Opportunities for the Majority

The Opportunities for the Majority Initiative, approved by the Board of Executive Directors in June 2007, takes a novel approach to the Bank’s mission of promoting economic and social development by engaging lowincome communities and the private sector in creating jobs, developing and delivering quality products and services, and taking steps to engage the majority of citizens in the mainstream of the productive sector so they will receive its benefits and contribute to growth. The Opportunities for the Majority Sector was set up in July 2007 to coordinate Bank Group activities under the initiative.

The development of a pipeline of projects under the initiative advanced well during the year, including new business models that can leverage the Bank’s impact. Outreach through regional conferences confirmed that businesses, nongovernmental organizations and academics welcome the Bank’s new role.

An innovative project evaluation system is being crafted that can be applied to other IDB projects as well. Valuable information and insights about majority markets have been gained and will be widely shared within the Bank and outside.

Private sector stakeholders prepared to engage with majority markets were identified, along with peer organizations with which the Bank could partner. Through a partnership with the Dutch development organization Stichting Nederlandse Vrijwilligers (SNV), the IDB is mapping hundreds of private sector businesses with a focus on majority markets. The Bank is also developing innovative business models in association with the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank committed to finding practical ways to both protect the earth and improve people’s living standards.

Projects under the Opportunities for the Majority Initiative are designed to promote private sector solutions to development challenges that have the potential for large-scale expansion and can be applied widely. For example, one of the first projects approved in 2007 under the initiative was a $1 million grant from the Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund for expansion of a groundbreaking microfinance model in Mexico through FinComun, a local microfinance institution. The project will offer microcredit to members of a nationwide distribution network of more than 450,000 small store operators in Mexico. The MIF grant will help FinComun serve more shopkeepers, offering them new products and services, including loans to modernize their stores or improve their homes and life, health, education and insurance coverage. Shopkeepers also will be trained as FinComun correspondents, enabling them to sell insurance policies, collect payments on small loans and provide information to potential microfinance clients.