By PROVIDENCE OBUH

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) through its inclusive business clients has disbursed over $13 million microfinance loans to farmers, students, micro-entrepreneurs, among others.

The corporation made this known during the launch of a new inclusive business report entitled ´Being the Change: inspiring the next generation of inclusive business entrepreneurs impacting the base of the Pyramid.´

IFC’s Inclusive Business Models Group was launched in 2010, to expand access to goods, services, and livelihood opportunities for those at the base of the global economic pyramid (BoP) in commercially viable, scalable ways and also mobilizes people, ideas, information and resources to help companies start and scale inclusive business models more effectively.

IFC Vice President, Business Advisory Services, Ms Nena Stoiljkovic revealed, “In 2012 alone, IFC’s inclusive business clients reached over 173 million farmers, students, patients, and utility customers directly and provided over 13 million microfinance loans, also inclusive business clients offered 284,000 jobs.”

Stoiljkovic said that the corporation clients are currently using inclusive business models to provide direct benefits to the underserved population at the base of the pyramid, creating high development impact in financially sustainable ways.

“Those living at the base of the pyramid represent $5 trillion worth of purchasing power. IFC’s mission is to create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives, and we pursue it by investing in the private sector.

“At a fundamental level, it is the private sector that drives economic growth, a basic ingredient in poverty alleviation. The private sector can expand access to goods, services, and livelihood opportunities for the poor, helping to ensure that growth is inclusive,” she said.

For companies, inclusive business models are opportunities for market growth and competitive advantage.  For development agencies, inclusive business represents a powerful approach to achieving their goal of inclusive growth and development. IFC investments are supporting this emerging business at the base of the pyramid, she explained.

However, IFC launched Inclusive Business Models Group to create the tools, resources, and networks that will help investment and advisory staff develop new ways to support IFC clients scale up their inclusive business models to reach more people at the base of the pyramid, while the group is actively documenting and sharing knowledge to help others develop inclusive business models more quickly and more easily.