Q2: To create sustainable value, businesses must turn their innovation engines toward solving the challenges that threaten us all. Cybersecurity firms are partnering with universities to build diverse digital defence talent pipelines at a time when threats outpace our collective capacity to respond. Logistics companies are using data analytics to rewire supply chains affected by extreme weather, building agility that benefits entire ecosystems. Fintechs are giving underserved communities tools to stabilise income and build creditworthiness. The common thread is that when a business strengthens the resilience of the people and systems around it, it secures its own ability to grow and prosper. This isn’t charity — this is a commercially critical strategy in a world where disruption is normal.
Q2: Businesses have an important role to play because they influence far more than profits; they shape livelihoods, innovation, and opportunity.
One way is by intentionally investing in small businesses and entrepreneurs. This includes developing supplier networks that include MSMEs, supporting women- and youth-led enterprises, and even PWDs providing access to technology and digital tools, and creating decent employment opportunities.
Businesses can also invest in capacity building. mentorship, and business advisory often have long-lasting effects because they enable entrepreneurs to adapt to changing markets and recover more quickly from economic shocks.
Another important area is designing products and services that solve real societal challenges while remaining commercially viable. When businesses align commercial success with social impact, they create value that benefits both shareholders and communities.
Ultimately, resilient communities make for resilient markets. Supporting people is not separate from business success, it’s part of building sustainable businesses
I think this UK report speaks to this - driving-impact-unlocking-the-opportunity-for-corporate-social-impact-investment-in-the-uk.pdf
A few key points: Strengthen the base of value chains directly: farmer and supplier resilience programmes (climate-adapted practices, inclusive finance, women-led producer groups) generate both business continuity and community prosperity. Reframe ESG and CSR around real-world outcomes (livelihoods, safety, resilience) rather than compliance metrics, to rebuild credibility amid ESG backlash. Embed impact strategy and measurement in core strategy and supply chains, e.g. the Business Fights Poverty 5 Bridges to 2045 model. Corporate philanthropy to be strategic, collaborative and measurable and distributed to local organisations who really understand and solution for problems in their communities.
We are discussing in our group chat, different considerations for different types of businesses. Where you have a smaller, privately owned business, there is easier opportunity to embed shared prosperity in the core of the business, because of quicker decision making, founders driving strategy etc. An example is the Alquity Investment Management firm and their relationship with their Foundation - known as the Alquity Virtuous Circle, recognising the business will do well if, the community does well. The business teams learn about community opportunities and challenges (e.g. risks and opportunities to the business) from the work that the foundation does
Charity begins at home! Companies should first take care of their workers’ quality of life as a way to boost productivity and reduce turnover. Today this can be done without increasing budget, using technology and aiming not for charity, but to unlock their workers’ agency. Then, they should work with the communities surrounding their factories and facilities, following the same principle.
Q2. Businesses create the greatest value when they see people not just as customers or employees, but as partners in creating stronger communities. By listening to people’s aspirations, investing in their capabilities, and designing products, services, and jobs that respond to real needs, businesses can generate both commercial and social value.
At Poverty Stoplight (povertystoplight.org), we’ve seen that when companies understand the multidimensional realities of the families they serve, they make better decisions that strengthen resilience, expand opportunities, and create lasting value for everyone involved.
Q2: Ethical dilemmas/challenges - Remote monitoring systems in rural areas raise significant ethical dilemmas around privacy, equity, governance, and community trust. While they can pre‑empt issues like low water pressure and improve resilience, they risk reinforcing inequalities if not designed with fairness and accountability. Without clear safeguards, communities risk surveillance
Yes, some great examples from Alquity structures.
I agree with the creation of lasting value - I always remember our NGO partners asking us about our “exit strategy” at the end of the project… we didn’t have one because we were not going away and we would continue to provide the support and development a self-sustaining environment for our supply chain partners who were mainly smallholder farmers but in some cases wild harvest collectors.
Business works best when it looks beyond a 3 year time horizon, creating value not only for itself but also for its value chain partners.
Q2: Businesses are uniquely positioned because they influence not only markets but also people’s daily lives—as employers, buyers, innovators, and community partners. In my previus work with BSR - now RISE, we saw that investing in worker wellbeing wasn’t philanthropy—it improved communication, productivity, retention, and trust. Businesses became stronger because their people became stronger. At Kenya Flower Council, strengthening gender mainstreaming improved compliance, but more importantly it created safer and more inclusive workplaces. Through Farmers Voice Radio, business partnerships helped farmers access practical knowledge that improved resilience to climate change while supporting sustainable agricultural production. In deed, businesses create lasting value when they invest in people, not just production.
Businesses create the greatest value when they design solutions with communities rather than for them. When communities become part of the value chain, businesses create economic opportunities while also strengthening their own resilience.
