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.

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.

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.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation champions economies that are equitable, participatory, and sustainable, with a focus on environmental respect. Impact investing is crucial for addressing social and environmental inequities but remains underutilized in Southeast Asia. To bridge this gap, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) partnered with TrustLaw, the TRF's global pro bono service, to enhance understanding of local impact investing regulations in 7 different countries in Southeast Asia: Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. Special thanks go to A&O Shearman, DFDL, Mayer Brown, MahWengKwai & Associates, and SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan for their pro-bono support. This guide aims to assist social enterprises, incubators, and investors in navigating local regulations and fostering greater investment in regional startups and their social missions.

"The concept of social entrepreneurship emerged as a significant factor that contributes toward public welfare and prosperity. Recent studies showed that social entrepreneurship influences the economic growth and sustainability of the state. Therefore, the underlying aim of this study was to investigate the impact of social entrepreneurship on sustainable economic growth and value creation. This study also undertook to observe the mediating role of innovation in the relationship between social entrepreneurship and sustainable economic growth and between social entrepreneurship and value creation. A questionnaire technique was adopted to obtain data from 343 tour operators in China. The Smart-PLS software was used to analyze the data through the aid of a structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The results revealed that social entrepreneurship has an effect on sustainable economic growth and value creation. The results also demonstrated that innovation has an effect on sustainable economic growth and value creation. Moreover, it was also observed that innovation mediated the relationship between social entrepreneurship and sustainable economic growth and between social entrepreneurship and value creation."

"This paper investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the corporate philanthropy (CP) behaviors of firms using a dataset from Chinese A-share listed firms. We find that, on average, firms decrease their CP significantly when economic policy uncertainty increases, but the response is heterogeneous for firms with different ownership types. Compared with their counterparts, private firms are willing to contribute more donations in an environment with high economic policy uncertainty. Further analysis shows that private firms take on more other types of corporate social responsibility at the same time, and private firms' additional CP in a high EPU environment is rewarded with more subsidies, indicating that altruistic and political motives may play important roles in driving the CP behaviors of private firms."

"Using geographical distribution data on corporate philanthropy in China from 2009 to 2016, we provide robust evidence of companies’ revenue-driven regional favoritism. Specifically, companies donate more to regions where they obtain revenue than to other regions. Further evidence suggests that this revenue-driven regional favoritism may have both reputational and political motivations. Further analysis suggests that China’s targeted poverty alleviation policy has compromised revenue-driven regional favoritism while increasing the amount of money donated to poor regions. Overall, we enrich understanding of decision-making on corporate philanthropy. We also demonstrate that companies can use the geographical distribution of corporate philanthropy strategically to obtain consumer and government favor in regions where they operate."

"A Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) lançou o Fundo Avançado para o Empoderamento das Mulheres (AWEF, na sigla em inglês) em 2019 com o apoio da Visa Foundation e da Agência dos Estados Unidos para o Desenvolvimento Internacional (USAID). O objetivo geral dos projetos financiados pelo AWEF é abordar a lacuna de gênero para financiamento para pequenas empresas em crescimento (SGBs)1 pertencentes a mulheres em economias em desenvolvimento. A primeira rodada de grantmaking, a AWEF Asia, financiou oito organizações de apoio a empreendedores (ESOs) no Camboja, Vietnã, Mianmar, Filipinas, Paquistão e Índia, bem como programas que servem a região como um todo."

"L’Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) a lancé l’Advancing Women’s Empowerment Fund (AWEF) en 2019 avec le soutien de la Fondation Visa et de l’Agence Américaine pour le Développement International (USAID). L’objectif global des projets financés par l’AWEF est de combler l’écart de financement entre les sexes pour les petites entreprises en croissance (PEC) tenues par des femmes dans les économies en développement. La première série de subventions, AWEF Asie, a financé huit organisations de soutien aux entrepreneurs (OSE) au Cambodge, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines, Pakistan et en Inde, ainsi que des programmes desservant la région dans son ensemble."