"As investors with experience in gender lens investing (GLI), our peers often ask us for information on how to kickstart their GLI journey. Many useful resources are available to do this. However, this brief addresses a gap in information on the tools and approaches used to design and implement gender-smart technical assistance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to improve their social and financial performance. We also share our reflections from our collective experience to date."

"The Gender Equality Scorecard© (GES©) Manual is the collective effort built upon SEAF’s work on the GES©, a tool SEAF developed to assess women’s economic empowerment and gender equality within growth-orientated small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”). The GES© Manual provides clear guidance on how to utilize the tool and objectively score a company when assessing it’s demonstrated commitment to gender equality through six gender equality performance vectors."

"By investing in gender inclusion, businesses can generate opportunities for women while also furthering their business objectives. In recognition of the opportunities outlined above, the Shell Foundation and Value for Women embark on a partnership in 2016 designed to pilot a holistic framework for gender inclusion in enterprise operations, using a "bottom-up", business-first approach, aimed at testing the impact of gender inclusion on business performance. The approach first hones in on business challenges, and then designs practical, measurable solutions with a gender lens."

"This paper is aimed to support DCED member projects to integrate gender considerations more fully into private sector development (PSD) measurement systems. It takes a first step at bridging the knowledge gap by: 1. Reviewing definitions of women’s economic empowerment, 2. Identifying current measures for women’s economic empowerment in WED, and 3. Offering practical ways forward for measuring household level change in women’s economic empowerment."

"Aid agencies and governments spend more than a billion US$ on entrepreneurship training annually. What have we learned about the effectiveness of training? We review research on entrepreneurship training. Classroom-based training remains the most popular method of training owners and managers of small firms. A meta-analysis shows that the standard training model has modestly positive effects, on average, though the effects imply reasonably high returns on investments in training, given low costs per participant. Innovation on this basic training model has increased in recent years, particularly with regard to content. Both personal initiative and rule-of-thumb training show promise for subsistencelevel enterprises. Individual consulting has shown significant positive effects for larger enterprises, but the model is expensive and markets for consulting do not appear to work well. Selection is important, particularly in matching the type of training with the type of enterprise. There are several seemingly promising approaches to training where definitive evidence is lacking. For example, Kaizen approaches and Incubators and accelerators both appear to have positive effects, though the evidence is limited and, in the case of accelerators, it is unclear as yet whether the effects come primarily from selection or from the content of the programmes themselves."

"Entrepreneurs in developing economies are vital to addressing climate change and promoting sustainable and resilient development. Developing countries will experience some of the worst climate impacts. and they also hold enormous potential for encouraging mitigation and adaptation on local and regional levels. Yet, entrepreneurs in developing economies face distinct challenges and barriers when it comes to addressing climate change. This report is intended to serve as an overview of the current literature on the intersection of entrepreneurs and climate action, as well as a call to action."

"This issue brief is a part of a series formulated by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) India chapter. It aims to contextualise the findings and strategy regarding our key urgent issues and the small and growing business (SGB) sector outlined in ANDE’s globally focussed issue brief, Climate and Environmental Action in the SGB Sector, at a regional level. This brief is a starting point for conversations on environmental action and is meant to help shape ANDE India’s strategy for the region. This is not meant to serve as an exhaustive collection of the research/literature on the topic, and proxy data points have been used to best represent the state of the SGB sector."

"As an output of the ANDE SGB Finance Learning Lab, ANDE India and Asha Impact have collaborated, with the support of SAP and platform partner UNDP SDG Finance Facility, to put together this playbook on Social Success Notes. SSNs are innovative financing mechanisms that aim to leverage commercial capital for social good. Aiming to be a functional tool for the entrepreneurial ecosystem, this playbook addresses the why, what and how of SSNs, along with a few case studies, challenges and opportunities revolving around these nascent financing tools. Especially in times of crisis, instruments such as SSNs have the potential to improve the efficacy of philanthropy and government spending. The playbook has been developed for impact investors, social entrepreneurs, outcome funders and other players in the impact ecosystem."

This guide provides an introduction to what term sheets are and provides entrepreneurs with an overview of the key points to look for in negociating their own term sheets. 

"This guide is intended for entrepreneurs and investors new to the process of negotiating term sheets, one of the first steps to close successful transactions. It is not intended to provide legal advice; instead it is meant to show examples of some common provisions that are not always easy to understand."