Business startup and growth is an important pathway to industry leadership and the
creation of personal wealth, as well as a key source of job creation, innovation and
economic growth. In this sense, women’s entrepreneurship can provide a means to
more rapidly advance gender equality in industries, communities and countries around
the world. The GEM 2020 Adult Population Survey ran from April through August
2020 and offered an important opportunity to examine pandemic impacts on women
entrepreneurs, in addition to an analysis of global trends. This year, we also invited GEM
researchers from around the world to contribute chapters on women’s entrepreneurship.
This year’s GEM Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Report has three main aims:
1. Identify key gender differences and similarities in business stages and
motivations. We identify countries and regions where gender gaps may be
significant and where they may be closing. All of these trends are considered across
countries, geographic regions and levels of national income.
2. Examine the structural and cultural factors that influence women’s
entrepreneurship. This analysis includes demographic characteristics (age,
education, household income), business characteristics and cultural factors,
such as cultural perceptions and high-growth activities that influence women’s
entrepreneurship in complex ways across regions, countries and levels of national
income.
3. Analyse how women entrepreneurs were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In doing this analysis of the pandemic’s impact, we allow comparisons across the
country and regional contexts, taking into account the level of income by country as
an important indicator of economic development.
Our findings offer insights to a diverse audience of researchers, policymakers, educators
and practitioners. Our ultimate goal is to highlight areas where there are still gaps,
challenges and opportunities, where women entrepreneurs have made significant
progress and where the COVID-19 pandemic impacted their business performance and
perceptions.
SMEs form a dominant share of the private sector in developing countries, and account for more than 50
percent of jobs in their respective economies. Besides their positive employment effects, the growth and
vibrancy of these firms is also important for broader economic growth, diversification of economic base
and as a source of innovation that is exhibited by some of the start-ups. Women-owned SMEs are
emerging as one of the fast growing segments within the SME sector. Youth play an important role in the
creation of new firms and start up activities. Given this importance of SMEs for creation of more, better
and inclusive jobs, there is significant focus on understanding the constraints to growth of this sector and
implementing programs to address them in the World Bank Group and the other development
institutions. Among the several constraints that they face, access to finance is usually cited as the most
important and there are several instruments that can be applied to address this constraint. However, what
is the evidence of impact of these programs on the employment effects? This note brings together the
learnings and evidence from access to finance interventions on employment and provides some
recommendations for development practitioners who seek to maximize this objective from their access
to finance interventions.
To understand the network’s current level of support for climate entrepreneurship, ANDE identified which of its members work in climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience and mapped where and how this support is being provided. Data were collected between March and August 2021 through a survey of ANDE’s member organizations as well as supplementary desk research. While the analysis in this snapshot is static, the information is meant to serve as a catalyst for greater climate action in the SGB sector.
With support from The Lemelson Foundation, ANDE conducted interviews with 13 representatives from a select group of funders and impact investors to identify barriers to and opportunities for funding climate entrepreneurship. While not an exhaustive list of funders, these representatives provided practical insight on how climate entrepreneurship is seen among funders focused primarily on climate action and/or entrepreneurship and how greater funding could be allocated to the intersection.
Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, with a total GDP of over USD 2.7 trillion. However, its progress is threatened by the increasingly adverse impacts of climate change. Entrepreneurship has a leading role in developing solutions to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. This report evaluates the current support ecosystem for climate and environmental entrepreneurs in six developing Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Through ANDE's data collection and analysis, this report offers insights on the set of organizations supporting entrepreneurs that aim to address climate change mitigation, adaptation, and non-climate related environmental protection challenges.
With over 10 years of active involvement and experience, ANDE is committed to further deepening our role in the entrepreneurship and development ecosystem. Our updated global strategy, which informs ANDE’s global and regional work for the coming years, aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically focusing efforts on three urgent issues: decent work and economic growth, gender equality, and climate and environmental action. This brief focuses on decent work and economic growth, for India. It has been developed in partnership with ANDE Members Upaya Social Ventures and Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME). The brief highlights the current status quo of how small & growing businesses are contributing to creation of decent jobs and outlines strategies for collaborative action to strengthen the ecosystem.
"Os empreendedores nas economias em desenvolvimento são vitais para enfrentar as mudanças climáticas e promover o desenvolvimento sustentável e resiliente. Os países em desenvolvimento sofrerão alguns dos piores impactos climáticos. E também têm um enorme potencial para encorajar a mitigação e adaptação nos níveis local e regional. No entanto, os empreendedores nas economias em desenvolvimento enfrentam desafios e barreiras distintos quando se trata de abordar as mudanças climáticas. Este relatório pretende servir como uma visão geral da literatura atual sobre a interseção entre empreendedores e ação climática, bem como um chamado à ação."
"Nos últimos anos, poucas pesquisas têm focado em investimentos de impacto na América Latina apesar de comunidades crescentes e ativas de investidores de impacto estarem presentes em muitos dos países da região. Este relatório representa um passo em direção ao preenchimento desta lacuna de conhecimento, oferecendo um panorama do setor de investimentos de impacto na América Latina. A primeira parte do relatório traz uma análise regional de tendências gerais de captação de fundos, operações e saídas, com enfoque especial no desenvolvimento de potenciais empreendimentos, assistência técnica, mensuração de impacto, talentos e gênero. Após esse resumo, encontram-se análises aprofundadas sobre investimentos de impacto em três mercados-chave nos quais essa indústria se encontra mais desenvolvida: Brasil, Colômbia e México."
"Bangkok is the vibrant capital city of Thailand, known for being a popular tourist destination. The city’s population, which accounts for 15% of the country’s population, and its significant urban sprawl make it the country’s largest and a critical part of the national economy. ANDE identified and collected data on 267 ecosystem players actively supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses in Bangkok."
"Salaried wage jobs are the distinguishing feature separating the middle class from the poor in
developing countries (Banerjee and Duflo 2008). Where do salaried wage jobs come from, and
how can small and medium-sized firms create more of them? We review the evidence on
constraints to growth of small and medium enterprises. We first examine evidence on
constraints to capital and skilled labor, firms’ primary inputs to production. We then consider
factors that affect the efficiency with which firms are able to transform inputs into outputs,
focusing on managerial talent. Finally, we look at the importance of linking firms to markets
and the role of demand in generating firm growth. We conclude with a proposal for a research
agenda built around important but unanswered questions. "