46:12 to ensure that women entrepreneurs and other
46:15 SMEs are investment-ready and are prepared for
46:18 commercial funding to grow their businesses.
46:21 The technical assistance will be delivered through Grameen's
46:24 Bankers Without Borders initiative
46:27 that mobilizes the talent and skills of
46:30 private sector volunteers to support the emissions of
46:32 poverty-focused social enterprises.
46:35 We are looking to also scale up our economic strengthening,
46:38 training,
46:39 and a resilient life,
46:40 resilient business curriculum.
46:42 We believe that Grameen
46:44 has strong relevancy to the theme of rebuilding in post-COVID times
46:49 for three key sectors of local economies
46:52 agribusiness,
46:53 digital financial services,
46:55 and healthcare,
46:56 and that data can be a strong contributor to resilience building.
47:00 In each of these sectors,
47:02 the result of Grameen that will be an inclusive and sustainable recovery
47:07 for local economies
47:10 as it can lead to innovative,
47:11 high-quality financially sustainable products and services
47:15 reaching tens of Millions of
47:16 underserved populations including progress towards the
47:19 sustainable development
47:21 goals through the SDG impact bonds
47:24 as an innovative finance solution that boosts our women's access to capital
47:30 markets.
47:30 Now to your question,
47:32 what the World Bank can do
47:34 is to use the challenges of COVID.
47:37 Uh,
47:38 uh,
47:39 is to use the challenges that COVID actually presents as an opportunity.
47:44 To transform local economic development to what I refer to as a program
47:48 of action to mitigate the socio-economic costs
47:52 brought on by COVID,
47:54 PAPSC.
47:55 This initiative can in the next 4 years be sequenced in phases,
47:59 a stabilization phase
48:01 and a mid-term revitalization phase.
48:04 Similar to the Grameen Initiative,
48:05 the World Bank can leverage a guarantee facility and private investment
48:10 to facilitate the setup of virtual.
48:11 Innovations are
48:13 in Africa that connects social innovators
48:16 and governments to create agile new solutions
48:19 and replicate innovative business models
48:21 that actually serve low-income markets
48:24 and the base of the economic pyramid.
48:27 Thank you.
48:28 Thank you very much,
48:29 Alfred.
48:30 These are absolutely uh
48:32 new generation ideas and really uh
48:35 coming out with some ways of
48:37 solving as well as financing problems and
48:40 supporting an ecos different ecosystem post-COVID,
48:43 and,
48:43 and,
48:43 and,
48:44 and these are very effective.
48:45 Uh,
48:46 uh,
48:47 so,
48:47 I would now go for a round of questions from the audience.
48:50 Uh,
48:50 they are very good questions coming up.
48:52 So,
48:52 obviously,
48:53 we can't do justice to all of them,
48:54 and
48:55 we have picked some of them.
48:56 So they will be in relation to each one of you,
49:00 uh,
49:00 I think could take some of these issues.
49:02 And so,
49:03 to both Vikas and Alfred,
49:05 people are saying congratulations on your solutions.
49:08 It's very clear the value creation you,
49:10 you are bringing,
49:11 but not very clear how do you capture value?
49:13 How are,
49:14 how are these things sustainable?
49:16 That's the question which people are asking.
49:18 And then uh uh to Casey,
49:21 the question is that can outcome-based financing
49:24 models like impact bonds and social success notes
49:27 support social enterprises,
49:29 uh,
49:30 and uh
49:31 can post-COVID,
49:32 uh,
49:32 those innovative financing uh can,
49:35 can come in there as a question
49:37 from someone there.
49:38 And then the final question is about uh
49:41 You know,
49:42 what are the degenerative pathways that entrepreneurs,
49:45 support organizations such as Grameen,
49:47 MIT,
49:47 Solve,
49:47 Intellicap
49:49 are modeling to reduce the scope of this large scale crisis.
49:53 And so,
49:54 and,
49:54 and there are questions then about
49:56 how do we develop a stand-alone digital social enterprise,
49:59 you know,
50:00 if it's completely digital,
50:02 a social enterprise,
50:03 how can
50:05 If you don't have digital infrastructure well developed in
50:09 many of our countries and many of our situations,
50:11 how can those models work?
50:13 So I would again go back to one more round
50:17 to,
50:17 to,
50:17 to
50:18 Carlos,
50:19 Casey Vikas,
50:20 and Alfred,
50:20 your final remarks.
