G20 Leaders Launch Global Partnership and Website to Help Advance Inclusive Business
Nanjing, China, April 6, 2016—The G20 officially launched the Global Platform on Inclusive Business (GPIB) today in Nanjing, China. The Platform is a global partnership that will provide support to policymakers and accelerate the adoption of inclusive business policies and programs globally.

The GPIB is being implemented under the Chinese 2016 G20 Presidency. The creation of the Platform was called for in the Leaders Call on Inclusive Business issued at the G20 Leaders Summit in November 2015 in Ankara, Turkey. During the Summit, leaders also endorsed the G20 Inclusive Business Framework. The GPIB will connect policymakers and businesses to better understand the role that governments can play in supporting inclusive companies more effectively.

“The Chinese G20 Presidency is happy to announce the launch of the Global Platform on Inclusive Business”, said Zhang Shaogang, Chair of the DWG meeting. “GPIB seeks to connect policy-makers and businesses. It is both pro-poor and pro-business and strives to better understand the role of governments in supporting inclusive business.”

Inclusive businesses provide low-income men and women with goods, services, and improved livelihoods by including them in their core business model. Inclusive businesses – by working directly with low-income people – have the potential to be a driving force for inclusion and sustainability. These are companies that extend last-mile water, power, and mobile phone service to customers in rural areas. They train and create markets for small farmers. They treat low-income patients and teach low-income students.

However, companies struggle with challenging operating environments and gaps in the institutional, informational, and infrastructural conditions that are required to make inclusive markets work. These issues prevent companies from reaching the 4.5 billion people who are considered to be living at the base of the economic pyramid.