"Grants for agricultural innovation are common but grant funds specifically targeted to smallholder farmers remain relatively rare. Nevertheless, they are receiving increasing recognition as a promising venue for agricultural innovation. They stimulate smallholders to experiment with improved practices, to become proactive and to engage with research and extension providers. The systematic review covered three modalities of disbursing these grants to smallholder farmers and their organisations: vouchers, competitive grants and farmer-led innovation support funds. The synthesis covers, among others, innovation grant systems in Malawi (Agricultural Input Subsidy Programme), Latin America (several Challenge Funds for Farmer Groups), Uganda (National Agricultural Advisory Services ), and Colombia (Local Agricultural Research Committees - CIAL)."

"Social enterprises that not only deliver financial but also social and environmental returns for those at the 'bottom of the pyramid' (BOP) and society as a whole are being promoted as an integral solution towards sustainable development and inclusive growth. This study sets out a market assessment on the incubators and impact investors that act as enablers of the social enterprise ecosystem in the India. It doing so it clarifies the services these different organizations provide, their business models and sector wise, geographic and service related gaps, as well as the challenges they face from the individual perspectives of system enablers. It draws on a series of stakeholder consultations including an online survey, and desk research of a sample of 16 social enterprise incubators and 33 impact investors active in the country."

"The African Agricultural Capital Fund, managed by Pearl Capital Partners, primarily invests in small- and medium-sized agricultural enterprises to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in East Africa.

This case study gives an overview of the fund, describes its capital structure, its primary impact governance mechanisms, and the stakeholders’ key risk mitigation strategies. To provide additional insight into the motivations and decisions that shaped the impact investment, interviews with representatives of the four investors and the fund manager are included."

"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 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."