In 2019, MISTI, with support from ESCAP and iBAN, prepared a landscape study on Inclusive Business in Cambodia. An elaborated methodology was used to longlist 118 potential IB companies, shortlist 71, assessed 37 and interviewed 34 companies.

The IB qualifying companies were rated based on 29 transparent criteria and more than 50 targets, using a composite rating tool. This tool was so tested, a bit further developed, and will then be used in the future for doing official IB accreditation. More information on the IB accreditation is here

Of the 37 rated companies the study found 19 IB cases of which 13 are real and 6 potential IB investments. While the team found 19 companies with IB models, this will probably not reflect the Cambodia market in its totality. Rather, the consultants’ findings should be seen as an example of IB cases.

Transmission channel and engagement mode: Eight (8) of the 19 IB companies provide income solutions to the poor and 11 relevant goods and services to improve their living quality. 13 companies engage the poor as consumers, 4 as suppliers, 2 as laborers, and none as distributor or shareholder.

By sector 5 IB companies were in agrobusiness, 2 in handicrafts and manufacturing, 2 in insurance, 2 in water and sanitation, 2 in housing, 5 in energy, and 1 in FinTech.  Good IB practices found are from the following companies:

• -Agribusiness: Amru Rrice, Lyly Foods, Agribuddy, SolarGreen
• -Social Protection and Insurance: Prevoir, Cambodia Microfinance Association (AMK), BIMA Mobile
• -Housing and Urban Services: MyDreamHome, WorldBridge Social Housing, Khmer Water Supply (KWSH), Thira Partner
• -Energy Services: ACE, Khmer Green Charcoal, LES Solar, Sun EEE
• -In skills training and job placement: Artisan d’Angkor, Phare Circus,
• -In FinTech: BanhJi
• -In microfinance: LOLC Cambodia (Cambodia has numerous microfinance institutions that could qualify as IB; however only few, such as LOLC, have innovative models to solve the problems of the BoP)
• -In health services, tourism, garment, manufacturing: no specific IB models with innovative features could be identified.

Although there were only few companies identified as proper IB, these companies have large social impact and – given their growth orientation – they are really transformative for the country. In 2018, eight of the companies assessed created well paid income opportunities for 155,000 people, and the other 11 companies provided valuable services to about 680,000 people; In total, these 19 companies benefitted more than 800,000 people in 2018 as following:

• -two companies provided social insurance for 530,000 people;
• -two housing companies served about 6,600 people;
• -two water and sanitation companies provided services to about 44,000 women, men and children;
• -five energy companies served about 100,000 people with lighting and cooking energy.

Development results: For the IB discussion the number of companies engaged in such models, activities and initiatives is not much important, rather the scale and depth of social impact is. Furthermore, to value the importance of such firms the growth (in revenue and BoP reach) matters. Projections shared by the business managers show that the identified 19 IB business lines are expected to double their impact within 3-5 years, expected to benefit by 2023 about 1.7 million poor and low-income people (up from 0.8 million in 2018) and to increase their revenue from $74 million in 2018 to $152 million by 2023.

Below is the list of IB companies and a summary of their development results. The landscape study has an appendix describing each IB company in more detail. The IB cases are summarized in the IB example page below "Click Here"