"This report is the first of its kind to understand the landscape of Angel Investment Networks in Southeast Asia and explores the challenges and opportunities for angel investors in the region. The report also places a special focus on Gender Lens Investing and the drivers for angel investors to make gender-focused investments to contribute to the development of an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Asia. This research aims to support the development of the angel investment market in Southeast Asia through three key approaches: First, it aims to Complete a mapping of established Angel Investment Networks (AINs) across Southeast Asia (SEA) that are actively investing in early-stage enterprises. Secondly, the report identifies and analyzes key aspects and good practice of active AIN structures and impact models in Southeast Asia. Finally, it provides a general overview of where and how Gender Lens Investing (GLI) practices take place across AINs in Southeast Asia to further advance the implementation of GLI in the region."
"We document the presence of multiple and varied constraints to small and medium firm growth. This presents both a practical problem for business training programs and a challenge to academic economists trying to identify mechanisms through which these programs may affect outcomes. External validity needs theory. This pushes researchers to narrowly defined and highly selected sample frames, which limits the potential for clear, generalizable policy prescriptions. Ultimately, larger samples, multi-arm evaluations, process documentation, and narrowly-focused, theory-supported empirical work are all needed, but the complexity of the problem limits what we learn from any single study."
"Entrepreneurship is an engine for economic development worldwide (Kelley, Singer, & Herrington 2016). For developing economies, the importance of entrepreneurship is associated with increased productivity and reduction in the rising unemployment rates, particularly among the youths. Consequently, several models and support programmes have been designed to facilitate successful entrepreneurial activities amongst youth. The article discusses the business acceleration model of the Global Business Labs (GBL) which is replicated in Botswana, Namibia and Uganda based on a Swedish model, between 2012 and 2015 but failed in Mozambique and Zambia. Using a multiple case study method, this article presents the results of a cross-country case analysis of the GBL programme with a view to understand the emergence of a business accelerator. Despite replication of the programme in respect of concepts, materials and operational systems, the cases reveal variations in operational experiences and acceleration performance across the five countries. Using the emergence theory, the article highlights these differences. The major contribution of the study to theory, in determining how business accelerators come into being, includes the duality of intentions and exchange between key stakeholders and the resource burst as a triggering mechanism in developing countries. The study further informs development of a model for successful business acceleration launch and subsequent performance for developing economies."
"There is good news: there are many, many promising climate finance solutions emerging on the scene to close key market gaps. The bad news? Interested investors of all shapes and sizes, and emerging innovators of every stripe, often struggle to find each other-and often talk past each other. Different investor expectations, lexicons and geographies need to be clarified-fast-and then linked to action.
We in the climate finance tribe-"we" being institutional investors, public sector officials, international development experts and so on-need to raise our game. With the help of our great advisory team, a dash of humor, a few cartoons and support from the Rockefeller Foundation, let the era of accelerated climate finance clarity and investment begin."
"This paper documents that ventures that are funded by two successful angel groups experience superior outcomes to rejected ventures: they have improved survival, exits, employment, patenting, web traffic, and financing. We use strong discontinuities in angel funding behavior over small changes in their collective interest levels to implement a regression discontinuity approach. We confirm the positive effects for venture operations, with qualitative support for a higher likelihood of successful exits. On the other hand, there is no difference in access to additional financing around the discontinuity. This might suggest that financing is not a central input of angel groups."
"The Core Characteristics of Impact Investing define the baseline expectations of what it means to practice impact investing. Providing this level of clarity to the market will help investors understand what constitutes credible impact investing and the Core Characteristics serve as a reference point for investors to identify practical actions they can take to scale their practice with integrity."
"As governments from El Salvador to Kenya to India enact strict measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus, what can development organizations do to help micro and small businesses survive? Drawing from TechnoServe’s past experience working with entrepreneurs in times of crisis, as well as early learnings from the response to the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve put together this quick guide of ideas for supporting these enterprises."
"These interactive story dashboards provide information on the lending activities to agricultural SMEs and producer organizations by the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF). CSAF consists of 13 private lenders that come together on a pre-competitive basis to share learning and develop industry standards to promote the healthy growth of the financial market serving small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs), including associations of smallholder farmers, in the agriculture sector."
"This publication identifies synergies between the DCED Standard for Results Measurement (the Standard) and the Global Impact Investing Network's IRIS+ system, which builds on the IRIS metrics catalogue and the Navigating Impact Project...The DCED Standard for Results Measurement (Standard) is a framework that helps organisations and programmes manage for impact...The IRIS+ system helps investors measure the social, environmental and financial performance of an investment and IRIS+ combines impact investing's most widely used impact performance metrics with research, evidence, and practical implementation guidance into a single comprehensive system."
"The DCED Standard is a practical framework for private sector development programmes to monitor progress towards their objectives. It comprises seven elements, listed in the box to the right, which are the minimum required for a credible results measurement process. By adopting these elements, programme managers can understand what is working and why, and use monitoring information to improve the effectiveness of their work."