The South Asia chapter is headquartered in Chennai, India with staff in Bangalore and New Delhi, and serves members across South Asia.
It also aims to deepen ANDE’s role as the leading convener for organizations committed to supporting entrepreneurship in developing economies. Chapter activities aim to strengthen the local network, encourage collaboration, and co-develop programs and services for and with our members and the sector at large.
Chapter Activities
Networking and fostering connections: Regular chapter events, both formal and informal, provide time for ANDE members to network, learn, and share best practices. They include member meetings, happy hours, webinars, roundtables, and workshops on different themes. We also facilitate tailored introductions and connections among members to foster collaborations and partnerships among practitioners in the SGB ecosystem and strengthen the ecosystem through the region. The chapter also works with other ANDE regional chapters to conduct regular cross-chapter and cross-continent dialogues to encourage knowledge sharing and networking across regions.
Knowledge sharing: The chapter shares regular updates, including upcoming opportunities, events, and publications, with SGB stakeholders active in the region through monthly chapter updates for members, and regular promotion on our social media and other channels. We are always eager to partner to tell the story of SGBs and our members’ work.
Research: Our research initiatives build the knowledge base for SGB support organizations to improve their effectiveness and create thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems. ANDE conducts both high level and specialized regional research on SGB networks and trends, which provide major value to our members. Some of our recent research work relevant to the region includes research on women entrepreneurship and environment and climate action contextualized to the Indian subcontinent.
Funding: ANDE provides regular funding opportunities to both members and non-members to both drive greater resources to organizations supporting SGBs in developing economies and ensure ANDE member expertise is leveraged efficiently. Funding opportunities are meant to spur more creative and collaborative investments in SGBs and uncover how SGBs contribute to poverty alleviation and economic growth. Recent opportunities in the region include the Advancing Women’s Empowerment Fund (AWEF) and SGB Evidence Fund.
Learning and training: The chapter convenes learning groups on various topics, including SGB finance, women entrepreneurship and talent in the SGB sector, and has led trainings on metrics measurement and management, various facets of entrepreneurship support, promoting gender-lens in acceleration/incubation and more. ANDE has a particular focus on promoting impact measurement and management among the network. We encourage knowledge sharing, support the adoption of a common language to measure performance, and encourage exploration of new methods and tools to enable more efficient and useful measurement practices.
Climate change and environmental degradation place significant stress on India’s biodiversity, food supply, water and energy security, and human health. The private sector will play a critical role in achieving these objectives, particularly growth-oriented entrepreneurship that can bring new ideas into practice, introduce technical innovations, and create demand for new environmentally friendly goods and services. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), green entrepreneurs address climate change and/or create a positive environmental value either through the process of delivering products/services (e.g., utilizing clean technologies) or by working in a green sector (e.g., waste management). Such
entrepreneurs tackle climate change from multiple angles.
This report establishes a baseline understanding of the state of green entrepreneurship in India by assessing existing business models, the available financial and technical support for entrepreneurs, and key sectoral issues regarding the policy landscape and market opportunity. The purpose of the study is to inform decision-makers, such as policymakers, donors, investors, and business development service providers, of the primary trends, opportunities, and challenges in the green entrepreneurial ecosystem in India.
The damaging effects of climate change in India are all-encompassing, threatening agriculture and food supplies, energy security, water security, and public health. To ameliorate climate and environmental challenges, India has committed to a green economic transition through various government policies and initiatives. India has the the world’s third largest entrepreneurial ecosystem after the United States and China, and an increasing number of sustainability-oriented startups, investors, incubators, and accelerators in India is shaping a vibrant green ecosystem. This report examines the ecosystem of support for green entrepreneurs in India. Using data collected via surveys and desk research, this snapshot report uncovers important challenges and opportunities for green entrepreneurship to inform stakeholders of how to better support the development of India’s green economy.
"This issue brief is a part of a series formulated by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) India chapter. It aims to contextualise the findings and strategy regarding our key urgent issues and the small and growing business (SGB) sector outlined in ANDE’s globally focussed issue brief, Climate and Environmental Action in the SGB Sector, at a regional level. This brief is a starting point for conversations on environmental action and is meant to help shape ANDE India’s strategy for the region. This is not meant to serve as an exhaustive collection of the research/literature on the topic, and proxy data points have been used to best represent the state of the SGB sector."
With support from the IKEA Foundation, ANDE released new research on the market potential for green entrepreneurship in Kenya and India. These reports use new data to assess the state of green entrepreneurship in each country, available financial and technical support for SGBs, and key challenges and opportunities facing stakeholders. The reports also offer detailed looks at eleven key green sectors, including common business models and estimation of market potential between 2022 - 2030.
ANDE South Asia publishes the Member Showcase – a document that goes out during the year highlighting the work being done by a few selected members on a regular basis. This showcase is an attempt towards to not only draw attention to the current focus and initiatives that members in the region are working on but also help drive deliberate purposeful collaboration with specific asks and offers for working together.
This lab aims to act as a platform for intermediaries who are working to support entrepreneurs and innovators looking to tackle environment-related issues and climate action with the overarching goal of increasing on-ground entrepreneur support towards a more sustainable tomorrow. It will launch in the second half of 2021.
Each chapter's gender equality action lab will ideate and prototype solutions to systemic gender inequities in the SGB sector. They convene regularly and will conclude with a funding challenge to scale promising solutions.
This group seeks to provide a space for comprehensive discussion and knowledge sharing among intermediaries looking to better support SGBs in the area of access to finance. It helps address issues that challenge both ANDE members and the SGBs that they support as they seek to access debt and blended finance capital.
The ESEA and India chapters convene a cross-chapter Funder Learning Lab with the goal to promote greater donor efficiency by cultivating a relatively small group of representatives from donor agencies, private foundations, and family offices.
The conversation around scaling challenges for SGBs and intermediaries has so far been largely focused on external factors like raising capital, while internal factors such as talent and team development, organizational culture, and leadership have been neglected. The ANDE India Talent Learning Lab aims to address this gap.
This group acts as a platform for intermediaries working to support women entrepreneurs in various capacities in India with the overarching goal of increasing gender equity and equality in India.
ANDE Action Labs convene members to ideate and prototype solutions to systemic challenges in the SGB sector. This group is ANDE’s inaugural laboratory for tackling constraints specific to SGBs and the intermediaries that support them in environmental industries.
This learning lab will seek to provide a space for comprehensive discussion, knowledge sharing and knowledge creation. We aim for it to act as a platform for intermediaries who are working to support entrepreneurs and innovators looking to create decent, quality jobs. We will focus on understanding what the different aspects of a ‘quality job’ are, the role that intermediaries play in supporting SGBs to create these and what are metrics that could be used to measure progress around decent job creation.
