Every day, Kenya produces over 24,000 tons of waste, amounting to 8.8 million tons annually. Most of this waste is currently mismanaged, with more than 75% of waste in Kenya being incinerated or disposed at dumpsites. Moreover, Kenya is home to two of the world's 50 largest landfills – Dandora in Nairobi and Kibarani in Mombasa – highlighting its significant waste management challenges. Mismanaged waste in Kenya poses several environmental and health risks, which local actors are yet to comprehensively address. The proximity of landfills to residential areas in Kenya negatively impacts the quality of life of nearby communities and poses severe health risks by contaminating local land and water resources. In addition, waste incineration releases toxic pollutants into the air, water and soil and produces hazardous ash that can contaminate the environment and pose health risks to nearby communities. This study identified 16 small and growing businesses (SGBs) providing integrated waste management services. Employing a mixed-methods approach to conduct a deep dive into the integrated waste management sub-sector in Kenya.

India grapples with a substantial plastic waste challenge. In 2021, according to government data, the country generated nearly 26,000 tonnes of plastic waste daily, amounting to approximately 4.1 million tonnes over the year. However, other estimates state that the actual figures are more than double, with an estimate from a recent Nature paper, stating that India generated 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2023. A significant portion of that waste, approximately 75%, consists of three primary polymers: polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), with the remainder coming from other polymers such as polystyrene (PS), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The key opportunities for plastic circularity in India are emerging around enabling higher-quality recycled outputs, packaging solutions and circularity in traditionally hard-to-recycle segments, such as flexible and multilayer plastics. These cascade into specific opportunity areas across the value chain, which are summarized in this report 

This guide focuses on the management and handling of municipal solid waste (MSW) from its initial collection to how it is processed and dealt with at landfills and dumpsites. It also covers some solid wastes with lower-value recycling potential or volumes, e.g., biomedical waste, paper waste, and base metals from non-electronic waste sources, such as aluminium and copper. Managing the close to 60 million tonnes of MSW that India generates annually is a daunting challenge. 90% of that waste is apparently collected but lower levels of processing – around 50% – show a significant amount is either not processed or remains unaccounted for, highlighting inefficiencies in waste management systems. Projections indicate a staggering increase in MSW generation, nearly tripling to 165 million tonnes by 2031. There are significant opportunities to improve waste processing and resource recovery in India’s MSW sector through decentralization, automation, and logistical improvements.

India is a significant player in the global e-waste landscape, contributing approximately 4.1 million tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) in 2022, which accounts for approximately 7% of the world's total e-waste output. In 2021, one-third of India's e-waste was managed through formal and informal channels, with 80 to 90% of e-waste management operations handled by the informal sector. By 2030, India's e-waste output is expected to escalate significantly, reaching approximately 9 million tonnes (based on our estimates), which would represent about 11% of the global e-waste forecast for that year (82 million tonnes). India’s e-waste and LiB recycling sector offers multiple avenues to create value through innovative business models. The key opportunities range across advanced metal and rare earth extraction, integrated recycling, interim recycling for high-demand metals, second-life electronics and batteries. These cascade into specific opportunity areas across the value chain, which are summarized in this report.

India presents significant opportunities for new businesses to create value by leveraging agricultural, food and biomass waste. Agricultural biomass, which primarily consists of post-harvest crop residue and waste from livestock, is the largest source of waste in India – the country generates approximately 350 million tonnes annually. Agricultural and biomass waste generation is also expected to increase as food production increases, especially for staple and cash crops like rice, wheat, maize and cotton. Biomass is used in diverse applications from fodder for cattle and household cooking to the production of biogas, manure and renewable fuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel.

Biomass caters to a substantial portion of India’s rural energy demand, fulfilling approximately 80% of it. Low-cost biomass solutions play a particularly significant role in rural settings, where small-scale energy needs predominate. Conversely, more sophisticated biomass technologies are used in applications such as energy generation or fuel production, especially for large-scale operations. These opportunities relate to improved collection, waste-to-energy solutions, and diverse biomaterials.

To explore the feasibility of corporate partnerships for entrepreneurial ventures, this report investigates
the experiences of entrepreneurs who have successfully secured corporate procurement contracts in
various country contexts. Their journeys, best practices, and actionable strategies can serve as a roadmap
for entrepreneurs aspiring to navigate the complexities of corporate procurement. These case studies
not only highlight the innovative solutions these entrepreneurs have developed but also underscore the
importance of building strong relationships with corporations and understanding their procurement needs.

With support from GIZ, ANDE is pleased to launch the South Africa Townships Ecosystem Map, a new tool designed to improve connectivity within the township entrepreneurial landscapes across the country.

This essential resource includes a filterable web directory of the diverse ecosystem players in South Africa, including investors, entrepreneur support organizations, academic institutions, donors, and more.

The map is available in English and Portuguese.

Mexico is a burgeoning economy, ranking as the second largest economy in Latin America. According to the OECD, there are at least four million SMEs in Mexico, most of which are microenterprises. However, both culturally and politically, Mexico is making efforts toward encouraging more growth-oriented entrepreneurship, with Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara becoming known as entrepreneurial hubs.

There is also a focus on entrepreneurship outside the major cities, with rural areas in Mexico increasing in employment opportunities and entrepreneurship rates. However, South and Southeast Mexico still lag behind the northern and central areas of the country.

There has been less research conducted specifically on entrepreneurship in South and Southeast Mexico, defined in this study as the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, and
Yucatán. A significantly greater proportion of the population in these southern states live in poverty compared to the rest of the country,7 and thus, how entrepreneurship may contribute to local economic growth in these regions is of interest to the international development community. A first step to understanding the current
support available to entrepreneurs is to identify the various actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The concept of gender-lens acceleration has taken hold in recent years, with various toolkits outlining how to be more gender inclusive at every step of the acceleration process, from selection to programming and alumni support. However, it is not well understood how effective these strategies have been in producing more equitable outcomes for women. This report aims to fill that information gap by synthesizing the research on accelerating women-led ventures, exploring case studies of two accelerator programs in Asia that have outsized impacts for such ventures, and spotlighting other programs with unique program models or perspectives.

This report is the result of a detailed study on ‘Regulatory Barriers and Levers for Deploying Foreign Catalytic Capital in Impact-Focused Enterprises, Funds & Facilities in India’ conducted by Desai & Associates (D&A) in partnership with Prime Coalition and with the support of the Lemelson Foundation. Overall, the study has the following key objectives:

1. Map the different financial pathways for aggregating US and European catalytic capital in India to support Indian social enterprises, defined as both for-profit and nonprofit enterprises with a social and/or environmental mission.
2. Assess the legal, structural, financial, and operational challenges of channeling capital via these pathways and identify potential solutions, including recommendations for possible intermediation to bring catalytic capital into India.
3. Develop a shared taxonomy for funders and recipients of catalytic capital, and create a public report useful to all stakeholders interested in bringing such capital into India.