"The effect of COVID-19 on economies around the world has been unprecedented. While evidence on this impact is only beginning to emerge, it is clear that the economic damage has been particularly severe for SGBs in emerging markets. This issue brief summarizes initial evidence regarding the impact of COVID-19 on SGBs and the SGB support sector more broadly in emerging markets. Read the brief, which summarizes current risks, impacts, and needs so that organizations and individuals who support SGBs can ensure more effective interventions.This report was prepared as part of the Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy, with generous support from the initiative’s founding partner Mastercard."

"In May 2020, ANDE released an issue brief summarizing initial evidence from the first phase of the crisis in March and April 2020 regarding the impact of COVID-19 on SGBs and the SGB support sector more broadly in emerging markets. As the crisis and its effects on the sector continue to develop, we are working to keep updating information with new data and insights. This addendum to the brief presents new data collected in May-June 2020 from ANDE members regarding their needs, actions they are taking, and updated impressions of the impact that the crisis is having and will have on the sector."

"As volatile commodity prices continue to hover at historically low levels, industry leaders at various points along the supply chain are talking about the need to buffer the women and men who grow specialty coffees from price references that come from commodity markets. This project relies on a progressive group of data donors - exporters, importers, roasters, and other support organizations - who provide detailed contract data covering specialty coffee transactions from recent harvests. Researchers at Emory University use this anonymized information to create tables that describe the distributions of recent prices for green (unroasted) specialty coffees."

"Over the past six years, a new method of incubating technology startups has emerged, driven by investors and successful tech entrepreneurs: the accelerator programme. Despite growing interest in the model from the investment, business education and policy communities, there have been few attempts at formal analysis. This report is a first step towards a more informed critique of the phenomenon, as part of a broader effort among both public and private sectors to understand how to better support the growth of innovative startups."

"Fintech recently became the most-active sector for startup investment in the Middle East and North Africa. While much of the media coverage has focused on digital payments and e-commerce, this report will highlight fintech innovation that is improving "financial health" for the region's most marginalized communities: tech that helps people manage their income and expenses, weather financial shocks and plan for a healthy financial future."

"This report reviews the state of measurement as of 2014 in two types of organizations that directly support small and growing businesses (SGBs) - impact investors and capacity development providers. Using a mixed-methods approach, ANDE collected data and interviewed over 30 organizations across these two categories, and analyzed key trends in measurement practice."

"We design a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the adoption of credit scoring with a bank that uses soft information in small businesses lending. We find that credit scores improve the productivity of credit committees, reduce managerial involvement in the loan approval process, and increase the profitability of lending.

Credit committee members' effort and output also increase when they anticipate the score becoming available, indicating that scores improve incentives to use existing information. Our results imply that credit scores improve the efficiency and decentralize decision-making in loan production, which has implications for the optimal organization of banks."

"The Impact Management Project is a global effort of over 700 organizations to share fundamentals for how to talk about, measure and manage impact. This involves a thorough understanding of the investor's perspective, and how asset managers view impact on people and planet. The report describes the "five dimensions of impact" and what fundamentals investors and businesses should agree on to achieve their impact goals."

"This report presents a detailed analysis of impact investing activity in East Africa, examining the supply of global impact investment capital as well as the demand for investment resources from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), social enterprises, and others who aim to drive social and environmental impact through the private sector. The report covers five “focus countries” in depth: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Rwanda; and six additional countries in the region in less depth: Burundi, Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia."

"This report seeks to illustrate common challenges that entrepreneurs and intermediating financial service providers are facing because of the coronavirus crisis, as well as various strategies being implemented by impact investors to address these challenges. Specifically, the report explores ways investors work with investees to address immediate solvency constraints, adjust their activities to ensure the achievement of impact and financial objectives, and reimagine business models and processes with the future in mind."