50:22 Please be brief because we would like to end the session in time.
50:25 So over to you,
50:26 Carlos.
50:29 Uh,
50:29 thanks so much.
50:30 Yeah,
50:31 just um
50:33 I'll,
50:33 I'll just wrap up my remarks by saying um
50:35 that,
50:36 you know,
50:36 ingenuity is everywhere and,
50:38 and what scars is opportunities.
50:39 So to answer that question
50:41 about remote areas uh for digital services,
50:44 we,
50:45 we do hear from uh solutions in those areas
50:48 by people who want to receive those services.
50:50 And so,
50:51 Uh,
50:51 it's not so much thinking about bringing the solution to a problem,
50:54 but actually
50:55 having the problem first in sight,
50:57 which is that disconnectedness
50:59 and coming up with a solution.
51:00 And that's what we've seen so far.
51:02 And in this challenge,
51:02 in particular,
51:03 we have people
51:05 proposing solutions for offline disconnected areas.
51:08 So,
51:09 um,
51:09 investing in this ingenuity is key.
51:12 Otherwise,
51:12 we wouldn't have been able to find this and and
51:15 and move forward with scaling this type of solutions.
51:18 Thank you very much,
51:19 uh,
51:20 Carlos and Casey.
51:22 Yeah,
51:22 I think,
51:23 yeah,
51:23 you had heard the question.
51:25 Can you answer?
51:26 And it's interesting.
51:27 My background actually was in social impact bonds.
51:29 I worked for,
51:30 um,
51:30 for about
51:31 6 years in social finance,
51:32 so the impact bond world is close to my heart.
51:35 I think what's really interesting
51:36 about some of those alternative structures,
51:38 um,
51:39 is that
51:40 that is the type of,
51:41 to use Carlos's word ingenuity that is really helpful to entrepreneurs.
51:45 What I would caution is that for the small,
51:47 for the small
51:48 business.
51:48 Owners among us are the solve the kind of comparable solver team entrepreneurs,
51:53 um,
51:53 I do think that having flexible capital that is commercially
51:56 minded is extremely important to helping those folks scale.
52:00 So if we as investors,
52:02 um,
52:03 put in milestones around impact or,
52:05 or,
52:06 um,
52:07 or other
52:08 that
52:09 force growth in one direction or another or force a focus
52:13 on a on hitting specific milestones.
52:15 May
52:16 actually get in the way of some of the really interesting work that happens around
52:20 pivoting and finding the right business model
52:22 that actually allows these entrepreneurs to scale,
52:25 um,
52:25 so at least for our solver teams I think it's a little
52:27 too early to use impact bond like strategies with those guys.
52:31 That said,
52:32 some of our more sophisticated once we start to get sort of the Series A,
52:35 late Series A,
52:36 early Series B,
52:37 I think absolutely tying impact milestones to
52:39 capital disbursement can be really effective.
52:42 And helpful
52:43 within a capital stack to help
52:44 folks keep impact sort of at the core of what they do,
52:47 um,
52:47 and that we have such a robust set
52:49 of tools in the capital markets to support entrepreneurs
52:52 we should continue to innovate and use that that those tools
52:56 that are available to us to support founders as they grow,
52:59 um,
52:59 so I'm excited about about the growth and the innovation in
53:03 the space to keep founders at the core of what we do
53:06 and support them as they commercialize.
53:09 Thanks a lot,
53:10 Casey.
53:10 I think flexible and patient capital at the beginning
53:13 and then,
53:13 uh,
53:14 slowly going to more sophisticated
53:16 financial tools.
53:17 I think it's a good,
53:18 uh,
53:18 kind of message that you are giving that,
53:21 uh,
53:21 over to you,
53:22 because
53:23 now,
53:23 uh,
53:23 the questions we had,
53:24 uh,
53:25 please,
53:26 sure,
53:27 sure,
53:27 I will address the question on the value creation,
53:30 uh,
53:31 and,
53:31 uh,
53:32 very clearly we believe that,
53:33 uh,
53:34 all investing will become impact investing.
53:37 Uh,
53:37 the world will move towards investing in responsible,
53:40 resilient,
53:41 and resource efficient businesses,
53:43 and we do believe that impact entrepreneurs are able to generate returns.
53:47 Uh,
53:47 we have made investments in 70 companies.
