Strategic Inclusion: Grean World’s Financial Returns of Targeting Women in The Last Mile

The private sector increasingly recognizes opportunities to include and empower women in the workplace, as entrepreneurs or consumers. This series of case studies seeks to close evidence and guidance gaps to measure the ROI of women-inclusive business strategies for small-to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Each case study follows the Women-Inclusive Return on Investment (WI-ROI) Framework and documents a company’s inclusive investment, the business model of the investment, the data and process used to calculate the WI-ROI, and key lessons learned. These cases aim to support development practitioners’ alignment with the incentives of SMEs and other private-sector actors in LMICs. By understanding and calculating a WI-ROI, practitioners can help accelerate inclusive growth that benefit women and firms.

This particular case study focuses on Grean World, an SME in Ethiopia. It examines how applying a women-centered approach to marketing and sales addresses the energy needs of female consumers in rural and remote areas in Ethiopia, while delivering financial returns for Grean World. Comparing the original model to this women-centric approach shows how the latter reduces costs while increasing sales for Grean World.

Source: USAID
Year: 2024