The cohort explored the concept of intersectionality and its importance in business development programming from the two invited expert speakers; Shamha Naseer, Gender Specialist for the Youth Empowerment Portfolio in Asia and the Pacific at UNDP’s Bangkok Regional Hub, and Ian Jones, Co-Founder and Director at Mekong Inclusive Ventures.
Key learnings from the KINETIK-ANDE Investment Manager Training, taking place from 30 June to 4 July 2025 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Vietnam’s private capital market is entering a new phase of maturity, driven by strong macro fundamentals, digital acceleration, and investor optimism.
The Vietnam Innovation and Private Capital Report 2025, co-authored by Vietnam Private Capital Agency, National Innovation Center, and BCG, provides a comprehensive look at the trends shaping venture capital and private equity across one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic economies.
Despite a global capital slowdown, Vietnam attracted $2.3B across 141 deals in 2024, signaling sustained investor confidence. The report explores key sectors including AI, energy, healthcare and education, and the impact of national reforms such as Resolution 57 on innovation and sustainability. With rising digital adoption, a growing middle class, and targeted government support, Vietnam offers compelling opportunities for investors and business leaders seeking long-term growth in the region.
This study offers a glimpse into the evolving landscape of impact capital in Malaysia. This project was initiated as an advocacy tool to help grow the impact investment movement in the country and foster meaningful conversations. While global interest in impact investing has surged, Malaysia’s ecosystem remains nascent yet brimming with potential. Our goal is to share the collective thoughts of key impact capital providers, giving you a clearer picture of where we are and where we’re headed.
Whether you’re just starting your journey in impact investing or are already making strides, our findings aim to reassure you that you’re part of a larger movement.
Our findings are accessible to all as we hope to inspire coordinated efforts that optimise resources, drive innovation, and ultimately transform the landscape of impact investing in Malaysia.
Business development service (BDS) programmes, such as accelerators and incubators, are increasingly looked to as promising ways to help entrepreneurs enhance their business skills, expand their networks, and access investment. In Fiji, there is a small but quickly growing entrepreneurial ecosystem supported by over a dozen BDS programmes. This report seeks to characterize the BDS landscape and form recommendations for its continued growth based on international research and established best practices from other ecosystems across the globe.
In this report, the authors assess the practices of Fiji's BDS providers against the SCALE principles, a set of recommendations published in 2021 by the Argidius Foundation which reflect global best practices for BDS provision. This study identified a total of 21 BDS programmes in the Fijian ecosystem administered by 14 service providers, including eight accelerators, five incubators, and eight additional programmes such as co-working spaces, grantmaking facilities, and technical assistance. Based on desk research and interviews with programme managers, the authors assessed Fiji’s accelerator and incubator landscape as moderately applying the SCALE principles.
ANDE Welcomes Mekong Inclusive Ventures: Championing Inclusive Entrepreneurship in Cambodia
This country report explores the evolving landscape of social procurement in Malaysia, focusing on how impact-driven businesses, including social enterprises, engage with corporate clients and the challenges they face in supplying their products and services. Social procurement, which leverages purchasing power to generate both social and environmental benefits alongside economic value, has gained increasing attention globally in recent years. Recognizing the need for greater market understanding, the Malaysia Impact Alliance (MYImpact) and Yunus Social Business (YSB) initiated this project to provide visibility for impact-driven businesses seeking corporate buyers and to analyze their needs in supplying to corporations.
The key findings of this study highlight that most impact-driven businesses in Malaysia operate on a small scale, facing significant barriers in accessing financing and meeting the operational standards required by corporate buyers. Limited resources, capacity constraints, and lack of long-term visibility and commitment from corporate clients often hinder their ability to secure sustainable corporate partnerships. Finally, the report suggests recommendations to enhance social procurement in Malaysia. These include conducting market research and matchmaking events to connect impact-driven businesses with corporate buyers, facilitating stronger B2B partnerships, a capacity-building program to support impact-driven businesses in enhancing their B2B sales capabilities by providing expert insights and peer advice on positioning themselves as preferred suppliers and engaging effectively with corporate clients.
In Cambodia, women entrepreneurs encounter complex barriers when accessing finance, particularly those arising from their intersectional identities. A recent study by Gender and Development for Cambodia and SHE powered by iDE delves into how factors such as age, ability status, religion, family composition, and sexual orientation, can intersect with gender and create unique challenges for women entrepreneurs.