This report is the result of a detailed study on ‘Regulatory Barriers and Levers for Deploying Foreign Catalytic Capital in Impact-Focused Enterprises, Funds & Facilities in India’ conducted by Desai & Associates (D&A) in partnership with Prime Coalition and with the support of the Lemelson Foundation. Overall, the study has the following key objectives:
1. Map the different financial pathways for aggregating US and European catalytic capital in India to support Indian social enterprises, defined as both for-profit and nonprofit enterprises with a social and/or environmental mission.
2. Assess the legal, structural, financial, and operational challenges of channeling capital via these pathways and identify potential solutions, including recommendations for possible intermediation to bring catalytic capital into India.
3. Develop a shared taxonomy for funders and recipients of catalytic capital, and create a public report useful to all stakeholders interested in bringing such capital into India.
The Gujarat State Women’s SEWA Cooperative Federation in India is a notable initiative that has inspired similar efforts around the world. SEWA, or the Self-Employed Women's Association, has adopted a dual strategy: organizing poor women workers in the informal economy in a union and promoting women owned cooperatives to empower them. These cooperatives offer improved employment and income generation opportunities, along with a range of services such as financial, insurance and social security services, as well as business and leadership training. Recently, the ILO has received requests from its constituents to better understand SEWA’s approach for potential adaptation and replication in Asia and beyond.
This report aims to explore the challenges and opportunities for cooperatives and other SSE entities in empowering women workers in the informal economy, with a specific focus on the experience of the SEWA Cooperative Federation. It draws on in-depth interviews with cooperative leaders and members, as well as relevant reports and studies. The report examines why and how SEWA has used the cooperative model and discusses the challenges the Federation faces in incubating and supporting women’s cooperatives and collective enterprises. It also features SEWA cooperatives from various sectors, including finance, insurance, childcare, dairy, organic agriculture, healthcare, waste management and cleaning services. Finally, the report identifies lessons learned and good practices that can guide efforts to adapt and replicate similar initiatives in other parts of the world.
The study aims to explore women entrepreneurs' access to credit from SACCOs in Nepal. It focuses on women entrepreneurs engaged in diverse sectors, including trade and services, manufacturing, and agriculture. The study seeks to highlight the gender-based challenges women face when applying for business loans from financial institutions. Specifically, the study addresses the following questions in the context of women-led micro-enterprises in Nepal: 1) Do small business women have access to adequate finance from SACCOs? 2) Do women face barriers attributed to gender norms when accessing credit from financial institutions? 3) What are the supply side constraints (of SACCOs) in providing credit to small business women? Through exploring these questions, the study aims to contribute valuable insights to the ongoing discourse on gender-lens investment practices and their potential to create a more inclusive and sustainable entrepreneurial environment for small and growing businesses (SGBs) owned by women in Nepal.
This landscape guide is intended to outline India’s current context in recycling and circularity, with a focus on the investment potential, opportunities and business models in the ten most significant waste streams in India. It provides a framework for how investment potential in a waste stream can be determined, which covers five areas that define that potential: market size and growth; investable start-up pipeline; product readiness; policy support; financing needs and gaps. The guide also includes a historical outline of investments and funding in each waste stream and outlines the roles and participation of various types of equity funders, along with the potential and participation of non-dilutive funding options.
"A previous British International Investment (BII) Insights paper showed that periods of higher private investment are historically associated with more rapid reductions in extreme poverty.1 That does not mean investment and economic growth always result in poverty reduction. This paper draws on the experiences of many developing countries to shine a light on when growth reduces poverty, and when it does not. Its ultimate objective is to clarify the role of private sector development finance institutions (DFIs) in the context of overall development policy, and the need for different forms and sources of investment and support that complement each other."
"Microfinance has gained significant attention as a social innovation, offering flexible and low-cost financial services to households who are otherwise excluded from formal financial services. Over the years, numerous research works have expanded the knowledge base of microfinance. Applying bibliometrics, we summarise findings from 1599 articles published between 1987 and 2022. Our performance analysis reveals insights into the research trend, including its geographical distribution, the theories under examination, and the most influential publications. More importantly, the knowledge foundation and thematic analysis categorize microfinance research into three broad themes, viz. impact of microfinance, management of microfinance and performance and efficiency of microfinance."
"This paper contributes to VC network literature in providing a unique network structure and network metrics of venture capital in SEA. In managerial contribution, this study provides more structural VC cooperation towards VC syndication networks. This benefits to venture capital firms who are looking for potential partners in Southeast Asian region and start-up companies who are looking for funding with high-networked or influencial VCs. The results also confirm previous evidence of significance on VC networks in emerging market, even if the institution and regulation are claimed to fall behind that in the developed market. This research introduces the fact that the venture capital network in Southeast Asia has small-world pattern and Singapore acts as a hub of venture capital market in the region."
"Microinsurance emerged out of different but parallel debates about the reformulation and expansion of social protection amidst the devastation of structural adjustment. It was, at least in its initial articulations, explicitly counterposed to the ‘market’-based solutions proffered by the World Bank, the IMF, and their allies. Yet, by the early 2000s, microinsurance and microcredit were being promoted in strikingly similar terms to the approaches they had initially opposed, and by the same actors."
"To gain a fuller picture of how MSMEs are using digital tools, DAI’s Center for Digital Acceleration partnered with survey firm Ipsos and Meta to administer a large-scale survey across 13 countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, our researchers took a face-to-face approach allowing us to compare responses from MSMEs operating both online and off. The country briefs provide an overview of each country’s digital ecosystem and MSME sector, followed by a summary of findings regarding the impact of digital tool usage on MSMEs and economic growth, highlighting differences in the responses among key segments of the surveyed business population within each country."
"This report examines key assumptions held by development practitioners – in terms of the productivity, employment-generation capacity, and inclusivity of SMEs – and assesses the extent to which they are supported by robust empirical evidence."