Entrepreneurship at a Crossroads: Lessons from Day One
Devin Chesney Opening AC2025 Home

The first day of the ANDE Global Conference 2025 explored how entrepreneurs navigate funding cuts, climate challenges, and credit barriers.

Key insights stressed evidence-based aid, full ecosystem support, and innovative models—from turning waste into value to redefining SME “investability”—to build inclusive futures.

A Call to Action from ANDE’s Leadership

The day opened with welcoming remarks from Devin Chesney, ANDE’s executive director, who reflected on the cuts in international cooperation and the geopolitical tensions slowing the growth of many organizations. He reminded participants that entrepreneurs thrive precisely because they dare to build—against all odds—what only they can imagine.

Chesney emphasized that ANDE has never been about “the flashiest spectacle,” but about bringing the right people to the table to create conversations that spark action. He argued that the disruption of aid and the realignment of global power offer a window of opportunity for a new paradigm: one where local actors seize control of their economic futures and strengthen ecosystems through partnerships with business, philanthropy, and development institutions.

He also restated ANDE’s mission in simple terms: to make members more effective at helping entrepreneurs grow and to strengthen ecosystems across low- and middle-income countries. A recurring theme was measurement: “You cannot improve what you do not measure,” Chesney stressed, highlighting the importance of curating knowledge, encouraging research, and building members’ capacity to evaluate impact as central to ANDE’s work.

Evidence and Policy Innovation

Esther Duflo, Nobel Laureate in Economics 2019: Aid must focus on crisis response, global public goods, and policy innovation—guided by a rigorous evidence base.Devin Chesney then introduced a video interview with Esther Duflo, Nobel Laureate in Economics (2019). Duflo outlined three priorities for international aid:

  • Responding to crises in countries with limited fiscal capacity, drawing on the example of the COVID-19 pandemic;
  • Financing global public goods such as health and climate action; and
  • Investing in policy innovation to test and scale what works.

She underscored the importance of rigorous evidence in guiding resource allocation, particularly for governments in low- and middle-income countries that mobilize the vast majority of social and economic investment. Duflo also reminded participants that most people do not aspire to become entrepreneurs—they want stable jobs. The real challenge, she argued, is ensuring that small and growing businesses generate quality employment.

Beyond Capital: Building Ecosystems

Erik Stam, Utrecht University: Capital alone is not enough. Talent, rules, infrastructure, and culture hold ecosystems together. Weak links must be strengthened.In a fireside chat, Erik Stam, professor at Utrecht University, cautioned that building strong entrepreneurial ecosystems goes far beyond injecting capital. More funding alone, he argued, does not guarantee results without the presence of talent, clear regulations, infrastructure, and a culture that values entrepreneurship.

For Stam, an ecosystem approach requires identifying weaknesses in each context and reinforcing the elements that sustain it—regulations, financing, networks, support services, and leadership. “A lot of governments want to throw more venture capital into the system,” he said. “That doesn’t necessarily help if there is no market, no enabling rules, and no talent.”

From Waste to Value

From Mexico, Chum Chum shows the way: turning food surplus into nutritious products and proving that waste can create social and environmental value.

The Entrepreneur Journey session brought these ideas to life with the story of Chum Chum, a Mexican company that transforms food industry surplus into nutritious and sustainable products.

Their model demonstrated that behind every excess lies a resource that can be turned into social and environmental value. Waste becomes opportunity—nourishing communities while opening scalable solutions with global potential.

Climate Entrepreneurship: Trends and Tensions

On climate entrepreneurship: Severin Peters (GIZ) highlighted the impact of an ecosystem approach to growing climate-tech entrepreneurship Rafael Lorenzo Piñón (Tec de Monterrey) described the evolution of Mexico's climate-tech ecosystem.The panel “Innovating for Impact – Trends in Climate Entrepreneurship,” moderated by Kate Scaife Díaz (ANDE), examined how climate-focused ventures are evolving. Severin Peters (GIZ) highlighted the complexity of measuring true climate impact, which requires analyzing the entire life cycle of products against alternatives. He also stressed the decisive role of national and regional governments in providing direction for priority sectors.

Rafael Lorenzo Piñón (Tec de Monterrey) emphasized that support for entrepreneurs cannot rely on investor capital alone. He described how the Innovation Hub for Climate brings together corporations, academia, and support organizations to address regional needs and co-create grounded solutions.

Rethinking SME Finance

Closing with Matthew Wallace (ONOW): SME credit risk is more than repayment history—daily practices reveal the real picture of “investability.”The morning concluded with Matthew Wallace (ONOW), who challenged the notion that repayment history alone can determine SME credit risk. The real signals, he argued, lie in daily business practices: inventory management, customer follow-up, pricing, and supplier payments. ONOW developed a model that translates these practices into clear performance metrics—cash buffer days, profit margins, and timely receivables—making it possible to evaluate true “investability,” where repayment is only part of the picture.

Workshops and Breakouts: From Global Playbooks to Inclusive Transitions

The afternoon sessions showcased how ecosystem collaboration and innovation can be applied across contexts.

  • Workshop: From Local Pain Point to Global Playbook – Enviu shared its four-phase venture-building methodology (issue analysis, ideation, validation, and scaling), illustrated by a case study with mango farmers in East Africa. The initiative reduced post-harvest losses through solar-powered cold storage, farmer-owned digital platforms, and local processing, resulting in income increases of more than 20 percent and over 1,000 new jobs. WUSC contributed a gender-responsive approach, emphasizing women’s participation and engaging male allies to challenge restrictive social norms.
  • Breakout: Accelerating Inclusive Transitions – Led by Sweef Capital and Solar Sister, this session mapped ecosystem approaches to support women entrepreneurs in climate and clean energy sectors. Discussions focused on access to finance, skills gaps, market access, and impact measurement, highlighting the importance of strengthening networks and sustainability.
Mentorship over Consultancy

The day closed with a participatory roundtable, “Mentors, Not Consultants – Global Talent That Amplifies, Not Replaces.” Participants explored how external expertise can support local capacity without creating dependency. Sticky-note boards filled with ideas and reflections compared the roles of mentors, coaches, and consultants, underscoring that effective mentorship is rooted in empowerment and collaboration rather than substitution.

Day One Takeaways

The first day of the 2025 Global Conference delivered a clear message: scale with evidence, strengthen ecosystems holistically, and back models that solve real problems. From rigorous measurement to climate venture-building, from gender inclusion to mentorship, the conversations underscored that entrepreneurship can only fulfill its promise if it is anchored in resilient, inclusive ecosystems.

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