"Government, NGO, and business leaders typically see great promise for digital tools to empower smallholder value chains and make them more efficient and profitable for farmers. However, hope is not enough - new technologies only reach scale when they are delivered within a functioning business model.

To scale, the business model must provide a 1) Lifetime Value for each new customer which exceeds 2) the cost of acquiring each new customer. However, finding a business model which meets this requirement on small, remote farms is a tough job. Delivery and acquisition costs are typically high, and Lifetime Values low as each farmer's revenue is limited.

By observing the full range of solutions that have been developed across the ASEAN region, we see startups migrating to five business models which seem to show the greatest potential in reaching smallholder farmers at scale. This report provides an overview of those five business models, and why we think they show the greatest promise."

"This guide concerns smallholder farmers and their engagement with markets in Africa. It looks at their degree of engagement as well as the possibilities to link them to formal firms in ways that may improve access to capital, inputs, know-how and markets. It adopts three perspectives to frame thinking about key issues: agricultural development policy, rural market failures and a 'business view', the latter with regards to high start-up costs and learning thresholds."

"The Shell Foundation commissioned Enclude and the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) to conduct research on how to spur significant scaling up of investment in and reach to SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa over the coming three to five years. This study is based on research conducted from late 2016 to mid-2017, with generous participation from leading providers of SME finance globally through roundtable discussions, surveys and interviews. The findings in this report highlight both individual approaches and systemic interventions necessary to achieve significant scale."

"This thesis aims to present the main challenges regarding employability that the economically vulnerable population in Brazil faces, and to map opportunities for the development of social impact businesses that can support the reduction of inequality and bring improvements to their lives."

"Social Enterprise in Emerging Market Countries provides a clear picture of where social enterprises are and where they need to go, and identifies key players in the social enterprise field and how they can take the bold steps needed to facilitate the growth and impact of these models.

Etchart and Camolli focus on NESsT's research in Latin America and Central Europe, the two regions where it has operated for over 15 years, particularly in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, with some cases from other countries in Latin America. For the purpose of illustrating important models and innovative programs and policies, this book also highlights cases and experiences from Central Europe."

"This paper seeks to outline the social enterprise landscape in Ghana. It reviews the enabling environment and the scope of capacity-building activities supporting social enterprise to provide an overview of the profile of existing social enterprises and social innovation activity. It presents information on perceptions and levels of awareness of social enterprise, the obstacles and challenges faced and opportunities to improve the enabling environment; and lessons from social enterprise activities in other national contexts. It should be noted that the study is not, and did not set out to be a comprehensive review of all social enterprises and support organisation in Ghana."

"This paper synthesises findings, based on case studies of social enterprises operating in the agriculture and health sectors in Kenya and Vietnam. Main conclusions are that the concept of social enterprise needs to be clearly defined if governments and donors want to give preferential support to such organisations and that defining social enterprise as a hybrid business model facilitates identification and analysis of enterprise models that are distinct from mainstream business. The research found that the social enterprises covered in the survey were often small, personality driven, and internationally supported. Social enterprises face special constraints linked to their hybrid business model: access to finance, human resources, legal status, difficult markets, and management weakness. Market and state failure creates niches for social enterprise: serving disadvantaged communities, managing public infrastructure, and creating environmental benefits. Governments, donors and promoters should assess the niche for social enterprise in specific market contexts in place of blanket promotion of the concept."

"This report provides a framework, examples, and reflections on lessons learned from Acumen's various partnerships and collaboration efforts. It aims to catalyse discussion and collaborative action that accelerates growth with impact."

"This study estimates that social enterprises could create more than 1 million additional jobs by 2030 in the 12 focus countries that have been analyzed. Overall, this would result in a total of approximately 5.5 million direct jobs in social enterprises in 2030. These jobs would be created in existing markets, but also for new markets, thus creating new value chains and many more indirect income opportunities in these countries. The implementation of the interventions recommended in this report are thus an important action to prepare the African continent on future demographic dynamics. In addition, they can also be seen as an important contribution to preserve jobs that have been put at risk because of COVID-19."

"Humanitarian aid is insufficient to support the unprecedented numbers of fellow human beings who are struggling as refugees, migrants, or modern-day slaves. In this Social Entrepreneurship at the Margins report, Miller Center illustrates the clear and urgent need for bottom-up, enterprise level approaches, and highlights organizations that are already addressing the needs of these groups in innovative ways. This report highlights the efforts of Refugee Investment Network (RIN) and other innovators to bridge these gaps and invites other stakeholders to collaboratively build sustainable solutions for the growing global challenges facing refugees, migrants, and human trafficking survivors."