With the support of Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) and the Directorate of Industrial Supervision and Inspection (DISI), the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), via its DaNa Facility, published the report about Myanmar’s inclusive businesses earlier this month.

The Inclusive Business in Myanmar report provides an opportunity for businesses, investors, NGOs and the government to learn about the potential impact inclusive businesses have on the country and starts to map a way forward to a more inclusive and sustainable private-sector environment across Myanmar.

“Inclusive business” – a relatively new concept in the country – is an innovative approach to promoting growth in an economy with the private sector contributing to inclusive economic growth by creating and expanding opportunities for the poor. 

Speaking at the launch of the report, DICA Director General U Aung Naing Oo threw his weight behind the approach, saying: “Inclusive businesses are businesses that provide scalable, innovative, and systemic solutions for problems experienced by the poor and marginalised. They can create new income opportunities for the poor by engaging them in the value chains of profitable businesses while paying better than market rates,” he remarked.

“Inclusive businesses create triple wins: for the poor, for companies, and for government and also contribute to the government’s agendas of reducing poverty, creating a more inclusive economy, and achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs],” U Aung Naing Oo commented.  

The report points out that, while the number of social enterprises (SE) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in the country is growing, the notion of engaging the poor through core business activities remains nascent. Corporate philanthropy through SE and CSR are traditional approaches. However, these approaches alone cannot change the dynamics of structural poverty or address the systemic issues that many disadvantaged communities face around a lack of socio-economic opportunities. 

Inclusive business is different, the report states. It adds a dimension of scale of both impact and business, as well as commercial sustainability, and provides a deliberate answer to the problems of the poor and near-poor. It is about companies whose core businesses involve meeting the needs of the poor.

According to DFID Myanmar Head Dr Gail Marzetti, inclusive businesses engage the poor in a way that offers sustainable solutions to the problems the poor face. 

The release of the report comes at a time when DFID’s DaNa Facility is actively supporting Myanmar’s efforts to scale up economic inclusion. Recently, DaNa Facility announced their plan to invest around US$2 million to initially provide access to working capital for 300 domestic micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) which employ the poor and women. 

The MSME supply chain financing project is the latest programme by the DaNa Facility, which supports inclusive economic growth and private sector development in Myanmar through responsible and sustainable business growth,

investment and trade. Last month, it partnered with Swiss insurance technology firm StoneStep AG on a $1.1 million investment in Myanmar’s micro-insurance sector. The aim is to reach 600,000 people in order to expand and develop the domestic insurance and risk-transfer market.

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/tap-inclusive-business-reduce-poverty-dfid-report.html