"There is growing evidence that the growth of small and growing businesses (SGBs) can be spurred by business development services (BDS). But how BDS is provided is critical to its success. Five fundamental considerations, acronymized as SCALE, have emerged that drive effectiveness. This report shows that even quite simple changes of approach can yield significant benefits to entrepreneurial growth. Together with an accompanying toolkit, it offers both BDS providers and funders guidance on how to implement dimensions of SCALE, proven to increase effectiveness, and as a result, boost SGBs revenues and job creation."

"Blended finance solutions offer the potential to combine development capital with a variety of financial instruments such as impact bonds, concessional capital, and risk mitigation structures. We consistently see that deployment of these instruments is limited because of the inherent complexity and cost. But more so, due to a lack of awareness and standardization among capital providers. Without addressing these core issues, enterprises are deemed too risky, and the potential for social and financial returns may not be realized. Through this report, we aim to raise awareness about the importance of enabling funding for social enterprises – understanding their unique characteristics and challenges in capital raising – and articulate the key issues involved in applying blended finance to SMEs. We hope to simplify current bespoke solutions to build replicable and scalable financing solutions. We propose solutions that include building capacity of enterprises, embedding sustainability into the design of instruments, simplifying impact management, and creating open databases on blended finance transactions."