Sustainable BusinessRecent posts
Financial Health: Driving Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean
According to the latest Global Findex database, the proportion of adults in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) with account ownership rose from 39% in 2011 to over 75% in 2025. This increase was driven by the rise of digital-first financial service providers, expanded government transfers, and innovations that enhance the value proposition, such as the growth of e-commerce and instant payment systems in countries like Brazil, Peru, and Costa Rica.
IDB Invest and the New Push for the Private Sector in Paraguay
Imagine investing in a portfolio of projects in a country with sustained economic growth, low inflation, abundant clean energy, and preferential access to a regional market of 270 million consumers. That country is Paraguay, where IDB Invest has committed to mobilizing up to $1 billion to support strategic private-sector projects that drive sustainable development.
Energy and Transport Infrastructure: Projects Driving Jobs and Transforming Communities
IDB Invest works to boost job creation through the private sector and ensure these opportunities reach areas with the potential to develop new productive sectors and generate formal employment. Financing energy and transport infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean has been crucial for creating quality jobs and increasing women's workforce participation.
Can your trip to the beach help reduce poverty?
As summer comes to an end in the Northern Hemisphere, many of us have been asking and answering the same question: how was your vacation? Our responses typically include anecdotes about the food, people, and places we encountered along the way. Perhaps we could also be asking ourselves how our vacation impacted those people and places.
Why is mobile broadband quality so important for development?
Latin America and the Caribbean is a region of contrasts. Almost everyone has a cell phone, as evidenced by the exponential increase in mobile phone subscribers from 10% of the population in 2000 to over 70% in 2017. And, the region is home to some of the most advanced mobile internet and avid social media users in the world, led by Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. Yet coverage varies across countries and millions of people still do not have access to reliable mobile broadband connections, particularly in rural areas. And, even for those with access, service quality is often poor, limiting their potential to take full advantage of the latest technologies and making it difficult to bridge the digital divide.
Sustainability boosts agribusinesses
The gap between companies that do only what is essential in managing sustainability versus those who are already capturing its benefits could soon become an irreversible gap that buries some but catapults others.
Brazil: Infrastructure Challenges and Opportunities
Within weeks of the Brazil Investment Forum, the development of the economy of South America’s colossus presents numerous challenges and opportunities. A major one is how to continue providing incentives for private sector investment in infrastructure to bridge the country’s funding gap. Synergies among development entities open up new and interesting opportunities for this market.
What is the private sector’s role in the path to development? The case of Paraguay
The productive sector of Latin America and Caribbean countries faces constant challenges. In the case of Paraguay, notable challenges include difficulty accessing financing and the lack of infrastructure to boost development. However, during the last decade this country has gradually positioned itself in international trade thanks to the development of its agri-food industry, among other factors. Thus, in research developed by the Inter-American Development Bank Group, we have detected five areas in which the private sector can support the development of Paraguay:
How can we at IDB Invest support the structuring of Public-Private Partnerships?
The lack of tax revenues to develop infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean has given rise to public-private partnerships (PPPs) as an option for developing strategic infrastructure projects. In this context, IDB Invest is prepared to support countries in the region.
