ABSTRACT
This chapter explores justifications for business to drive sustainable development—specifically from the socioeconomic angle. The greatest pressures that companies have faced related to business of increasing profits and satisfying shareholders with good bottom line: in other words, financial performance pressure. Given the expertise and resources of larger companies, the chapter also explores the role of larger companies, but it is also appreciated that fundamental to the sustainability paradigm is the promotion of local-level entrepreneurship, capacity-building and institutional development. The chapter presents examples of how the private sector can and is gainfully tapping new markets and contributing to meeting the basic needs of hitherto unserved 'energy-poor' populations. It explains the ways to reduce economic risks and attract private-sector investment. Yet beyond ethical reasons are critical business-oriented rationales for the private sector to drive sustainable development. In a world of crumbling borders, challenges facing the South are of significance for society as whole, including the private sector—for local and multinational companies alike.
