Can Development and Profit Work Together ?

Development and profit are often pitted against each other.

One is expected to solve social and environmental problems. The other is expected to make money.

If only we did not have to choose. But is it really possible?

This was the question behind a recent national dialogue on Bio Paint organized by the InElam Project of Helvetas Nepal.

The event was about one product. But in many ways, it was about something much bigger.

It is still an experiment. There are questions around quality, consistency, standards, cost, market demand, financing and scale. There is more evidence to generate and more to learn.

But perhaps that is exactly what made it worth bringing people together.

At the dialogue, we had researchers and academics, health professionals, government representatives, financial institutions, entrepreneurs, painters and users. We had school principals and teachers, early childhood experts and development practitioners.

People who would not necessarily find themselves in the same room were suddenly looking at the same product. And each saw a different possibility within the same product.

For InElam Project, the question was how to create viable green and circular enterprises in rural areas that can generate employment and local economic opportunities. Bio Paint offered one possible answer.

For pediatricians and professionals working in preventive health, the concern was different. If lead exposure is a health risk for children, and paint can be one potential source of exposure, the search was for safer alternatives. Bio Paint presented one possibility worth exploring.

For early childhood experts, the question was about the spaces where children spend their days- classrooms, learning centres and play environments - and how those spaces can become healthier. They saw in Bio Paint a potential option to consider.

For banks and financial institutions, the question was where emerging green enterprises might create viable opportunities for financing. They saw a potential enterprise in Bio Paint.

For a young aspiring entrepreneur, the question was - is there a small, practical business I can start? Bio Paint offered one possible entry point.

For the Department of Environment, under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment, the broader question was how we create a cleaner Nepal. Bio Paint became one of the possibilities within that much larger ambition.

One product. Different questions. Different needs. We were all looking at the same paint, but we were not necessarily looking for the same thing.

The recent Helvetas article, Beyond Grants: Financing Development in a Changing World, asks an important question: if development needs are growing while traditional development finance is under pressure, how can development organizations use their limited resources to help unlock other sources of capital and investment? The blog, quite comprehensively, showed the importance of evidence, credible local partners and experimentation in helping identify and test opportunities where development impact and commercial potential may come together.

Our Bio Paint experiment is, in a very small way, an attempt to do exactly that.

We did not organize the event to say, “Look what we made.” And, this was perhaps the most important message of the dialogue.

We brought people from different sectors together because we needed their help.

And, at the end of our dialogue, we deliberately did not present a finished story.

We presented what we know so far, what users and practitioners have experienced, what testing has shown, and the questions that remain.

Then we asked the people in the room for their help.

Perhaps one answer is to use development funding not only to finance activities, but to create the conditions for others to invest, participate and take things forward.

Development funding can help test an idea when the market is not yet clear. It can support early experimentation, generate evidence, bring together people who would not otherwise meet, strengthen local capacity and reduce some of the information gaps that make investors hesitant. It can help demonstrate that something is worth looking at. But it does not have to be the only source of money that keeps the idea going.

In the case of Bio Paint, a relatively small development investment has brought together researchers, health professionals, government, financial institutions, entrepreneurs, painters, users and development practitioners around one possibility. The next step is not necessarily for development funding to keep financing the product. It is to see whether the evidence, relationships and learning generated through that investment can help others recognize the opportunity and decide whether they want to take it forward.

That is what catalytic development finance can look like in practice. Not replacing private capital, and not turning every development challenge into a business, but using limited resources to test possibilities, build evidence, connect people and create the conditions in which other forms of capital can participate.

Bio Paint is still an experiment. We do not yet know how far it will go. And perhaps that is precisely the point. Because we believe development work does not always have to deliver the finished solution. Sometimes, its most valuable contribution is to help a possibility move from an idea to something that others can see, question, test and potentially invest in.