Overview
IFC’s Grassroots Business Initiative (GBI) aims to support businesses that create sustainable economic opportunities for the poor and marginalized. GBI started its work in South Asia largely focused on strengthening and scaling up assistance to existing IFC clients, primarily in India. Grassroots Business Organizations (GBO) are socially-driven ventures, whether for-profit or not-for profit, that empower and engage those at the ‘base of the pyramid’ as entrepreneurs, suppliers, consumers and employees. These businesses provide income, training and needed products and services to those who need it most, bridging a gap in the global marketplace.
GBI aims to have a catalytic impact in this emerging sector, building partnerships with like-minded groups and leveraging its position within the World Bank Group. At the business level, GBI provides a package of funding and technical assistance that strengthens GBOs, thereby expanding their impact at the grassroots level and leading to replication and scale-up opportunities. GBI uses this experience, combined with IFC´s extensive private sector experience, to form broader activities that support intermediaries serving multiple GBOs, as well as to share experience and lessons learned with clients and partners.
Contacts
50-M, Shanti Path
Gate No.-3, Niti Marg
Chanakyapuri
New Delhi 110 021
Tel: (91-11) 4111 1000
Fax: (91-11) 4111 1001/ 02
E-mail: SouthAsia@ifc.org
For detailed information on GBI: http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/gbo.nsf/Content/SouthAsia
