Year
2019

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"This study is the first piece of detailed research on gender lens investing in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It adds to other regional analyses of gender lens investing emerging in the last few years in Asia and in Europe (authored by the same team as this report at the ESADE Institute for Social Innovation). The specific objectives of the study are to: describe the opportunity for different gender lens investing strategies in LAC; highlight key case studies and current activities in LAC; and offer top-level recommendations for how different players can put gender lens investing into practice."

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"We have therefore launched a study on this subject that combines quantitative analyses and qualitative comments of our entrepreneurial companies and partners, their employees, and our investment teams. This research has allowed us to capitalize on our knowledge and to provide an overall picture of what the path to formalization looks like. We do hope, of course, that this study will inspire African governments, development agencies and scholars. But the most valuable part of this work relates to what is very rarely analyzed and even less frequently shared: the practical challenges companies face as they progress towards formalization. Our business gives us access to unique knowledge and insights which are essential to understanding how companies and their employees view public policies, as well as best practices for leading a business towards successful formalization. This study will therefore be of interest to entrepreneurs engaging in the formalization process, as well as to private and public investors who face the challenges of exiting the informal sector."

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"From investments in publicly listed corporations based on environmental, social, and governance factors, to bonds issued to fund climate and environmental improvements; from micro-credit to small retailers through innovative credit assessments, to parametric insurance products improving the disaster resilience of countries, the world of sustainable finance is growing and becoming increasingly diverse.

In this report, we take a closer look at these innovations and more, highlighting how they are working to mobilize private-sector capital at scale to address social and environmental challenges. We also explore recent developments and potential opportunities in Asia's four largest economies: China, India, Japan, and Indonesia."

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"The objective of this study is to take a comprehensive look at how this model has worked, with the objective of sharing learnings with other investors. We partnered with external researchers from the Entrepreneurship Database Program at Emory University to answer two primary questions: are entrepreneurs effective at discerning the future revenue growth or capital attractiveness of their peers? Can entrepreneurs do so in a way that mitigates the bias that pervades traditional venture capital? The short answer to both questions is yes, a group of entrepreneurs can provide an effective and reliable means of evaluating early-stage ventures and do so in a way that mitigates bias."

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"ANDE SA, in partnership with Innovate Durban, recently completed and published an in-depth snapshot of 124 programmes providing financial and non-financial support to the small and growing business ecosystem in Durban, South Africa and compiled their findings in this report. The insights in this snapshot are derived from primary data collection from entrepreneur support providers in Durban, as well as stakeholder feedback and external research cited throughout the snapshot."

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"ANDE's Ecosystem Snapshots are designed to collect basic information about the support available for small and growing businesses in a specific city or country. This information acts as a census of the local actors and represents a specific moment in time. While the results are ultimately static, ANDE's Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Snapshot methodology is iterative and practitioner-focused. Research is primarily conducted by local teams who engage practitioners throughout the process."

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"The effects of entrepreneurship and information and communication technology (ICT) on countries' development have been extensively studied, mainly from the perspective of their contributions to economic growth. However, from the human development paradigm, economic income is only resource helping people satisfy their economic needs. This study provides new evidence to bridge the gap in our understanding of how entrepreneurship and ICT improve the quality of people's lives."

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"This study is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on the effects of mentoring on SMEs in Norway. We aim to get a better understanding of firm development and dynamics in the presence of public interventions. Does mentoring affect firm performance and firm-survival? Does it matter what type of state aid a firm is granted; mentoring versus the financial equivalent of the service?"

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"Current women's economic empowerment interventions are not enough to overcome all obstacles facing female entrepreneurs. The emerging evidence from psychology and experimental economics on agency; mindset, and leadership show that for successful interventions to be transformative, they need to move beyond basic access to financial and human capital and also tackle central psychological, social, and skills constraints on women entrepreneurs.

Emerging evidence from recent studies on different capital-based, training-based, and gender based interventions, using randomized control trials, present promising interventions to support women entrepreneurs. An experimental study in Uganda found that Providing financial capital (i.e., subsidized microcredit coupled with Start and Improve Your Business training module), while effective for men, does not have any impact on female owned enterprise profits. Similarly, a randomized control trial on Tanzania's Business Women Connect program found that while the mobile savings program substantially increased savings, it did not have an effect on female-owned enterprise profits or sales even when combined with hard business skills, such as business management, basic profitability concepts, and record-keeping. Both studies, however, show that loans paired with business trainings as well as improved access to mobile savings accounts paired with business trainings had a positive impact on male-owned microenterprise profits or sales. Thus, a successful women's economic empowerment intervention needs more than only access to financial capital and hard business skills."

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"Innovative start-ups are often considered to be a key source of innovation and job creation. As such they are the subject of several types of supportive public policies. This study examines the short-term and long-term effects of business incubators on the performance of innovative start-ups in terms of sales revenues and job creation. A large sample of N-¯=-¯2544 innovative Italian start-ups, of which 606 were incubated, was followed over a period of up to six years. Tobit and Poisson regressions and propensity-score matching analyses point towards a significant negative effect of incubator tenancy on sales revenues and no significant effect of incubation on job creation. Findings also suggest that the initially negative effect of incubation on sales revenues turns into a positive effect in the long term. The effects of incubator characteristics, in terms of ownership, certification, and size on the growth of tenant start-ups were further analysed, but these effects were found to be negligible. The study contributes to the literature on the evidence-based evaluation of business incubation performance. It suggests that public policy makers should lower their expectations regarding the numbers of new jobs created by business incubation support."

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