Climate change and gender inequality are among the world’s most pressing and complex development challenges. Women are catalysts for innovative solutions to tackle climate change. However, their underrepresentation in decision-making processes and labour markets means that women are prevented from fully contributing to climate-related planning, policy-making and implementation. Recently, WUSC joined partners in celebrating the development of a new roadmap for climate finance and marked the culmination of a unique project at the intersection of climate finance and gender implemented by a consortium of partners including ANDE and AKFC and generously funded by Global Affairs Canada. The purpose of the Roadmap is to present recommendations to donors on how to facilitate women climate entrepreneurs’ access to appropriate climate finance, contributing to greater equality and inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa while advancing innovative and transformative women-led climate solutions.

"Entrepreneurs need to be prepared to measure and communicate their contribution to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience to key stakeholders. However, there is currently no standardization of climate impact reporting in the small business sector, leaving the burden on entrepreneurs to grow a successful business and implement the right tools to measure climate impact. Climate Collective Foundation and the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) have published this guide to provide SGBs, impact investors, and ESOs with a consolidated list of available tools and frameworks for climate impact measurement, along with guidance on how to select best-fit resources based on their industry and impact area."

"Entrepreneurs need to be prepared to measure and communicate their contribution to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience to key stakeholders. However, there is currently no standardization of climate impact reporting in the small business sector, leaving the burden on entrepreneurs to grow a successful business and implement the right tools to measure climate impact. Climate Collective Foundation and the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) have published this guide to provide SGBs, impact investors, and ESOs with a consolidated list of available tools and frameworks for climate impact measurement, along with guidance on how to select best-fit resources based on their industry and impact area."

"This Guide was developed for impact and mission-driven investors (“Investors”) operating in emerging markets to provide concrete, practical pathways for investing with a gender lens. The adoption of Gender Lens Investing strategies amongst investors in emerging markets in turn increases the amount of capital deployed towards women-led and gender inclusive businesses. Specifically, this Guide offers pathways for investment professionals, limited partners (LPs) and general partners (GPs) at impact and mission-driven Venture Capital (VC) and Private Equity (PE) firms that are investing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Other actors that may also find the Guide useful are limited partners (LPs), asset managers, foundations, family offices and development finance institutions (DFI) that are providing capital to SMEs in emerging markets (Please see Figure 1: Who is this Guide for?). While the investor examples and data presented in the Guide originate from Investing in Women partners and countries of focus, the lessons learned apply broadly to investors operating in emerging markets.

There is no singular or linear path to investing with a gender lens, and there is no single ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to meet the needs and theses of all investors. With that in mind, the Guide outlines various options for investing with a gender lens. We know that gender lens investing is not an “all-or-nothing” scenario. There are multiple ways to integrate progressive practices, including ways that are not resource-intensive. This Guide outlines entry points for investors at any point in their gender lens investing journey and provides various options for decisive actions that can be taken at any stage of the investment process.

There is no single prescribed starting point. Investors can customize their approach to getting started and/or to deepen their involvement. The Guide builds on – and contributes to – a rapidly growing body of knowledge shared within the fields of gender lens investing and development, and is intended to spur action and learning. Recognizing that new resources are continually emerging, this Guide delves into the “how” of gender lens investing and is designed to complement the work of our partners and colleagues cited throughout this paper."

"This Guide was developed for impact and mission-driven investors (“Investors”) operating in emerging markets to provide concrete, practical pathways for investing with a gender lens. The adoption of Gender Lens Investing strategies amongst investors in emerging markets in turn increases the amount of capital deployed towards women-led and gender inclusive businesses. Specifically, this Guide offers pathways for investment professionals, limited partners (LPs) and general partners (GPs) at impact and mission-driven Venture Capital (VC) and Private Equity (PE) firms that are investing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Other actors that may also find the Guide useful are limited partners (LPs), asset managers, foundations, family offices and development finance institutions (DFI) that are providing capital to SMEs in emerging markets (Please see Figure 1: Who is this Guide for?). While the investor examples and data presented in the Guide originate from Investing in Women partners and countries of focus, the lessons learned apply broadly to investors operating in emerging markets.

There is no singular or linear path to investing with a gender lens, and there is no single ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to meet the needs and theses of all investors. With that in mind, the Guide outlines various options for investing with a gender lens. We know that gender lens investing is not an “all-or-nothing” scenario. There are multiple ways to integrate progressive practices, including ways that are not resource-intensive. This Guide outlines entry points for investors at any point in their gender lens investing journey and provides various options for decisive actions that can be taken at any stage of the investment process.

