The “Growing Inclusive Markets” (GIM) Initiative, a UNDP-led global multi-stakeholder research and advocacy initiative on inclusive business models (i.e. financially sustainable models that include the poor on the demand side as clients and customers, and on the supply side as employees, producers and business owners along the value chain), has recently released 60 new case studies of such models across sectors, regions and types of companies. They complement and enrich the first set of 50 cases commissioned back in 2008.
The case studies have been developed by a highly qualified group of 30 Research Fellows covering 20 countries and representing well established institutions in the developing world, such as the Lagos Business School in Nigeria, the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, and the American University in Cairo, to name but a few. The cases follow a rigorous research protocol and extensive review process, and address a common set of research questions, including: How is value created and distributed? Who creates and distributes value, and how? What value is created and distributed?
The case studies range from a start-up company in Iran that produces affordable, earthquake-proof steel structures for houses, schools and hospitals (Saraman); a Bangladeshi NGO that runs a decentralized community‐private‐public partnership model to transform solid waste into organic compost using a low cost, low‐tech and labor‐intensive method (Waste Concern); the first and only national agricultural commodity exchange in Kenya linking small-scale farmers to national and regional markets (KACE); and a joint-venture between two major French companies aiming at electrifying rural regions of Morocco through solar energy sources (Temasol), among many others.
Most cases are already available in a searchable online database on the GIM website (select “GIM 2010” under the “Source” field for the newest cases), together with Q&A with their respective authors.
