Cemex has established its Crecimientos (“Growth”) platform which is designed to create new business models with high social and environmental impact in Latin American and Asian countries where the company is present.

The main goal of this initiative is to support more than one million low-income people during the next two years by encouraging innovation, development, and promotion of social and inclusive businesses.

As part of the creation of Crecimientos, Cemex allied with The Grameen Creative Lab, a social enterprise founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Muhammad Yunus.

The announcement of Crecimientos and the alliance with The Grameen Creative Lab took place during the Global Social Business Summit, the most important summit for social business worldwide, held in Mexico City from 26 to 28 November.

Cemex and The Grameen Creative Lab will form “Empowerment”, the first social business of Crecimientos, which will be a new model with the priority of promoting family-owned businesses.

During the first year, this family business model will be developed focussing on housing and basic services, designed to stimulate local economies, improve capacities and strengthen the role of women. During 2015, two pilot projects will be conducted with families from both urban and rural areas.

Cemex has already implemented several inclusive and social business models such as Patrimonio Hoy, Mejora Tu Calle, Centros Productivos de Autoempleo, ConstruApoyo, Ecotecnias, and Programa Integral de Autoconstrucción Asistida (PiAC). These programmes represent work carried out in coordination with over 400 communities, improving the quality of life for more than six million people.