"This paper studies the impact of the Brazilian Arranjos Productivos Locais (APL) policy, a cluster development policy, on small and medium enterprises' (SMEs) performance. Using firm-level data on SMEs for the years 2002-2009, this paper combines fixed effects with reweighting methods to estimate both the direct and the indirect causal effects of participating in the APL policy on employment growth, value of total exports, and likelihood of exporting. Our results show that APL policy generates a positive direct impact on the three outcomes of interest. They also show evidence of short-term negative spillovers effects on employment in the first year after the policy implementation and positive spillovers on export outcomes in the medium and long term. Thus, our findings highlight the importance of accounting for the timing and gestation periods of the effects on firm performances when assessing the impact of clusters policies."

"The purpose of this study is to shed light on the role that connections can play in helping green technology entrepreneurs innovate and scale up in developing countries, so as to inform the design of new public sector programs. Green technology entrepreneurs in developing countries need connection platforms for people, ideas, business models, transactions, as well as membership of expert communities. This study shows how cheaper, quicker and more efficient connections can be created among stakeholders of green technology innovation in developing countries. This is done through drawing insights from a variety of public and private programs that seek to promote connections between entrepreneurs in green technology and other sectors. The report is based on 14 case studies of different programs spanning more than 80 countries."

"This Issue Brief is presented as an introductory guide to help investors and advisors construct portfolios that integrate impact appropriately across asset classes. We refer to this as Total Portfolio Management. This guide builds upon and summarizes the excellent work introduced by various thought leaders and investment experts whose efforts are driving the field of impact investment forward."

"This issue brief is an addendum to the global COVID-19 issue brief published by ANDE. It summarizes the initial evidence emerging from the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem, including challenges, risks, and needs that have arisen from the community, to help guide the response. The research for this brief was developed as part of the Global Inclusive Growth Partnership, a joint collaboration between the Aspen Institute and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth."

"This report takes stock of the market for impact investing and examines the conditions that would allow the market to grow and realize its potential. Historically, there have always been investors who cared about more than just financial returns. Governments and philanthropists, for example, have set up investment vehicles with mandates to promote social and environmental goals. Over the last decade, impact investing has gained prominence as an approach to investment that aims to achieve both financial returns and social or environmental goals. This has created a dynamic but somewhat disorganized market of diverse participants, standards, and concepts. Although still small, the market is attracting considerable interest, and it has the potential to increase in scale, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate goals."

"With the trend to conduct rigorous impact evaluations of development interventions, many researchers have started to look more closely at programmes and policies that either directly intend to create jobs or that generate jobs indirectly. This note summarises the main lessons that can be drawn from these studies. It is based on a comprehensive systematic review commissioned by the evaluation unit of KfW Development Bank (Grimm and Paffhausen, 2014). The review revealed several factors and design features likely to make job creation interventions successful. However, these findings have to be taken with care because evidence is still scarce. First and foremost, the review underlines how little we actually know about how to create jobs. This stands in sharp contrast to the high number of programmes and projects that claim to know -- and on which considerable funds are being spent."

"This report depicts the landscape of development organizations that fund and support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries: 1) multilateral development banks, 2) bilateral government donor agencies, and 3) development finance institutions (DFIs). The report is a new contribution to both the development community, as well as the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE). Advocacy and policy work is a strategic priority for ANDE, and the report's findings will enable the Network to understand the international development community and to be more strategic in its approach as it seeks to influence and shape the international development SME agenda."

"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."

"A professor at Brazil’s prestigious Federal University of Viçosa saw a need on campus for an incubator to support technologically-oriented businesses, including agribusinesses. This resulted in the CENTEV Technology Incubator, which is partially funded by the university but which also receives state and private grants. Its function is to nurture entrepreneurs to develop viable technology based businesses by providing them with management assistance and augmenting their technical capabilities with expert academic advice. The incubator’s 24 graduates are still in business, with average revenues of $2.5 million a year."

"This report explores a refreshed perspective on the long term viability of impact investing and presents the "Impact Investing Roadmap" - a framework that investors can use to clarify their vision for impact investing, define stages of impact investing activities and identify tactical steps to develop an investment strategy. Those tactical steps include designing an impact investing model, managing issues of organizational change and if desired, engaging with the robust and supportive impact investing ecosystem."