A holistic, enduring strategy for private sector involvement in resilience efforts is critical to building sustainable solutions for the most vulnerable members of society. Particularly in the face of a shrinking supply of traditional development capital from government and donors, engaging the private sector to address these systemic challenges not only offers the possibility of a reduction in risk for affected communities; it also creates the long term potential for new markets and growth opportunities for private players, and the establishment of solutions at the nexus of humanitarian and development efforts. In many cases, the regions that private companies are pursuing for future growth are emerging markets, and a more resilient global economy means more opportunity for the private sector to grow its core activities. Interestingly, it is the most vulnerable, those at the growing base of the pyramid, that also hold tremendous opportunities for global and local private enterprises. There is a true business case in improving resilience for the largest potential sources of consumption and economic activity, but to date there has been limited meaningful engagement. The way forward lies in models that embrace multi-stakeholder collaboration as the path to scale innovations and create improved resilience outcomes.
Such an engagement starts with a framework that identifies root market failures from a resilience perspective and moves to address them through a partnership process that prioritizes private sector engagement. The five key market failures that inhibit resilience can be organized as: lack of savings and resources; lack of risk mitigation tools; lack of functioning domestic capital markets; lack of economic activity; and lack of incentives to collaborate and scale. Drawing from a menu of tools specifically tailored for the gaps related to each market failure and partners who have a compelling motivation to fill those gaps, an effective process for engagement can then be designed and scaled. The key elements of this process are ICE: Innovation, Collaboration, and Economies of Scale