On December 3, South Asia Convening 2025 (SAC 2025) continued its momentum with Track 2: Corporate Engagement, diving into strategic partnerships that harness private sector muscle for small and growing businesses (SGBs) growth. Building on Day One’s ecosystem diagnostics and green transitions, the two sessions showed how corporates can support SGBs through supply chains, mentorship, procurement, and capital, forging scalable pathways to inclusive prosperity.
SESSION 1: Bridging the Gap: Unlocking Corporate Power to Amplify SGB Impact Through Sustainable Supply Chains
Anchored & Designed by SAFAL Partners
Santona Malakar (Director of Programs, SAFAL Partners) opened the session by framing the relevance of bridging corporates’ preference for low-risk certainty with SGBs’ innovation-driven agility. This can create mutually beneficial business models, where corporate scale helps expand SGB impact. She stressed unlocking growth through sustainable supply chains, procurement, mentorship, and capital, moving beyond standalone charity or philanthropy toward integrated, scalable solutions.
Padmakshi Rana (Executive Director, Impact Hub-Kathmandu) detailed Nepal’s nascent corporate engagement struggles, noting limited success despite regional/global Impact Hub examples. Impact Hub supports early-stage startups crafting impact-driven models in waste, food/agriculture, and textiles—sectors with slow growth, high financial risks, and extended ROI timelines that prioritize social/environmental metrics over quick returns, deterring corporates and financial institutions. She pointed out that most entrepreneur support organisations are clustered in Kathmandu, thereby limiting ESO, finance, and infrastructure support in other regions of Nepal. Explaining that financial returns take longer to show up in impact-driven ventures and that corporates may hesitate to collaborate with such entrepreneurs, she added, “When we are working with impact-driven business models, the ‘residual income’ often comes much later than in business-as-usual ventures.”
Priya Mohan (Manager-Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Habitat for Humanity International) highlighted India’s advanced SGB-corporate partnerships as transformational. She went on to describe how, in housing, a slow-to-innovate sector facing climate challenges (heat, flooding, water stress), corporates like Saint-Gobain co-develop tech with aligned startups across glass/gypsum units, leveraging supply chains. On scope for bridging gaps on both sides, she said, “We are at an inflection point. This partnership (SGB and corporate) has the potential to really be transformational in many ways, especially in the housing and construction sector, and I’m sure it is the same for the other sectors as well.”
When asked about gaps in SGB-corporate collaboration, including potential values misalignment, Padmakshi identified market and visibility hurdles: unaware corporates, regional rivalry (India/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka), limited local testing, feedback loops, high certification, quality costs (food/exports), and finance constraints blocking scaling. To explain how corporates can support climate-vulnerable SGBs and boost procurement readiness in construction, Priya emphasized transaction-based partnerships that begin with clear, mutual value exchange. She highlighted the importance of co-designed pilots that build toward defined procurement pathways for real estate developers. She also stressed the role of blended finance in making climate‑resilient retrofits more affordable for low-income housing and community projects.
The session highlighted how corporate-SGB collaboration can drive scalable impact by bridging risk appetites through R&D investment, clear procurement paths, blended finance, and policy-enforced ESG standards. This approach can help transform emerging ecosystems in Nepal and India into resilient, inclusive supply chains that support climate-vulnerable and underrepresented entrepreneurs.
SESSION 2: Inclusive Procurement and the Green Transition – Driving Climate Impact through the Supply Chain
Anchored & Designed by Sattva Consulting
Shiv Kumar (Founder, Catalyst Management Services) unpacked inclusive procurement (or impact/social procurement) as creating social value through buying from suppliers that create jobs for, or are run by, people with disabilities, using alternative materials, or sourcing from underserved areas, beyond CSR donations. Citing PwC’s data that customers are willing to pay 10 percent more for sustainable products, he stressed its business logic for higher market share and profitability, asking why it’s not the default practice.
Saloni Gupta (Regional Head (West), Corporate Advisory, Sattva Consulting) introduced her work using data to elevate CSR via corporate advisory across 200+ firms (BFSI/IT/pharma/FMCG), blending business/social goals for sustainability. For more than two years, she has focused on inclusive procurement, advising corporates such as ITC, HUL, and Nestlé on sourcing from marginal farmers, FPOs, and MSMEs. She also partners with Catalyst and Vrithi to build the capacity of social enterprises and promote impact in the mainstream.
Phool, a pioneering venture illustrating what sustainable procurement can look like, began its journey upcycling temple flower waste from 5 towns into incense, gift boxes (with craft clusters), and animal-free leather. Apurv Misal (Head Marketing and Sales, Phool.co) shared how 2017-18 incubators focused on women empowerment and waste management fueled early growth by connecting them to the social entrepreneurship ecosystem; these large organizations became loyal consumers who valued Phool’s purpose-built products (beyond aesthetics), building a sizable gifting/incense business. “Business objective and your product, when you sort of marry them, that’s when we’ve also seen a lot of success… from being a story to actually generating some revenue.”
Erad Kawsar (Executive Director, Build Bangladesh) shared Bangladesh’s RMG (Ready-Made Garments) accessories success:
- Before 2000, the sector relied 100% on imports, but H&M and BGMEA policies in 2008–09 shifted production to 98% local manufacturing and prioritized woman-led factories.
- This shift saved about USD 6.5 billion, created over 2,000 factories and more than 50,000 jobs, and now saves USD 5–6 billion in foreign exchange each year.
- By 2024, exports from the sector exceeded USD 1 billion.
Karan Kumar (Programme Manager-Fashion, Laudes Foundation) described their work enabling “just transitions” in high-emission industries like global fashion/textiles, focusing on fragmented supply chains full of informal workers, by building enabling ecosystems rather than subsidizing corporates. He shared how they fund technical assistance, like supporting waste pickers through Upaya Social Ventures to create robust textile circularity businesses. As an example, he highlighted the Regenerative Production Landscape Collaborative (RPLC) model. He explained that RPLC is a regional sourcing approach for food and fiber, where corporate investment directly supports farmers’ livelihoods, improves soil and water health, and strengthens social and environmental outcomes. He emphasized, “At the same time, the model ensures that farmers are included in governing the landscape through a participatory approach. The business benefits of being able to source better products at a cost that’s consistent and with credibility. You’re also able to ensure social uplift.”
The session showed inclusive procurement’s power to turn everyday buying into scalable impact: from Phool’s waste upcycling and Bangladesh’s $6.5B RMG accessories shift to Laudes-backed regenerative landscapes, urging corporates to align CSR, ESG, and core business incentives for resilient supply chains.
Day Two of SAC 2025 showed how stronger corporate engagement can help SGBs grow despite climate and economic challenges. The sessions highlighted the role of supply chain partnerships, inclusive procurement, and better coordination across ecosystems.
From R&D gaps in Nepal, to lessons from Bangladesh’s RMG sector, and regenerative efforts in India, a clear message emerged: corporates should better align business goals, ESG commitments, and social impact in their procurement practices to support more resilient and inclusive growth across South Asia.