A great example is Senator Keg in Kenya. Following the tragic loss of lives from the consumption of illicit alcohol, the Government of Kenya partnered with EABL to provide a safer and more affordable alternative. The government zero rated the excise duty on beer made from locally grown sorghum and cassava, making the product affordable to consumers.
The impact went far beyond the product itself. Sorghum and cassava are well suited to Kenya’s arid and semi arid regions, where farmers traditionally had few reliable cash crops. By creating a guaranteed market for these crops, EABL gave thousands of smallholder farmers a new source of income while securing a sustainable local supply chain for the business.
That is shared prosperity. A business challenge became an opportunity to improve livelihoods, strengthen local agriculture and create long term value for both the company and the communities it depends on.
Businesses increasingly recognise that long-term value creation depends on healthy communities, skilled workforces and stable societies. At Plan International, we work with a number of corporate partners and we always find honing in on the expertise of all stakeholders, which is centred on the voice of those communities we work with is key. Investing in the communities which companies rely on for their business resource is not just beneficial from delivering social good, it also make business sense. Creating value involves investing in decent work, building inclusive supply chains, including supporting small producers, increasing opp for women-owned businesses and sharing value more equitably, strengthening youth capabilities and support community resilience.
QUESTION 3: What kinds of partnerships are needed between business, government, investors, civil society and communities to make shared prosperity happen at scale?
Within a large multinational business, you can have the scenario where the CSR/ social impact or sustainability department is grappling with shared value and prosperity of the wider community; the business is in turn, concerned with the infrastructure, future skills and climate change risks that are affecting business growth. For shared prosperity - meaning inclusive, sustainable growth to be realised, we need to create the spaces for collaborative learning and solutioning. The understanding, innovation and solutions are within the people in the across the business, but not necessarily the mechanisms to unleash these.
Q3:
At the risk of a very general-sounding comment: as mentioned in my responses to the first two questions, the key here is we need a concerted effort to reshape policies and safety nets, a new kind of social contract that takes into account 21st century realities about technology, distribution of resources, climate change, transnational power distribution, the future of employment and more. The 19th and 20th century consensus has broken down and those institutions are failing to address current needs.
Successful partnerships start with selfish goals explained clearly and expressed honestly. Organisations have to be clear about their motivation for change and to communicate it frankly and in easily understood terms. Profit is NOT a dirty word; but making a sustainable profit means getting your hands (and your boots) dirty! Being open, upfront and indeed genuinely and honestly selfish, about what will make a partnership successful for each individual partner is a prerequisite for collective success.
An example I recently connected an Ugandan vanilla company with a Slovakian chemicals company. One works with farmers to produce vanilla beans with exceptionally high vanillin content, the other produces pure vanillin using only CO2 and water and then sells it to companies who use it in beverages “that give you wings!”.
super example tahnkyou
Q3 To make shared prosperity happen at scale partnerships must include government, the private sector, NGOs, civil society and communities. Only in this way can mutual value be co-created. The challenge now is for social impact leaders is to build appropriate measures - upon which to base decisions. These need to be robust metrics, but agile enough to provide market response. This is particularly important in uncertain, complex and rapidly moving systems. This can be achieved in partnership with civil society and communities to ensure metrics are appropriate for the communities they cover.
In a way it comes back to inclusive business models and co-creation (such as in Ted London & Stuart Hart more than a decade ago) - but adapted to today’s technological and structural shifts.
Locally led development (LLD) is reshaping the way development cooperation is designed, delivered, and evaluated. While commitment to this approach is growing, turning those commitments into consistent policies and effective programme design remains a complex challenge. The OECD recently published a report on this: OECD (2026), Practical Guidelines for Supporting Locally Led Development: Menu of Options for Shifting Agency and Resources to Local Actors, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/eaecf72b-en .
Q3: From Stakeholder Management to “Co-Creation”
- Mechanism: communities not treated as beneficiaries of CSR (corporate social responsibility), but are treated as equal partners in the design of products, services and supply chains. Give community groups a seat the table in local procurement. E.g. local youth groups should be the primary suppliers for local infrastructure projects, ensuring the capital circulates within the community; reducing the risk of corruption and mismanagement.
Outcome: Solutions rooted in local text, tapping into indigenous knowledge, ensuring higher adoption rates and long-term sustainability
Q3: Shared prosperity cannot be achieved by one sector or actor acting alone. The challenges are too complex, and each stakeholder brings unique strengths.
Governments create enabling policies and infrastructure. Businesses drive innovation, investment, and market opportunities. Financial institutions provide capital that allows businesses to grow. Academic institutions and entrepreneurship support organisations build skills and capabilities, while civil society helps ensure programmes remain inclusive and responsive to community needs.
Our experience working wihtin the entrepreneurial ecosystem has shown that the greatest impact happens when these actors work together around a shared objective as partnerships creates a much stronger support system for entrepreneurs than any one intervention alone.
The focus should move beyond isolated projects towards building ecosystems where collaboration becomes the norm and success is measured collectively.