"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."

"While private sector engagement has long been a part of the global development lexicon, it is taking on new meaning today. Multinational and large national corporations actively shaped the SDGs and are contributing to global development in new and exciting ways. Meanwhile, social enterprises are becoming a critical part of the development ecosystem with their innovative approaches to global development challenges and new market-based solutions.

This special Devex report sheds a light on the relationship between social entrepreneurs and donors, and offers recommendations on what can be done to further strengthen those relationships."

"Safi Organics is an eco-inclusive enterprise that aims to reverse declining agricultural yields, improve the income and food security of local farmers, and provide opportunities for local youth. Safi Organics has created an agricultural value chain from the local organic waste stream. Using open source technology, the enterprise produces valuable agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and soil treatments designed to meet local conditions.Safi Organics has created a local circular economy that enables farmers to exploit the value of their waste in an environmentally friendly manner, as well as gain access to cheaper fertilisers and soils treatments. Safi Organics also employs a number of local youths, providing them with an income stream, and access to valuable training and experience. This case study is enhanced with short multimedia features that showcase the innovation, the partnership, the support from SEED and the overall impact of the enterprise. It is part of the SEED 2018 Case Study Series, which emanated from the SWITCH Africa Green project "Promoting Eco-Entrepreneurship in Africa", implemented by SEED. This Case Study Series showcases locally-driven, innovative eco-inclusive enterprises which are demonstrating sustainable development on the ground across Africa."

"Commercial agriculture in Mozambique remains underdeveloped and successful cases of smallholder inclusive business models are rare. In addition to “doing business” constraints at a macro level, smallholder inclusive business models – whether in “outgrower” schemes or other arrangements – pose additional challenges to competitiveness. Low-quality product, insufficient and inconsistent supply, mutual issues of mistrust and a post-war culture of hand-outs can make it more profitable for some companies to import primary produce or work with large-scale farmers. CB Farm Fresh is a smallholder-inclusive vegetable processor and distributor serving the extractives industry in Tete. This case study aims to understand how smallholder-inclusive business models can be successfully implemented by assessing CB Farm Fresh’s end-to-end model."

"The paper seeks to inform the reader with: An insider’s perspective of on-the-ground challenges faced in balancing the right mix of investments impact on missions of social enterprises [and] Recommendations that could help guide the growing social investment arena on how to support the development of sustainable social enterprises."

"The study (i) reviews the definitions and concepts of social enterprises, (ii) outlines the landscape across 10 selected countries in Asia and Latin America, (iii) discusses challenges to scaling as faced by social enterprises, and (iv) presents suggestions for development banks to extend support to social enterprises through public and private sector investments. The study categorizes social enterprises and argues that the comparative advantage of development banks is to support selected social enterprises that are commercially bankable and have the base of the pyramid (BOP) at the core of their business operations. Development banks can support these enterprises-considered as the inclusive businesses of the future-through investing in impact funds and/or public sector loans."

"This free guide will help social entrepreneurs better understand the complexities of setting up a social enterprise in eight ASEAN countries, the options that are available to them, and the pros and cons of different legal forms. By providing detailed information on different legal structures that social enterprises can employ this guide offers well informed advice on registering with ministries, the documentation that is required and the licenses and permits needed to carry out certain business activities. It outlines governance and regulatory obligations and provides guidance on the taxes that apply to such organisations and expenses that are tax deductible. Case studies are also included to illustrate how social enterprises have responded to specific challenges."

"The B Impact Assessment is a free, confidential online tool that has been used by over 50,000 companies to measure and manage their impact. The Assessment measures sustainability across five Impact Areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Customers and Environment, and is the standard used by Certified B Corporations and GIIRS Rated companies."

"The express objective of Beyond Dialogue was to help corporations and social enterprises learn more about the ways they could partner with each other to achieve shared goals for sustainable and inclusive business, and to spark new collaborations...This report seeks to answer this desire of event participants by recording and reinforcing the most salient points and stories raised during Beyond Dialogue. It aims to distil useful insights and lessons mainly through a selection of case studies shared by event participants that will allow readers and practitioners to derive what is most relevant and suited to their context and sector. It will then analyse the key findings and lessons from the case studies before concluding on future opportunities for learning and collaboration. This report will hopefully lead to more proactive efforts to develop and expand partnerships that aim to improve the lives of people living in poverty, and to demonstrate how these partnerships can be designed to support both business and social impact goals."

"The objective of this research report is to help practitioners understand what systems change means in the context of social entrepreneurship, how it is distinct from direct service or “business-in-a-box” models and, most importantly, what it looks like in practice – not as lofty exhortations and abstract concepts, but as a set of concrete activities, processes, and leadership lessons. Our intent is to move beyond systems theories – which, while useful, can be difficult to apply in a practical context – and instead tell the stories of how these theories can be applied across a range of circumstances. These stories follow six for-profit and non-profit social entrepreneurs in the Schwab Foundation network, working in education, health, consumer rights, land rights, rural development and the informal economy, as their strategies evolved beyond organizational scale – growing the reach of a prescriptive, organizationally designed solution to a problem – to systemic scale, with the goal of shifting the rules, norms and values that make up social systems."