Summary

“Entrepreneurs need to be prepared to measure and communicate their contribution to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience to key stakeholders. However, there is currently no standardization of climate impact reporting in the small business sector, leaving the burden on entrepreneurs to grow a successful business and implement the right tools to measure climate impact. Climate Collective Foundation and the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) have published this guide to provide SGBs, impact investors, and ESOs with a consolidated list of available tools and frameworks for climate impact measurement, along with guidance on how to select best-fit resources based on their industry and impact area.”

Summary

“Care work, in all its forms, is a critical social good. It is essential for the provisioning of society and provides the foundation upon which our market economies function. Most care work across the world is unpaid, and its distribution is strongly gendered: more than three-quarters of all unpaid care work globally is carried out by women.

This has significant implications for gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. Unpaid care work constitutes a key barrier to women’s labour market outcomes, including labour force participation, wages, and job quality. Increased time devoted by women to unpaid care work is correlated with a declining rate of labour force participation.2 Moreover, according to ILO research, unpaid care work is the principal reason given by women of working age for being outside of the labour force.

A growing body of research has explored the relationship between childcare and women’s economic empowerment in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The results suggest that childcare provision can improve women’s labour market outcomes across a number of measures, including employment, income, and transitioning from the informal to the formal sector.11 Based on these promising links, further research has sought to develop the ‘business case’ for care – focusing largely on two avenues: public investment in childcare provision and formal,  employer-supported childcare. A ‘missing middle’ between these two well-documented models, of great relevance for development actors focused on promoting childcare solutions in LMICs, is about meeting the childcare needs of
women micro and small enterprises (MSEs), including self-employed workers – hereafter referred to as ‘women MSEs’.”

Sommaire

“Après avoir vécu pendant plus de deux ans avec les défis majeurs de la pandémie du  COVID-19, le secteur des petites entreprises et de celles en croissance (PECs) est maintenant confronté à une réalité sur le long terme qui affecte non seulement les opérations commerciales mais aussi la façon dont ces entreprises mesurent et communiquent leur impact. Le secteur des PECs se trouve à un moment critique de la pandémie où les organisations doivent réfléchir à la manière dont leurs solutions de MGI élaborées à la hâte s’inscrivent ou non dans leur stratégie de MGI à plus long terme.

Pour toutes ces raisons, le but de ce rapport est de :

1. Mettre en évidence les défis MGI uniques auxquels sont confrontées les PECs d’Afrique subsaharienne en raison du COVID-19 ;
2. Guider les créateurs d’écosystèmes entrepreneuriaux dans l’adaptation de leurs systèmes de MGI dans le contexte de la nouvelle réalité du COVID-19 ; et
3. Fournir des ressources sur mesure pour permettre aux créateurs d’écosystèmes
   entrepreneuriaux d’adapter davantage leurs systèmes de MGI afin de mieux soutenir les entrepreneurs dans la «nouvelle anormalité.»”

Summary

“The evidence is indisputable: high-growth scaling ventures are game changers. Scale-ups are the ventures that:

• Create the vast majority of new jobs in an economy;
• Generate the most value in the form of financial, economic and social returns;
• Drive innovation and shape ecosystems;
• Incubate and develop talent pipelines; and
• Spawn the next generation of thriving scale-ups and the experienced entrepreneurs that create them.

Africa needs more startups that transition to scale. Many more.

But scaling is rare. And difficult. All the more so in sub-Saharan Africa, where large populations do not equate to large addressable markets, necessitating very early (and risky) expansion into new markets in search of the critical mass of customers needed to raise funding and scale a business.

Whilst there are some universal scaling principles that can and should be applied, there isn’t a formula for scaling. Because it isn’t pure science. On the contrary, scaling is predominantly an art: a unique blend of inputs, decisions and actions that is different for each scaling business.”

Resumen

“Este reporte captura los hallazgos de seis laboratorios de aprendizaje encaminados a formas prácticas de medición  de trabajo decente y calidad laboral  en pequeñas y medianas empresas, facilitados por The Good Economy.

Los laboratorios de aprendizaje enfatizan la importancia de soluciones de medición prácticas y de claridad conceptual al medir el trabajo decente. Este reporte busca proveer un panorama general de los contenidos discutidos, recursos útiles y mejores prácticas compartidas durante cada laboratorio.”

Summary

“This knowledge brief captures key takeaways from six learning lab meetings about practical ways to measure decent work and job quality in the small and growing business (SGB) sector, facilitated by The Good Economy.

The learning lab emphasized the importance of practical measurement solutions and conceptual clarity when measuring decent work. This report seeks to provide an overview of the content discussed, useful resources, and global best practices shared during each of the learning lab meetings.”

Sommaire

“Après avoir vécu pendant plus de deux ans avec les défis majeurs de la pandémie du  COVID-19, le secteur des petites entreprises et de celles en croissance (PECs) est maintenant confronté à une réalité sur le long terme qui affecte non seulement les opérations commerciales mais aussi la façon dont ces entreprises mesurent et communiquent leur impact. Le secteur des PECs se trouve à un moment critique de la pandémie où les organisations doivent réfléchir à la manière dont leurs solutions de MGI élaborées à la hâte s’inscrivent ou non dans leur stratégie de MGI à plus long terme.

Pour toutes ces raisons, le but de ce rapport est de :

1. Mettre en évidence les défis MGI uniques auxquels sont confrontées les PECs d’Afrique subsaharienne en raison du COVID-19 ;
2. Guider les créateurs d’écosystèmes entrepreneuriaux dans l’adaptation de leurs systèmes de MGI dans le contexte de la nouvelle réalité du COVID-19 ; et
3. Fournir des ressources sur mesure pour permettre aux créateurs d’écosystèmes
   entrepreneuriaux d’adapter davantage leurs systèmes de MGI afin de mieux soutenir les entrepreneurs dans la «nouvelle anormalité.»”

Summary

“After more than two years of living with the acute challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the small and growing business (SGB) sector is now facing a longer-term reality that affects not only business operations but also how these businesses measure and communicate their impact. The SGB sector is at a critical junction in the pandemic where organizations need to reflect on how hastily crafted impact measurement and management (IMM) solutions may or may not fit into their longer-term IMM strategy.

For these reasons, the purpose of this brief is to:

1. Highlight the unique IMM challenges faced by Sub-Saharan African SGBs due to COVID-19;
2. Guide entrepreneurial ecosystem builders in adapting their IMM systems within the context of the new COVID-19 reality; and
3. Provide tailored resources to enable entrepreneurial ecosystem builders to further adapt their IMM systems to best support entrepreneurs in the «new abnormal.»”

Summary

“Extant research results illustrate that women are roughly half as likely to become entrepreneurs as men (Kauffman Compilation: Research on Gender and Entrepreneurship, 2016). However, women may see themselves fit in traditionally male jobs when the language used in the job advertisement is communal in nature (Gaucher, 2011), and vice versa. To empirically test this idea, the authors first sought to understand if there were any gender biases in the accelerators’ calls for applications using a validated scale of masculine and feminine words. They found a higher percentage of feminine words across most regions, which is in the opposite direction of what was expected. Second, the authors manipulated the language used in an accelerator program call for application (1) with the percentage of gendered words found from the accelerators on the ANDE list (3-4%) and (2) an exaggerated percentage of gendered words (9%), to see how it affected women and men’s perceptions of the accelerator program. In general, men in the U.S. express high entrepreneurial fit, sense of belonging, and application success possibly because the U.S. is high on both individualism and masculinity on Hoefstede’s country culture dimensions. However, women in Latin America report results that are opposite to men in the United States.”