Washington, D.C., was filled with financiers last week — and in a world of plummeting capital, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings felt ever more important.
But while buttoned-up ministers talked development finance downtown, a very different scene was playing out on 14th Street. On Thursday, the brick-and-beam Studio Theater became home to the Global Inclusive Growth Summit, an event hosted by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and its media partner, Devex.
“Now more than ever, the world is changing at breakneck speed,” said Shamina Singh, the president of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. “The sense of urgency we feel is real.”
The event gathered business leaders, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and featured a slew of rapid-fire talks on the private sector, the development world, and the crossover between the two.
Viola Davis, an award-winning actress, talked about her journey into philanthropy and how she went from a childhood in poverty to a career in Hollywood. Bobby Franklin, the president of the National Venture Capital Association, spoke about how innovation was happening where you’d least expect it — Arkansas and Kentucky, to name a few. And Jenny Just, a self-made billionaire, espoused the benefits of poker and how the game can help women grow confidence, build strategic thinking skills, and allocate capital.
Needless to say, the day was filled with variety. But through it all, there was one common thread: The private sector’s potential. And with official development assistance from governments in the bull’s eye, that focus has never seemed so critical.
Middle class rising
Let’s start with the basics. For businesses to perform — and later, to invest — they need consumers to keep them alive. But between stockmarket-roiling tariffs, ever-rising inflation, and waves of layoffs, many have found themselves asking: Will I be able to keep up?
Luckily, the world has a better foundation than most people realize. More than half the global population — some 4 billion people — are in the middle class, explained Wolfgang Fengler, the chief executive officer of insight firm World Data Lab. And despite the chaos of this year, that income category is expected to grow.
“We are in a world where the middle class is, broadly, still strong,” said Fengler, speaking from the Global Inclusive Growth Summit stage.
That’s especially true for Asia, which is projected to hold four-fifths of the world’s newest middle class by 2035. During the same period, the number of those categorized as “poor” and “vulnerable” will drop by 30 million and 600 million people, respectively, while the middle class will grow by 1.1 billion, and the rich will grow by 100 million.
“Don’t bet against the middle class,” he told the crowd before stepping off the stage.
Job well done
But what about those who aren’t there yet? Let’s shift some 7,000 miles east, where the Kingdom of Bahrain has its workforce covered.
Since 2006, Bahrain’s Tamkeen program — which is funded through taxes and bank partnerships — has provided training, professional certification programs, and job support to thousands of Bahrainis.
“We have a wonderful vehicle that really has a broad coverage,” explained Bahrain’s minister of finance, Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, from the summit stage.
Last year alone, the program supported nearly 26,000 people with career development programs, from artificial intelligence, or AI, training to medical fellowships to business franchising programs. The point, Al Khalifa said, is to invest in the country’s people — and to foster sustainable economic growth that drives Bahrain forward.
The crypto keeper
While government-led approaches may work for some, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to sustainable economic development. Take Venezuela, for example — a country whose health workers were left scrambling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their work was needed more than ever, but the country’s crippled economy meant they weren’t getting paid. And in the United States, a technology company named Circle took note.
“Even if they were getting paid, the currency was fluctuating all over the place,” said Elisabeth Carpenter, the chief strategic engagement officer at Circle. “So we digitized the money, turned it into USDC, and were able to go right over the top and into their phones.”
USDC is a type of cryptocurrency pegged one-to-one to the U.S. dollar. Also known as a stablecoin, the USDC lacks the volatility of other cryptocurrencies — but its digital nature allows for fast, cheap, and easy cross-border transactions.
Circle’s efforts marked the first time stablecoins were used for foreign aid, according to a press release published by the company. And according to Linda Kirkpatrick, Mastercard’s president of the Americas, the incident highlighted how cryptocurrency can be less precarious than many assume.
“Because that dollar is digitized, it has the superpowers of the internet,” said Carpenter. “It got there instantly, cheaply, securely and safely … and finally, they had something that was stable.”
From our archives: Can crypto and blockchain reprogram humanitarian aid?
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What about foreign aid?
