"The digital context of equity crowdfunding broadens and diversifies the pool of potential investors and is thus touted as a means to democratize access to capital for non-traditional innovators. It is unclear whether such democratization also applies to user entrepreneurs. User innovators are consumers who create products with the goal of serving their own unmet needs; if they subsequently pursue entrepreneurship as a means to commercialize their innovations they become user entrepreneurs. Importantly, user innovators are significant contributors to consumer product innovation. In contrast, traditional entrepreneurs, also called producer entrepreneurs, create products with the goal of profiting from them. We examine whether investors in equity crowdfunding respond differently to user entrepreneurs relative to traditional producer entrepreneurs, and explore heterogeneity in investor responses. Through a randomized field experiment, we find that less experienced investors are more receptive to user innovators than investors with more experience. Experienced investors are significantly less interested in ventures by user innovators, relative to those by producer innovators, likely due to experienced investors' concern about the ability of user entrepreneurs to commercialize their ideas. Consequently, the democratization of access to capital for user entrepreneurs comes from less experienced investors who are often inaccessible in traditional investment settings."

"We consider the role that gender-stereotyped behaviors play in investors' evaluations of men- and women-owned ventures. Contrary to research suggesting that investors exhibit bias against women, we find that being a woman entrepreneur does not diminish interest by investors. Rather, our findings reveal that investors are biased against the display of feminine-stereotyped behaviors by entrepreneurs, men and women alike. Our study finds that investor decisions are driven in part by observations of gender-stereotyped behaviors and the implicit associations with the entrepreneur's business competency, rather than the entrepreneur's sex."

"This legal guide provides an overview of legal issues and requirements for impact investors and social entrepreneurs who are entering into business in East Africa. Without a better understanding of the regional context, the legal process can often be poorly suited for specific markets and take months and incur substantial expenses for investors and businesses. Understanding the local legal environment streamlines the due diligence process and improves the ongoing viability, sustainability, and growth potential of investments."

"This Issue Brief is presented as an introductory guide to help investors and advisors construct portfolios that integrate impact appropriately across asset classes. We refer to this as Total Portfolio Management. This guide builds upon and summarizes the excellent work introduced by various thought leaders and investment experts whose efforts are driving the field of impact investment forward."

"This report takes stock of the market for impact investing and examines the conditions that would allow the market to grow and realize its potential. Historically, there have always been investors who cared about more than just financial returns. Governments and philanthropists, for example, have set up investment vehicles with mandates to promote social and environmental goals. Over the last decade, impact investing has gained prominence as an approach to investment that aims to achieve both financial returns and social or environmental goals. This has created a dynamic but somewhat disorganized market of diverse participants, standards, and concepts. Although still small, the market is attracting considerable interest, and it has the potential to increase in scale, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate goals."

"This report analyzes the entrepreneurial journey of women in Mexico. It was undertaken in order to identify opportunities for creating an enabling environment for women through increased access to finance, skill development and public resources; unleashing their potential to contribute towards economic growth.

The study draws on the experiences of 126 women entrepreneurs and data collected from them through focus groups and surveys. It also draws on the expertise of a group of actors referred to as the “ecosystem” for supporting WSGBs in Mexico. This “ecosystem” includes: public policy entities and academia, financial institutions, capacity development organizations and networks, and nongovernmental organizations and foundations, as well as the private sector. These actors are “mapped” in order to visualize which organizations in Mexico are supporting WSGBs, as well as those that take a collaborative approach to include more women in the sector."

"This report reflects a combination of on-the-ground experiences of China Impact Fund (CIF) and New Ventures China (NVC), and points of view from emerging impact investing practitioners active in mainland China. It aims to consider the important but often overlooked role of impact investing in the potential transformation of China's society over the coming decades, especially on the environmental front."

"Rabobank Foundation, AgriProFocus and ICCO Cooperation offer support to agri-food SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa in overcoming some of the most important hurdles to growth and development...The study increases our understanding of the challenges faced by agri-food SMEs as well as those faced by investors and capital funds operating in Sub-Saharan Africa. We trust that this report challenges regulators, donors and potential investors to come up with novel approaches for making critical capital available to agri-food SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa."

"This report shows that the historic Paris Agreement on climate change that has recently come into force will help to open up nearly $23 trillion in opportunities for climate-smart investments in certain emerging markets between now and 2030. Based on the national climate-change commitments and underlying policies of 21 emerging-market economies, representing 48 percent of global emissions, it identifies sectors in each region with the greatest potential for investment—from climate resilient infrastructure in South Asia to clean energy in Africa."

"Recent research has shed light on the different types of small and growing business (SGBs) in emerging markets and on the new and alternative financial products and business models that serve them. However, the connections between the financial needs of the different SGBs and the alternative approaches used by SGB finance providers often remain unclear. This report aims to increase awareness about the approaches that appear to be working best to address SGB finance gaps and to explore what additional support is needed to help scale them and drive the emergence of new ones."