"This report is aimed specifically at helping social sector funders use their resources in the best possible way. It helps them understand if, when and how to use the different financial instruments available to support social entrepreneurs in the most efficient and effective way. It also helps clarify what hybrid finance is, and how it can be used to channel more resources towards social entrepreneurship, in a more effective manner, while highlighting some of the challenges this practice brings about."
"Training programmes are popular development interventions that aim to address problems of youth unemployment. This paper estimates the impact of a youth entrepreneurship programme in Tanzania on financial literacy and employment knowledge. Using primary data within a successive cohort design in a community-led programme, the authors employed propensity score matching and fixed-effect estimation methods to assess changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes of marginalised youth. They found strong positive effects of the programme on key intermediate employment outcomes: savings ability, employment confidence and personal finance. The positive impact of this programme supports youth entrepreneurship training programme and non-experimental evaluation methods."
"The following report builds upon desk research as well as key observations from the workshop, "Financing Renewable Energy in South East Asia" workshop held in Phnom Penh in December, 2017. The event was an opportunity to address the current challenges entrepreneurs face when trying to access finance in SEA (with a geographic focus on Cambodia and Myanmar). We hope that this work will educate entrepreneurs on the type of financing available to them as well as serve as a reference for donors on why certain financing schemes are relevant and more successful in the RE sector and in the SEA region."
"From investments in publicly listed corporations based on environmental, social, and governance factors, to bonds issued to fund climate and environmental improvements; from micro-credit to small retailers through innovative credit assessments, to parametric insurance products improving the disaster resilience of countries, the world of sustainable finance is growing and becoming increasingly diverse.
In this report, we take a closer look at these innovations and more, highlighting how they are working to mobilize private-sector capital at scale to address social and environmental challenges. We also explore recent developments and potential opportunities in Asia's four largest economies: China, India, Japan, and Indonesia."
"The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ambitious and universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The SDGs also present a tremendous opportunity for investors to support this global agenda by deploying increasing amounts of capital to high-impact projects that address these critical societal challenges.
These case studies show the increasingly sophisticated and targeted ways in which impact investors are directing capital towards the SDGs, designing products to address one or several goals, by incorporating them throughout the investment cycle: during sourcing and due diligence, investment selection and structuring, investment management, and exit."
"The objective of this study is to take a comprehensive look at how this model has worked, with the objective of sharing learnings with other investors. We partnered with external researchers from the Entrepreneurship Database Program at Emory University to answer two primary questions: are entrepreneurs effective at discerning the future revenue growth or capital attractiveness of their peers? Can entrepreneurs do so in a way that mitigates the bias that pervades traditional venture capital? The short answer to both questions is yes, a group of entrepreneurs can provide an effective and reliable means of evaluating early-stage ventures and do so in a way that mitigates bias."
"We have therefore launched a study on this subject that combines quantitative analyses and qualitative comments of our entrepreneurial companies and partners, their employees, and our investment teams. This research has allowed us to capitalize on our knowledge and to provide an overall picture of what the path to formalization looks like. We do hope, of course, that this study will inspire African governments, development agencies and scholars. But the most valuable part of this work relates to what is very rarely analyzed and even less frequently shared: the practical challenges companies face as they progress towards formalization. Our business gives us access to unique knowledge and insights which are essential to understanding how companies and their employees view public policies, as well as best practices for leading a business towards successful formalization. This study will therefore be of interest to entrepreneurs engaging in the formalization process, as well as to private and public investors who face the challenges of exiting the informal sector."
"Entrepreneurs play a critical role in cities and nations as they create new jobs, generate economic growth, and spread the
development of new innovations. When local entrepreneurship communities are productive, their cities and regions are more
likely to thrive, but when entrepreneurship communities struggle, cities and regions can become trapped in decline.The following pages will share five critical lessons on entrepreneurship communities and productivity. They will also offer practical recommendations that decision makers can use to implement Entrepreneur-Led Economic Development in cities across the world."
"This report proposes actions that can be taken by ASEAN Governments and key stakeholders to address the constraints facing women entrepreneurs. Two key levers for change are highlighted. These are greater access to and use of innovative technologies, especially those made available through the ICT revolution; and creative approaches to making finance and credit available to women entrepreneurs. As well as being critical in their own right, these two levers also contribute to unlocking progress in other key areas, such as education and training, access to business support and networks and opening market opportunities."
"Does the lack of peers contribute to the observed gender gap in entrepreneurial success? A random sample of customers of India's largest women's bank was offered two days of business counseling, and a random subsample was invited to attend with a friend. The intervention significantly increased participants' business activity, but only if they were trained with a friend. Those trained with a friend were more likely to have taken out business loans, were less likely to be housewives, and reported increased business activity and higher household income, with stronger impacts among women subject to social norms that restrict female mobility."