"Quando as empresas pensam em fazer boas compras, consideram planejamento, gestão de estoques, equilíbrio de tempos e momentos, condições de pagamento, evitar desperdícios, organizar a documentação e, o mais importante, a escolha de fornecedores, que envolve um dos canais de abertura da empresa a relações com outras empresas, outros empreendimentos. É a oportunidade de fazer com que boas compras sejam também boas relações e, assim, sejam boas desde uma perspectiva mais ampla: para as empresas sim, mas também para os fornecedores, para a sociedade e para o meio ambiente."

Esta guía ofrece una metodología inicial para emprendedores y Organizaciones de Apoyo a Emprendedores (ESOs, por sus siglas en inglés), destacando cómo identificar los criterios y atributos que sitúa un emprendimiento en la categoría de transición dual, esta se refiere a ntersección entre transformación digital y los retos que se tienen ante cambio climático, esta intersección crea retos y oportunidades.

"Este reporte captura los hallazgos de seis laboratorios de aprendizaje encaminados a formas prácticas de medición  de trabajo decente y calidad laboral  en pequeñas y medianas empresas, facilitados por The Good Economy.

Los laboratorios de aprendizaje enfatizan la importancia de soluciones de medición prácticas y de claridad conceptual al medir el trabajo decente. Este reporte busca proveer un panorama general de los contenidos discutidos, recursos útiles y mejores prácticas compartidas durante cada laboratorio."

Currently there are over 500 townships in the South Africa, whose combined land mass surpasses that of Johannesburg and Durban combined and which are home to an estimated 40% of South Africa’s urban population. While more is understood about the small and growing businesses (SGBs) in metropolitan areas, less is known about the entrepreneurial ecosystems in the townships and how to support the primarily micro, necessity-based businesses that operate there. This report focuses on identifying the key actors implementing programmes to support entrepreneurs and small businesses operating in townships in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, and Western Cape Provinces, the challenges the entrepreneurial support providers face, and the opportunities to strengthen this ecosystem.

With support from the Vitol Foundation, ANDE is pleased to launch the Mozambique Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Map, a new tool designed to improve connectivity within the entrepreneurial landscape across the country.

This essential resource includes a filterable web directory of the diverse ecosystem players in South Africa, including investors, entrepreneur support organizations, academic institutions, donors, and more.

The map is available in English and Portuguese.

Business development service (BDS) programmes, such as accelerators and incubators, are increasingly looked to as promising ways to help entrepreneurs enhance their business skills, expand their networks, and access investment. In Fiji, there is a small but quickly growing entrepreneurial ecosystem supported by over a dozen BDS programmes. This report seeks to characterize the BDS landscape and form recommendations for its continued growth based on international research and established best practices from other ecosystems across the globe.

In this report, the authors assess the practices of Fiji's BDS providers against the SCALE principles, a set of recommendations published in 2021 by the Argidius Foundation which reflect global best practices for BDS provision. This study identified a total of 21 BDS programmes in the Fijian ecosystem administered by 14 service providers, including eight accelerators, five incubators, and eight additional programmes such as co-working spaces, grantmaking facilities, and technical assistance. Based on desk research and interviews with programme managers, the authors assessed Fiji’s accelerator and incubator landscape as moderately applying the SCALE principles.

Organic waste, which amounts to 5.72 million tons every year in Kenya, spans diverse sub-categories including food waste, yard waste, animal waste, agricultural waste, wood waste, organic sludge, biodegradable waste and human waste (faecal sludge). Rural households typically compost around 75% of their organic waste, but only 25% is composted in urban areas. Although organic waste degrades quickly and does not stay in the environment, it emits methane emissions during degradation or incineration. The high prevalence of open defecation due to inadequate sanitation systems further contributes to these challenges, as only 30% of the population has access to safely managed sanitation services.Effective organic waste management can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, deforestation and soil degradation by providing sustainable alternatives to fuel, charcoal, wood and chemical fertilizers. For instance, transforming organic waste into biogas saves about 370–400 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per ton, while turning it into fertilizers saves 350 kg CO2e per ton.Given the large volumes of recyclable material and its numerous applications, organic waste management is one of the most developed waste management sub-sectors in Kenya. Out of 122 waste management and circularity businesses identified through this study, 30 deal with organic waste, most of which were established over the past decade. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to conduct a deep dive into the organic waste management sub-sector in Kenya. 