There is no single prescribed starting point. Investors can customize their approach to getting started and/or to deepen their involvement. The Guide builds on – and contributes to – a rapidly growing body of knowledge shared within the fields of gender lens investing and development, and is intended to spur action and learning. Recognizing that new resources are continually emerging, this Guide delves into the “how” of gender lens investing and is designed to complement the work of our partners and colleagues cited throughout this paper."

Zevoli Growth Partners in partnership with the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) created the first volume of our much-anticipated funding guides for local Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The MSME Funding Handbook will equip MSMEs with comprehensive information as they embark on sourcing various types of funding for their businesses. The first issue of the handbook explores national development funding institutions in South Africa. Subsequent issues will unpack a range of others, including provincial DFIs, Corporate Funding, Commercial funding, Venture Capital, and Private Equity.

"Las y los emprendedores deben estar preparados para medir y comunicar su contribución a la mitigación, adaptación y resiliencia ante el cambio climático. Sin embargo, en la actualidad no existe una estandarización de los informes sobre el impacto climático en el sector de las pequeñas empresas, lo que deja en manos de las y los emprendedores la carga de hacer crecer un negocio exitoso y aplicar las herramientas adecuadas para medir el impacto climático. La Climate Collective Foundation (CCF) y la Red Aspen de Emprendedores para el Desarrollo (ANDE) han publicado esta guía para proporcionar a las Pequeñas Empresas en Crecimiento, los inversionistas de impacto y las Organizaciones de Apoyo al Emprendimiento, una lista consolidada de las herramientas y los marcos de referencia disponibles para la medición del impacto climático, junto con orientación sobre cómo seleccionar los recursos más adecuados en función de su etapa, industria y región geográfica."

"Entrepreneurs need to be prepared to measure and communicate their contribution to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience to key stakeholders. However, there is currently no standardization of climate impact reporting in the small business sector, leaving the burden on entrepreneurs to grow a successful business and implement the right tools to measure climate impact. Climate Collective Foundation and the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) have published this guide to provide SGBs, impact investors, and ESOs with a consolidated list of available tools and frameworks for climate impact measurement, along with guidance on how to select best-fit resources based on their industry and impact area."

"Après avoir vécu pendant plus de deux ans avec les défis majeurs de la pandémie du  COVID-19, le secteur des petites entreprises et de celles en croissance (PECs) est maintenant confronté à une réalité sur le long terme qui affecte non seulement les opérations commerciales mais aussi la façon dont ces entreprises mesurent et communiquent leur impact. Le secteur des PECs se trouve à un moment critique de la pandémie où les organisations doivent réfléchir à la manière dont leurs solutions de MGI élaborées à la hâte s’inscrivent ou non dans leur stratégie de MGI à plus long terme.

Pour toutes ces raisons, le but de ce rapport est de :

Mettre en évidence les défis MGI uniques auxquels sont confrontées les PECs d’Afrique subsaharienne en raison du COVID-19 ;
Guider les créateurs d’écosystèmes entrepreneuriaux dans l’adaptation de leurs systèmes de MGI dans le contexte de la nouvelle réalité du COVID-19 ; et
Fournir des ressources sur mesure pour permettre aux créateurs d’écosystèmes
entrepreneuriaux d’adapter davantage leurs systèmes de MGI afin de mieux soutenir les entrepreneurs dans la «nouvelle anormalité.»"

"The evidence is indisputable: high-growth scaling ventures are game changers. Scale-ups are the ventures that:

Create the vast majority of new jobs in an economy;
Generate the most value in the form of financial, economic and social returns;
Drive innovation and shape ecosystems;
Incubate and develop talent pipelines; and
Spawn the next generation of thriving scale-ups and the experienced entrepreneurs that create them.

Africa needs more startups that transition to scale. Many more.

But scaling is rare. And difficult. All the more so in sub-Saharan Africa, where large populations do not equate to large addressable markets, necessitating very early (and risky) expansion into new markets in search of the critical mass of customers needed to raise funding and scale a business.

Whilst there are some universal scaling principles that can and should be applied, there isn’t a formula for scaling. Because it isn’t pure science. On the contrary, scaling is predominantly an art: a unique blend of inputs, decisions and actions that is different for each scaling business."