While growth is the critical focus of any economy, no strategy is sustainable unless the benefits of economic development are distributed effectively and include those communities that have traditionally been most excluded from prosperity gains.

Monitor recognizes that the most effective approach to economic development requires a partnership between public and private players to invest in—and mobilize—local resources. Government plays an important role in addressing challenges of poverty and social development, and it must continue to lead in certain areas, such as mandating health and education standards. However, there is an increasing opportunity to harness the power of markets to address poverty, alongside a growing global recognition of the potential role that firms, social enterprises, and international development partners can play.

Monitor is at the forefront of a new and exciting field market-based solutions and “inclusive business models.” Defined as financially viable enterprises that improve incomes and/or provide sustainable service solutions for the bottom of the pyramid, these solutions are targeted at a low-income subset of the world’s population that the World Bank and IFC have sized at four billion individuals and a potential consumer market of US$5 trillion. Monitor provides an evidence base that identifies which solutions work under what conditions, and provides an understanding of how to scale up viable business models ranging from pay-per-use water delivery programs to deep procurement channels that build the capacity of local producers or farmers.

Monitor also helps nations identify opportunities for collaboration with development partners, promoting strategic partnerships that can maximize the return on growth capital. Monitor’s economic strategies identify investment priorities for a nation. Some are attractive opportunities for national companies and foreign investors, while others are better suited to international development partners, philanthropists, and donors. Within the strategy phase, Monitor helps clients understand which infrastructure, capacity-building, and social programs will maximize development impact. Within implementation, Monitor helps ensure that criteria for development funding are met, and we support regions and nations as they engage institutions in the design and undertaking of programs.

With this offering, leaders are able to:

• Map poverty or service delivery conditions across regions and sectors, revealing socioeconomic gaps and priorities
• Identify, foster, and design business models and viably priced market-based solutions in which the poor can be effective producers, suppliers, or customers
• Design investment programs and vehicles to mobilize growth capital toward promising social enterprises and key infrastructure, capacity, and social development programs