53:58 Between um patient capital to commercial returns
54:01 and a lot of businesses in the impact sector are able
54:04 to generate uh returns over a long period of time.
54:07 We've spoken about patient capital earlier
54:09 that the returns will come through.
54:11 The example that I was giving you of the MFI um uh
54:16 um borrowers,
54:18 their credentials as
54:20 standing.
54:21 If you are patient with them in this time of uncertainty,
54:24 those loans will get repaid back,
54:26 and that's how value will get created in the
54:30 long term.
54:31 And that's where we need institutions like the World
54:33 Bank to come in and provide a bridge between
54:37 no returns and commercial returns and really create that handshake between
54:43 a period of distress.
54:46 We have seen this current pandemic,
54:47 but I'm sure this is not the last one.
54:51 All the more important for institutions who can come in
54:55 with capital returns will follow that we are very,
54:58 very confident.
54:59 This is our experience over the last 20 years in investing in waste management,
55:03 in investing in agri-related businesses,
55:06 in agri-warehousing businesses,
55:08 in health-related businesses,
55:09 serving the underserved communities.
55:11 Over to you,
55:12 Parmesh.
55:12 Thanks a lot,
55:13 Vikas.
55:13 Alfred,
55:14 your final remarks,
55:15 please.
55:16 Yeah,
55:16 very briefly and in the interest of time,
55:19 I agree with others that um the first step is to
55:22 capitalize growth of microfinance institutions
55:25 and and then also leverage early-stage
55:28 investment in not any
55:30 enterprises at all,
55:31 but rather identifying innovative
55:34 and productive sectors.
55:36 And I must say that this is not enough to just draw money.
55:39 At SMEs or businesses,
55:41 but also bundle
55:43 these funding mechanisms with a technical advisory
55:47 facility through some kind of community of practice
55:50 to encourage,
55:51 you know,
55:51 innovation within the social sector.
55:54 Thank you.
55:55 Thanks a lot,
55:56 Alfred.
55:56 Bundling finance with technical advisories,
55:59 incubation,
56:00 mentoring,
56:00 I think it's a very important message you are giving.
56:02 Just pure finance
56:04 will not work,
56:05 but you have to accompany the finance with other
56:07 uh services there.
56:10 So,
56:10 uh,
56:11 uh,
56:11 before I go to Susan Wong to make the closing remarks,
56:15 I just announced the October 7th is the next webinar.
56:19 And this is uh on the youth.
56:21 How can we support the employment of vulnerable youth during and after COVID-19?
56:25 And we are doing uh this jointly with our uh
56:29 uh group uh in the bank uh on solutions for youth employment,
56:33 and it will feature a number of innovations going on in this area.
56:37 So,
56:37 over to you,
56:38 Susan,
56:38 for your closing remarks.
56:39 Susan is our global lead for,
56:42 uh,
56:42 uh,
56:42 community-driven development in the bank.
56:45 Over to you,
56:45 Susan.
56:47 Great.
56:47 Thank you very much,
56:48 Parmesh and,
56:48 and,
56:49 and panelists.
56:50 I,
56:50 I was fascinated by the discussion.
56:52 I,
56:52 I think all of you could probably
56:54 uh provide a year-long course
56:56 on all the experience you've had and basically the lessons learned from that.
57:00 Um,
57:00 I was struck during the presentations.
57:02 At first,
57:02 I thought
57:03 um it was quite a different,
57:05 a spectrum of different uh ways,
57:06 methodologies and approaches.
57:08 Coaches,
57:08 some starting with kind of,
57:10 you know,
57:10 request for proposals,
57:11 um,
57:12 activating that energy from the bottom up,
57:14 you know,
57:15 sparking that energy from entrepreneurs
57:17 with proposals and basically listening to that
57:20 all the way then to the Gramian Bank
57:22 model of basically community agents hitting the ground,
57:25 going out and providing services
57:26 and then just,
57:27 you know,
57:28 the different models in between.
57:30 I found actually by the end,
57:31 quite a bit of commonality in terms of some of
57:33 your messages in terms of what's important to take away.
57:37 Um,
57:37 this issue of data,
57:38 um,
57:39 ensuring that the database is available,
57:41 that we know what entrepreneurs are out there,
57:43 um,
57:43 who are the most poor that we can help,
57:46 the use of technology,
57:47 taking advantage even during this COVID crisis using technology,
57:50 innovative ways,
57:51 how do we apply it in different ways.
