Development Enterprises: development? business? better?

Categories are useful - but they can blind us to what is really happening. And there are few stronger categories that run through western culture as does 'market' and 'state'. For at least the past few hundred years, much of the West has divided these two societal forces. 'Development' of course requires combinations of both - indeed, most real societal change does. And while 'development' might often be seen as the domain of charities and CSR, that is a false perception - it has always included business. From pre-colonial times to colonisation to the past 50+ years of independence (for Africa) and 'development' business has - for better and for worse - been a key part of development. Of course, one can recognise that development is, itself, also a business.

But most multinational corporations and many in the international NGO community who talk about 'sustainable international development' are missing some of the major shifts and changes - new players who don't fit into the older model. They fall somewhere between social enterprises, development organisations, and businesses who are seeking to turn an deficit into an opportunity and an opportunity into a mutually beneficial, often profit- driven experience.  We might call these new beasts 'development enterprises'. And in this growing world, the old distinctions of market and state don't really work. Often, it is hard to tell where the market stops and the state starts. Service provision - from health to water to food to sanitation - is one area where these old distinctions don't work, from Africa to India. And then when one is trying to recognise the tremendous role that the informal (and unregulated) market plays, and the potential for profit, new molds are springing up. Grameen Bank is but the tip of the ice burg. Just because we don't have good names for them, doesn't mean they are out there. And 'old fashioned' western business has better watch out - because it is no longer the only market-game in town.