It’s not like foreign aid has disappeared — but to be honest, it’s not looking great. In 2024, official development assistance fell by just over 7%, a drop that occurred even before the Trump administration dismantled USAID earlier this year.
But Jozef Síkela, the European commissioner for international partnerships, had some optimistic words for the crowd — even while many European governments are dissolving aid budgets of their own.
“Europe has been, and will remain, the biggest contributor to development assistance and humanitarian aid worldwide,” Síkela said. “We will remain a reliable partner and predictable partner and will deliver on our obligations.”
There was a caveat. Such support meant attracting more outside investment and creating safe, favorable opportunities for the private sector to do so, he explained. It’s a key part of the commission’s Global Gateway initiative, which aims to mobilize €300 billion ($342 billion) for sustainable projects by 2027.
The private sector is also on the minds of those based in the U.S, where development assistance is seemingly hanging on by a thread. Michael Froman, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said he’s seen no indication that Europeans can fill the gaps left by USAID. And the news Devex broke this week of intended cuts and layoffs at the U.S. bipartisan aid success story, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, didn’t improve the picture.
“It strikes me that with the restructuring of [US]AID and what we just learned about [the Millennium Challenge Corporation], the role of the private sector is perhaps more important than ever,” Froman added.
Scoop: Elon Musk’s DOGE takes aim at Millennium Challenge Corporation
Read: In 2024, global aid fell for the first time in five years
Further reading: Europe is cutting development spending, and it's not because of Trump (Pro)
Don’t miss: How Europe is planning for life after USAID (Pro)
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Connecting the dots
So, how do we make that happen? For starters, by listening to where the private sector’s at.
Rich Lesser, the global chair of the Boston Consulting Group, and Henry Timms, the chief executive officer of the Brunswick Group, spoke about how priorities that used to match more firmly with the development sector — such as climate and social impact — have taken a back seat.
Instead, companies have been left scrambling on tariffs, inflation, and the political winds swirling from Washington, D.C., all while navigating an increasingly complex consumer base.
“It’s hard to keep an eye on the longer-term issues when the pressure of the immediate feels so substantial,” Lesser said. “We don’t know if this uncertainty will resolve itself in weeks … or if it’s going to continue.”
For Lesser, it feels like the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when companies were forced to navigate a period of uncertainty while at the same time trying to not lose sight of the things they held important. Timms described it in a different way: The world today, he said, felt like it had entered “the age of unsubscribing.”
That’s not to say public-private partnerships weren’t happening. Lesser described a recent project the Boston Consulting Group had done with the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, one that was using AI to find out which parts of the Philippines were hardest hit by extreme weather.
“They only had a limited amount of money to spend, so where do you spend your money in the most impactful ways?” Lesser said.
Watch: What’s next for global development funding in 2025 (Pro)
When all else fails …
At least there’s philanthropy. Viola Davis, who’s had a powerhouse career across film, television, and theater, described how she’d gone from a childhood marked by violence, poverty, and trauma to the Hollywood Hills.
“Every single time people ask me: How did you get here? And if I were to be honest, I don’t know,” she said. “But I do. In the words of Tennessee Williams … [through the character] Blanche DuBois, from the kindness of strangers.”
Davis spoke of a teacher at Outward Bound, a nonprofit that provides outdoor education for underprivileged youth. That teacher’s name was Jeff, she said — and as a teenager, Davis knew that if she called Jeff in the middle of the day, he’d come running no matter the circumstance.
“I cannot say to this day what I talked to him about,” she said. “But here’s what I know: He was there.”
And even after a career of glamour, it was something Davis couldn’t forget. In October, she and her husband, Julius Tennon, launched the Davis-Tennon Foundation to support communities across Rhode Island. Today, the foundation focuses on empowering women, preventing domestic violence, and enhancing after-school opportunities in her childhood hometown of Central Falls.
“There’s always something you can do,” said Tennon. “It doesn’t have to be a big giant thing, but if you throw a stone in the water, the ripples start.”
Read: US foreign aid has collapsed. How should philanthropy respond? (Pro)
Further reading: As aid dwindles, can philanthropy rewrite the rules of giving? (Pro)
See also: From more risk to less control, philanthropy is rethinking how it works
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
