Inclusive Business Development in East-Africa - Ways of Creating Enabling Environment

Abstract

In the paper we discuss on the role of inclusive business development in Africa. Inclusive business, as a feature of inclusive market development represents a promising approach of bringing the benefits of economic growth directly to low-income communities by including them within value chains for instance as customers, producers or co-creators. Therefore, inclusive business models, because they include poor people as business partners along the value chain, can contribute towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To be successful and grow, inclusive business models often rely on other players that provide conducive policies; know-how and awareness; finance; and complementary capabilities. The more concrete research topic is how to create enabling environment for inclusive business development. We view the roles of different actors, such as governmental actors, NGOs, research and financial institutions and how they are (or could be) collaborating to create a better base for inclusive business. As a result, we identify possible roles and raise essential questions for different stakeholders to consider if they want to be part of inclusive business development. The paper is a theoretical paper which is illustrated with few successful Africa case examples of inclusive business models.