A social business exists to solve a social issue, using any money it generates to reinvest in solutions and impact. Learn how and why MSI Reproductive Choices is a proud and unique social business providing reproductive healthcare worldwide. 

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Almost 50 years ago, inside a small clinic on a quiet street in central London, women were accessing reproductive healthcare and the ability to control their fertility on their own terms. From there, a social business was set in motion: our founders Tim and Jean Black and Phil Harvey, seeing the value this brought to women in London, wanted women around the world to have these choices. 

Fast-forward to today and you’ll find locally led MSI programmes in 36 countries, each with a distinct mix of commercial and charitable approaches – united by our mission to expand access to women’s essential healthcare.  

As a social business with a diverse approach to delivering services and a bold, unwavering vision, MSI is one-of-a-kind. We’re not a commercial business, nor are we your average charity. That’s exactly the point. Drawing inspiration from both worlds, we leave no stone unturned in reaching women and girls with the choices they need to build their futures.  

MSI’s unique social business

MSI has both commercial services (which generate income) and charitable services (supporting people who cannot otherwise access or afford this essential healthcare). These are interlinked: any money generated from our commercial services is reinvested into our charitable work so we can reach more people with free services and ensure no one is left behind.

Our model ensures the donor funding we receive is directed to people who have the greatest need, like young people in underserved communities.

Both sides of our work are crucial to expanding reproductive healthcare access – to be truly effective, we must tap into the whole healthcare system.

MSI centres

Unique to MSI – and a key element of our social business – is our global network of 426 clinics and 20 maternity hospitals that offer women’s health services.

These used to rely solely on donor funding and only provide contraception, abortion, and maternity care. But like any good business, we’re constantly evolving.

MSI clinics and maternity hospitals have made a concerted, strategic effort over the past decade to become self-sustaining, meaning they can cover their own costs and start to turn a profit. That helps them be there for women in the long term.

One way they’ve driven income is by broadening the range of women’s health services we offer to include all types of support from menstruation to menopause – things like cervical cancer screening and preventative therapy, HIV and STI testing and treatment, and fertility support. We’ve built awareness of this shift with an award-winning marketing campaign called ‘Every Stage of Woman’, showing that MSI takes women’s experiences and health seriously and is here to meaningfully change women’s quality of life at all stages.

The result? 14 of our country programmes have already achieved self-sustaining clinics, generating more money than they spend.

MSI Cambodia recently hit a milestone with all their clinics breaking even, when only a few years ago they were dependent on donors to keep their doors open. Their profit is now supporting innovative service delivery pilots to reach more women with abortion services. And MSI Ethiopia is already using the surplus of income they’ve generated to fund health teams in conflict-affected communities in the north of the country. This is the power of combining commercial and social impact.

MSI products

MSI also sells affordable and quality contraception and medical abortion products across Africa and Asia, supporting women to manage their own healthcare while generating income.  

A woman can pick up one of our contraceptive products or medical abortion pills from her local pharmacy and manage her healthcare on her own terms. 

In some countries it’s common to find low grade and unregulated products on sale that don’t work or are unsafe. MSI teams are ensuring safe choices are available and making it easier for people to access the care they need, putting reliable reproductive health products directly in women’s hands. 

This social marketing approach requires a business mindset – with procurement, distribution and sales networks – but is still centred firmly on our mission to drive positive impact by expanding reproductive health and choices.  

Just last year, we reached 6.6 million people with our quality healthcare products.    

Contact centres

Underpinning all these services is a network of MSI contact centres across 34 countries.

If someone has questions on how to use an MSI product they bought in a pharmacy, or they’re unsure where their local clinic is and what services it offers, they can call or message to get advice and be referred to care.

Our contact centres are staffed by 200 dedicated agents who handle over 11,500 interactions every day, providing women and girls with accurate information and compassionate care and advice.

This is a toll-free service, which drives income through the referrals to our clinics and services, while ensuring that women have the information, options and decision-making control they deserve.

“My favourite part of my job is showing people that they’re not alone, that they’re in safe hands. Telling them: we are here for you.”

– Amma, MSI Ghana call-centre agent  

Being a social business makes us stronger  

Testament to our teams’ commercial strategies and efforts, we’ve increased service income by 76% in the past decade. Now, half of MSI’s total income is generated by our own services.  

This has made us stable in the face of challenges and uncertainty. It’s no secret that the global reproductive health ecosystem is under increasing threat – both from severe funding cuts and a rising anti-choice movement trying to dismantle women’s reproductive rights.  

Just this year we’ve seen unprecedented funding cuts from the US and European governments that have left the global health and development sector reeling.  

It’s MSI’s social business model that has kept us strongly positioned to keep delivering services. We’re able to stand on our own two feet to navigate unexpected shifts in the funding landscape, protecting our clients’ access to the services they rely on.   

“We have long understood that focusing on measurable impact and value for money is an essential part of creating long-term solutions, and that it is imperative to diversify our funding and increase our own income to make services more sustainable.”

– MSI CEO Simon Cooke 

MSI isn’t going anywhere. We’re holding the line, keeping contraceptive and abortion services open for women across the world, using our strong position and partnerships to safeguard women’s health, and securing future impact by continuing to work across the health system.  

For the greater good, for the future  

This is the current reality: women’s health is still neglected and underfunded. Quality across the health system can be poor, regulations can lack standardisation, and the investment needed to support women can be non-existent.  

But imagine this reality with us: every single woman has access to low-cost, high-quality reproductive healthcare from trusted, local providers, and the certainty that this care will be available to her for as long as she needs it.  

Our social business ventures aren’t just about the growth or sustainability of our organisation; they’re about the big picture. We’re future-proofing quality care for women, everywhere. Lifting up the entire health system with strategic partnerships and the expansion of services and products across the public and private sectors. Developing strong markets for women’s healthcare by driving innovation and quality. 

“We’re making sure reproductive choice is sustainable, so women and girls will be able to access it for generations to come.” – Asma Balal, country director of MSS, locally based in Pakistan 

MSI is building this new reality every year across our varied teams and approaches, whether free or costed, remote or urban. Our business model is giving donors the certainty that their investments are going to the most underserved communities, sparking a transformative impact on people’s lives. And it’s enabling us to deeply weave reproductive healthcare into society, so women can access it on their own terms and their choices are available for generations to come. 

This is only possible because of our unwavering commitment to give women and girls the best healthcare. That’s our bottom line – lives changed, forever.   

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