Kenya's waste management and circularity sector offers significant opportunities for investors, driven by economic growth, increasing waste generation, growing regulations and innovations. This introductory guide is the first in a series that also includes investment guides that deep dive into each of the highest opportunity sub-sectors in Kenya’s waste and circularity sector: plastic waste, wastewater, organic waste and integrated waste management. These guides provide further information on trends, opportunities, policies and challenges, as well as further details on the main identified business models and their financing needs and case studies of successful businesses.

Kenya generates 880,000 tons of plastic waste per year, comprising various subcategories such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with PET, PP and polyester being the most prevalent. The widespread use of plastic, particularly in urban areas, combined with inefficient waste management systems, leads to the pollution of water resources and severe negative impacts on marine life. Furthermore, plastic waste disposed in nature or in landfills emits greenhouse gases during its decomposition. Out of the 122 businesses identified through this study, 17 businesses operating in the plastic waste management sub-sector in Kenya have been identified, covering applications ranging from plastic waste reduction, recycling into new plastic products and waste conversion into energy. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to conduct a deep dive into the plastic waste management sub-sector in Kenya. Out of the 122 businesses identified through this study, 17 businesses operating in the plastic waste management sub-sector in Kenya have been identified, covering applications ranging from plastic waste reduction, recycling into new plastic products and waste conversion into energy.

The concept of gender-lens acceleration has taken hold in recent years, with various toolkits outlining how to be more gender inclusive at every step of the acceleration process, from selection to programming and alumni support. However, it is not well understood how effective these strategies have been in producing more equitable outcomes for women. This report aims to fill that information gap by synthesizing the research on accelerating women-led ventures, exploring case studies of two accelerator programs in Asia that have outsized impacts for such ventures, and spotlighting other programs with unique program models or perspectives.

Kenya generates substantial volumes of wastewater from domestic, industrial and agricultural sources — amounting to 800 million litres per day from domestic use alone.2 The country faces significant challenges in managing this wastewater effectively, which increases pressure on limited local freshwater resources. For instance, only 30% of the 400 million litres of wastewater generated daily in Nairobi undergoes treatment, and only 5% of wastewater from offsite sanitation management (OSM) is effectively treated because of failures in the sewage system, a lack of treatment infrastructure and facilities operating below capacity. These problems are exacerbated as transport trucks resort to illegal dumping in nature due to high discharge costs. As wastewater contains contaminants such as chemicals, oils and human waste, this results in heavy pollution of water bodies, endangering aquatic ecosystems and public health. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to conduct a deep dive into the wastewater management sub-sector in Kenya. Our study identified 27 active businesses in this field, including a few growth-stage businesses which have achieved scale through innovation, acquisition of effective technologies, and establishing strategic partnerships, such as the Fresh Life partnership with Regen Organics to convert waste collected by Fresh Life.

Every entrepreneur operates within an ecosystem that determines the access to talent, finance, and markets that they need to grow their business. ANDE’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Maps serve as a tool for stakeholders to learn about the organizations providing support to small and growing businesses (SGBs) in a specific city, region, or country.

This mapping identified 140 organizations and nearly 170 distinct resources supporting entrepreneurs across Ethiopia. The online mapping provides a filterable directory of these organizations, categorized by sector, location, and support type. The mapping is complemented by a report analyzing the data and synthesizing key trends in the ecosystem.

Kenya's waste management and circularity sector is rapidly emerging as a critical area for sustainable investment. Across the ten sub-sectors and 122 businesses identified within this space in KOIS and ANDE’s Introductory Guide to Investing in the Waste and Circularity Sector in Kenya , four key sub-sectors have demonstrated particularly high potential for investment. Those sub-sectors are organic waste, plastic waste, wastewater, and integrated waste management. This investment guide outlines the complex landscape of the sector, highlighting critical financing needs and investment strategies. While detailed deep-dive guides have been developed to explore each of the four key subsectors, this guide focuses on the financial dynamics that underpin successful investments. It examines the varying financing needs across the different stages of business maturity and sub-sectors. Moreover, it highlights the key factors of success for waste management and circularity businesses, investment trends, gaps and opportunities for innovative finance solutions that could shape the sector. Finally, this guide provides insights into how investors can strategically position themselves and better catalyse investment to grow the sector.

With support from GIZ, ANDE is pleased to launch the South Africa Townships Ecosystem Map, a new tool designed to improve connectivity within the township entrepreneurial landscapes across the country.

This essential resource includes a filterable web directory of the diverse ecosystem players in South Africa, including investors, entrepreneur support organizations, academic institutions, donors, and more.

The map is available in English and Portuguese.