MasterPeace COOLeaders inclusive business platform – a global program in association with Ecociate
Sudipta Dawn
Masterpeace COOLeaders & Culture Monks
Recently, I attended a one-day conference on “Inclusive Growth – Impacting Agriculture and Food Systems” organized by Ecociate, a partner organization of MasterPeace. MasterPeace was one of the partner organizations of the conference, and it also had UN -ESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), among other notable and vital institutions, as one of its main supporters. This conference was held at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi on June 20, 2024. The conference focused mainly on the opportunities, challenges, and support systems relating to agro-based start-ups that have an approach that goes against the mainstream business practices in sourcing chemical-free produce to adopting more climate-friendly agricultural methods, fair pay to farmers, and ensuring gender equality. It was an intense conference with many sessions focussing on specific Inclusive Growth aspects. Ecociate has been mentoring start-ups who are engaged with Inclusive Business and it was encouraging to see that many of these start-ups have been successful in raising investments. Some of them are indeed running at a profit at early stages. Many such start-ups were awarded at the end of the conference and they shared their first-hand experience in running such a business, which was quite inspirational.
As a follow-up to the conference and learnings from Ecociate’s 18-month-long inclusive business coaching program, Ecociate decided to launch the Inclusive Business Ecosystem Network (IBEN)[1] to bring together stakeholders and ecosystem players from different spectrums and build an enabling environment for the growth of inclusive businesses, which can support smallholders and other marginalized communities at scale while being sustainable and profitable.
MasterPeace & Ecociate have been working together for some time to design meaningful solutions for marginalized communities. MasterPeace has decided to join the IBEN platform with Ecociate to strengthen its agenda of inclusive growth further by supporting inclusive businesses in the agriculture and food sector and developing leaders for this sector.
The MasterPeace COOLeaders is a global program that seeks to motivate and provide the necessary tools to people to catalyze them into being change makers towards a paradigm that focuses on integral development in material, cultural, and spiritual spheres. The objectives of IBEN Platforms, align well with the objectives and activities of MasterPeace COOLeaders, thus, both of these initiatives have decided to work together in their efforts to support vulnerable and marginalized communities.
COOLeader is one who cares about herself/ himself (in terms of mental, physical, economic and cultural state), others, the place, and works towards economic sustainability while at all times working towards restoring and regenerating our natural ecology. One remarkable feature of MasterPeace COOLeaders program is its extensive deployment & support for arts (visual & performing), design & music to mobilize and to bring about & embody the desired change.
We believe that Inclusive businesses run by COOLeaders, can be the driver of this kind of change-making as it fosters healthy values, just and contribute positively towards the ecology and make places and societies safe and happy places to live in by contributing to the Triple Bottom Line (People, Profit & Planet). Encouraging inclusive entrepreneurship is a great way to address the unemployment problem around the world, which is the cause of poverty and conflicts. At the same time, we can ensure that development doesn’t come at the cost of the natural ecology and doesn’t destabilize the well-being of future generations. These businesses have the potential to be disruptors by challenging the status quo and driving for policy changes, and steering towards equilibrium or middle grounds. MasterPeace with its network of clubs in 45 countries, which are largely working in marginalized areas will work together with IBEN to support the inclusive business around the world. This, coupled with Ecociate’s long years of expertise and network in this field, make us confident that we would be able to make a substantial impact on the improvement of human conditions and the natural ecology
However, starting and sustaining such a business does have extra layers of complexities and its learning curve. This coming together of MasterPeace and Ecociate through IBEN platform will help to shorten the learning curve by providing the start-ups with support in sourcing from certified farmers, connecting them to impact investors, allowing them access national & global markets, research and knowledge-based institutions and connects them with other business services like innovative branding, meeting statutory requirements, etc. We also intend to work with the governments & other stakeholders to improve agroecology.
The mission of IBEN is to enable more than 1000 Agribusiness and enterprise and impact the lives of 1000000 farmers by 2030 around the world. We look forward to your co-operation to make our efforts successful so that we can look a future with better quality of leadership, inclusive development and ecological harmony.
If you would like to join the IBEN platform and become COOL Inclusive business leaders or would like to know more or some ideas for change, please connect with sudipta@masterpeace.org.
Annexure-1
Genesis of Inclusive Business Ecosystem Network
The Inclusive Business Ecosystem Network (IBEN) has emerged as a response to the demonstrated need for a cohesive and collaborative platform that supports inclusive and impact-focused agribusinesses.
Ecociate has been working with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Inclusive Business Support Program in India and the ASEAN region. Through this initiative, we have worked closely with a meticulously selected cohort of 19 agribusiness companies, providing them with customized coaching and support to help identify and integrate inclusive business opportunities into their core operations. Throughout the program, these companies devised a range of solutions, from delivering digital and physical technologies to smallholder farmers, to adopting gender-inclusive practices, ensuring fair prices for farmers, and promoting sustainable agriculture and dairy management practices. These efforts have led to significant enhancements in productivity and income for smallholder farmers, with a notable impact on women farmers.
The program underscored the substantial benefits of bringing together a cohort of inclusive businesses alongside development sector players such as NGOs, community institutions, bilateral programs, and relevant government agencies. This collaborative approach creates extensive opportunities for learning, partnerships, and mutually beneficial engagements that amplify grassroots impact. This experience revealed the necessity of establishing an enabling ecosystem and policy environment to support and incentivize inclusive businesses to harness their full potential. In response to these insights, we engaged in extensive discussions with cohort members, the UN-ESCAP team, and other relevant stakeholders. This collective dialogue led to the consensus that forming a network-based organization would be pivotal in creating ground-level impact by uniting inclusive businesses and other stakeholders on a single platform. This shared vision has culminated in the formation of the Inclusive Business Ecosystem Network (IBEN).