While many startup success stories like Facebook did not involve accelerators, most entrepreneurs now consider them part of the start and scale journey. This has driven demand for the launch of hundreds of accelerator programs around the world, prompting us to question how differences across accelerator programs influence startup performance.

Disrupt Africa reported last year the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and Emory University’s Social Enterprise @ Goizueta were to conduct a study on the impact of accelerator programs across the world. Tom Jackson reports on the first part of this research, which has now been released after the partners worked with seed-stage accelerator Village Capital to examine 15 programs and the influence they had on the startups that participated.

In this article in TechCrunch, Connie Loizos writes about the $2.3 million private-public partnership called the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI)'s first major report release, in collaboration with Village Capital, a seed-stage accelerator that operates development programs for early-stage entrepreneurs from around the world. Loizos explores the initial findings of the report, along with the caveats.

Accelerators work, but the best ways to help entrepreneurs may surprise many startup veterans, according to a report released Monday that, for the first time, examines the effectiveness of accelerators and incubators working in development. Adva Saldinger reports.

ANDE's Executive Director, Randall Kempner, participated in an agribusiness-focused event and pitch competition Ghana, where he identified access to talent or human resources as a major challenge facing small businesses. The Mobile Business Clinic, which is part of the Lundin Foudation in Accra, hosted the event, selected three winners at the end of the competition.

ANDE's Director of Strategic Development reflects on a week spent in Amsterdam with entrepreneurs from around the globe for the launch of VilCap Communities. She realizes that attracting capital may actually be the easy part, compares do developing talent alongside financial growth, and that understanding the effectiveness of accelerators may play a key role.

As traditional sources of capital show no signs of growth, as donors are making a push to work with more local organizations, and as impact investing and the role of entrepreneurship in development have gained more attention, INGOs are exploring their options. Adva Saldinger writes about how ANDE members are working to identify new ways to help out the missing middle.

Isaac Gross attended the ANDE Investment Manager Training (IMT) in Brazil in December 2015 and writes about his experience in Wall Street Oasis: "Impact investing is a growing industry and it is important to provide people with the resources they require. In order for the field to continue to advance, we need more programs like the MIINT and the ANDE Investment Manager Training to prepare the next generation of impact investors."

"In the same way that the aspiring runner starts by joining a running club, so should the aspiring entrepreneur tap into the existing ecosystem designed to support entrepreneurs," writes Zipho Sikhakhane in South Africa's Sunday Times. South Africa's Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Map, a detailed infographic our ANDE South Africa team created about the main finance, capacity development and ecosystem support gaps and opportunities, is featured in this article.

The best three-letter weapon against poverty is not spelled A-I-D but J-O-B,” writes Pulitzer Prize-winner Nicholas Kristof in his new book, A Path Appears. At this year's ANDE Annual Conference, Kristof and ANDE Executive Director Randall Kempner discussed aid, development, jobs, and how corporations can play an important role in addressing critical global development challenges.