"There is growing consensus that a key difference between the U.S. and developing economies is that the latter exhibit slower employment growth over the life cycle of the average business. At the same time, the rapid post entry growth in the U.S. is driven by an "up or out dynamic". We track manufacturing establishments in Colombia vs. the US and find that slower average life cycle growth in Colombia is driven by a less enthusiastic contribution of extraordinary growth plants and less dynamic selection of young underperforming plants. As a consequence, the size distribution of nonmicro plants exhibits more concentration in small-old plants in Colombia, both in unweighted and employment-weighted bases. These findings point to a shortage of high-growth entrepreneurship and a relatively high likelihood of long-run survival for small, likely unproductive plants, as two key elements at the heart of the development problem. An extreme concentration of resources in micro plants is the other distinguishing feature of the Colombian manufacturing sector vis a vis the US."

"Este relatório pretende retratar características do setor de investimento de impacto na América Latina no decorrer dos últimos dois anos com base em uma amostra de investidores de impacto ativos na região. Utilizando dados das organizações e de transações (deals) compartilhados por esses investidores, proporciona-se uma visão geral de onde e como o capital está sendo alocado e identificam-se desafios enfrentados pelo ecossistema. O relatório foca na região como um todo e se aprofunda nos três maiores mercados: Brasil, Colômbia e México."

"This report highlights how traditional debt and equity financing structures often fail to adequately meet the needs of early-stage impact enterprises. It examines the pain points for both investors and entrepreneurs around traditional structures and the need for innovative instruments, provides examples of emerging and proven models, from revenue-based mezzanine debt to self-liquidating equity, and offers suggestions for concrete steps to advance the adoption of alternative structures to foster impact enterprises. 16 case studies from throughout Latin America aim to offer an overview of innovations both at the deal level and at the capital aggregation level, where holding companies and open-ended funds have proven to be potentially well suited for this space."

"O capítulo andino e o capítulo brasileiro criaram um relatório em conjunto que fornece uma visão geral do setor de inclusão financeira na América Latina, com foco no México e no Brasil. O relatório inclui um infográfico do cenário da inclusão financeira nos dois países, usando fatos e números apresentados ao longo de nossas reuniões e mesas-redondas do Learning Lab de Métricas.

Além disso, o relatório apresenta 3 tópicos relevantes sobre inclusão financeira: produtos e serviços financeiros centrados no usuário, infraestrutura necessária para acesso aos serviços financeiros e educação financeira. Cada tópico oferece uma introdução por especialistas e estudos de caso de diversos projetos na América Latina."

"Este reporte recoge los datos más relevantes en ambos países que se dieron a conocer en el marco del Laboratorio de Aprendizaje, así como las voces de los expertos y una serie de casos de estudio de diversas organizaciones en Latinoamérica enfocados en tres temáticas: Infraestructura necesaria para el acceso a servicios financieros, Educación Financiera y Diseño de productos y servicios centrados en el usuario."

"This paper evaluates the impact of the Chilean Supplier Development Program, aimed at improving and stabilizing the commercial linkages between small and medium-sized suppliers and their large firm customers, during the period 2003-2008. Applying propensity score matching and difference-in-differences, we find that both groups of firms benefited from the coordination efforts. The program increased sales, employment, and the sustainability of small and medium-sized suppliers. It also increased the sales of large firms and raised their ability of becoming exporters. We also find that the timing of the effect is different for suppliers and large firms. While the effect on suppliers appeared one year after the firms enrolled in the program, the effect on large firms took two years to appear."

"Differences in management quality are an important contributor to productivity differences across countries. A key question is how to best improve poor management in developing countries. This paper tests two different approaches to improving management in Colombian auto parts firms. The first uses intensive and expensive one-on-one consulting, while the second draws on agricultural extension approaches to provide consulting to small groups of firms at approximately one-third of the cost of the individual approach. Both approaches lead to improvements in management practices of a similar magnitude (8-10 percentage points), so that the new group-based approach dominates on a cost-benefit basis. Moreover, the paper finds some evidence that the group-based intervention led to increases in firm size over the next three years, while the impacts on firm outcomes are smaller and statistically insignificant for the individual consulting. The results point to the potential of group-based approaches as a pathway to scaling up management improvements."

"Root Capital is excited to release our first multi-site impact study - Improving Rural Livelihoods: A Study of Four Guatemalan Coffee Cooperatives. As a complement to our ongoing social and environmental due diligence, this comprehensive study provides a more detailed picture of the impacts that our client enterprises have on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and the environment. We also sought to answer the question: Does Root Capital's financing and training enable our clients to increase their impacts, and if so, how and to what extent?"

"The objective of the study was to rigorously evaluate SME programs in four Latin American countries Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru to gain insights into whether SME programs work, which programs perform better than others, and why. This report should be of interest to country governments, policymakers with responsibilities for SMEs, local researchers and the private sector in the region, as well as World Bank staff and bilateral donors."

"Imazon, a Brazilian nonprofit promoting sustainable development of the Amazon, exemplifies how social ventures can stay small to achieve large impact. This case study is relevant for any social enterprise working to have outsized impact by collaborating with partners to change systems. It is also relevant for any enterprise using data to create incentives for change."