"This report integrates primary surveys, opinion leader and practitioner interviews, as well as experiences and observations of dozens of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, global Millennials, academics and other experts, all of whom were generous with their time and resources. We combined this with secondary desk research, and together with our analysis, offer a compelling narrative about the future of social entrepreneurship around the world."
"USAID's Partnering to Accelerate Entrepreneurship (PACE) initiative aims to catalyze private sector investment into early-stage enterprises and help entrepreneurs bridge the pioneer gap - thus unlocking the potential of thousands of promising enterprises around the world. Working in partnership with more than 40 incubators, accelerators, and seed-stage impact investors, USAID creates public-private partnerships dedicated to testing ways to help entrepreneurs overcome barriers to growth. These partnerships are expected to leverage $145 million1 in combined public and private investments over their lifetime."
"Private equity firms play a key role in creating an enabling environment for local business development, and supports their growth objectives by implementing best practice ESG policies in portfolio companies. This survey builds on AVCA's inaugural Sustainability Study, released in 2016. In this edition, we quantify how many jobs have been created from a selection of PE-backed companies in Africa between 2009 to 2016, and evaluate the extent of ESG integration in the private equity investment process."
"The 2020 Annual Impact Investor Survey is the 10th edition of the GIIN's flagship report, which provides the most comprehensive overview of the impact investing market. This edition captures data from 294 of the world's leading impact investors-the most Annual Survey respondents ever-who collectively manage USD 404 billion of impact investing assets, representing an important subset of the USD 715 billion global impact investing market.
The report looks at respondents' investment activity during 2019 and their plans for 2020, market developments over the past decade, and challenges facing the market going forward. Respondents also shared insights on how COVID-19 might affect their activities."
"The GIIN conducted this pilot research study to assess the annualized impact performance of direct impact investments in clean energy access and housing, two sectors in which impact investors have a relatively long track record of activity and generally align to standardized metrics sets. At each stage of the research process, a cohort of study participants and advisors offered guidance and input."
"The study was commissioned to get a better understanding of the 'missing middle' in francophone West Africa, of which Guinea is one of the focus countries. The report describes the main factors that hamper growth of SMEs in Guinea and limit their access to growth finance, and suggests possible actions to increase their access to funding. The analysis of the ecosystem is based on six domains which are: Culture, Policy, Markets, Finance, Support, and Human Capital."
"Over the past decade, a dynamic domestic entrepreneurial scene has emerged in Cambodia, buoyed by consistently strong economic growth. Though a relatively small country, the number of investors and business support service providers operating in the Kingdom has increased dramatically in the past two years. As in its economic peer countries, Government, businesses and development partners are increasingly looking to domestic entrepreneurs to drive innovation and continued economic growth. In this context, the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) undertook a diagnostic study of the Cambodian entrepreneurial ecosystem with a deeper evaluation of the financial offering for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)."
"The business landscape in Lao PDR consists of a few large firms in a relatively small number of industries, with many small and micro businesses in both urban and rural areas that remain largely informal. The Government of Lao PDR (GoL) has begun a series of reforms to support growth and formalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This includes enterprises in the “missing middle”: those that have outgrown microfinance but are not yet covered by commercial bank financing. These enterprises are important for the diversification of the Lao economy, employment generation and poverty reduction. In the last few years especially, young Laotians have increasingly discovered entrepreneurship and seized opportunities for startups in Lao PDR, following the success stories they have seen throughout the region. In this context, the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) undertook a diagnostic study of the Lao PDR entrepreneurial ecosystem with a deeper evaluation of the financial offering available for SMEs."
"Since 2011, Myanmar has been transitioning towards a democracy and market-based economy, following 50 years of military rule. Though starting from a weak position, the number of investors and business service providers operating in the country has grown dramatically. As in other emerging countries, the Government, private sector and development partners are looking to domestic and foreign entrepreneurs to drive economic growth, innovation and employment opportunities. In this context, the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) undertook a diagnostic study of the Myanmar entrepreneurial ecosystem, with a deeper evaluation of the financial offering for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)."
"Vietnam has experienced a prolonged period of economic growth since its transition to a market-based economy through the Doi Moi2 reforms in the 1980s. It is now a middle-income country and one of the most dynamic emerging economies in Southeast Asia. The proportion of people in extreme poverty fell from greater than 70% in the early 1990s to about 10% in 2016, according to the World Bank.
Vietnam’s strong export sector has often been credited with this success, and indeed Vietnam is one of the most globalised countries in the region, with its exports as share of GDP at the highest of any populous country. More recently, Vietnam’s large and emerging middle-class market has attracted significant investment, and the country leapfrogged into a highly tech-enabled age. Groups of young startup entrepreneurs are aspiring to disrupt nearly all sectors of the economy with new technologies, spurred on both by televised pitching competitions like “Shark Tank” and significant government support for startups and SMEs.
In this context, the Dutch Good Growth Fund undertook a diagnostic study of the Vietnam entrepreneurial ecosystem, with a deeper evaluation of the financial offering for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)."