57:54 Um,
57:54 the flexible and what you saw called the patient investment capital,
57:58 um,
57:58 the need to be flexible as well as over the long term,
58:01 have that capital available.
58:03 Um,
58:03 I really like this idea everybody mentioned about the,
58:05 you know,
58:06 obviously the package
58:07 that is not good enough just to have the finance there,
58:09 but also technical assistance
58:12 on market linkages and other,
58:13 other things.
58:14 I'm also glad to hear this emphasis on knowledge platforms,
58:18 the community practice and
58:19 basically tapping into that,
58:20 um,
58:21 that
58:21 tacit knowledge that's out there,
58:23 that experience,
58:24 the mentoring.
58:25 Um,
58:26 I also
58:27 really enjoyed hearing your ideas on how to take advantage of
58:30 the crisis in terms of what will come out of this,
58:33 um,
58:33 just in terms of the,
58:35 you know,
58:35 the,
58:35 the need for government to step in just like it
58:38 has in the US and other countries to step in
58:40 and basically support entrepreneurs,
58:42 all the more so,
58:43 uh,
58:44 for some of the poorest and the more micro entrepreneurs.
58:46 Make sure there's a safety net there
58:48 that they're able to recover,
58:50 um,
58:50 that,
58:50 you know,
58:51 women's owned,
58:52 uh,
58:52 businesses,
58:53 um,
58:53 will be able to thrive coming out of this crisis.
58:57 So,
58:57 obviously,
58:57 a lot of work ahead of us on this and I really look forward
59:00 to partnering with all of you and kind of tapping into that energy,
59:04 um,
59:04 and the innovation that all of you have presented today.
59:06 Thank you.
59:08 Thank you,
59:08 thank you very much,
59:09 Susan,
59:09 for summarizing also the key,
59:11 uh,
59:11 takeaways,
59:12 uh,
59:12 from today's discussion.
59:14 So I would just like to say that this agenda
59:16 is going to grow post-COVID because the extent of impact
59:21 of COVID is still being worked out
59:24 and clearly the informal sector has been impacted.
59:27 The microbusinesses and
59:29 microfinance and micro entrepreneurship,
59:31 which were starting,
59:33 started after a long time and were supported
59:35 by social entrepreneurs have been affected.
59:38 And I think unless and until we think about this subset.
59:42 In a different way and come out with very creative and innovative ways of
59:47 supporting them,
59:48 we will not be able to
59:50 have resilient and recovery as we go forward.
59:54 And so we look forward to working with many of you
59:57 as we develop this work
1:00:00 as we go along.
1:00:00 So
1:00:01 I think this is a knowledge and learning series.
1:00:04 You clearly know that
1:00:06 the bank has to learn a lot
1:00:08 from
1:00:08 all the innovations which are going on.
1:00:10 All of that our governments also have to learn,
1:00:13 you know,
1:00:13 it's not just the bank because,
1:00:15 you know,
1:00:15 we work primarily with the governments and we
1:00:17 would like to support the governments to support
1:00:20 the,
1:00:20 the social entrepreneurship,
1:00:22 uh,
1:00:22 ecosystem
1:00:23 in a much more kind of coherent kind of way because we don't have
1:00:27 many good policies on social enterprises support
1:00:30 in many of our countries.
1:00:31 So it's a new class of work
1:00:33 which we will have to develop,
1:00:34 uh,
1:00:34 as we go along,
1:00:35 but it will be done in partnership with.
1:00:37 Innovators and institutions like yours
1:00:40 which have been at the forefront of this.
1:00:42 So
1:00:43 again,
1:00:43 I would like to thank all the panelists
1:00:46 and the chair and Susan and all the people who have participated
1:00:51 on the audience who are participating on YouTube.
1:00:54 Please stay tuned in.
1:00:56 Uh,
1:00:56 we are really,
1:00:57 you know,
1:00:58 focused on the post-COVID recovery.
1:01:00 And innovative solutions post COVID,
1:01:03 and we are trying to source globally
1:01:05 which solutions
1:01:07 are the ones which we should
1:01:09 invest in as we go forward.
1:01:11 Thank you very much
1:01:12 and have a nice morning,
1:01:14 evening,
1:01:15 afternoon,
1:01:16 wherever.
1:01:18 Thank you.
1:01:19 Bye bye.
1:01:19 Bye bye.
1:01:20 Thank you everyone.
1:01:22 Thank you.
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