ANDE members provide critical financial, educational, and business support services to small and growing businesses (SGBs) based on the conviction that SGBs create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth, and produce environmental and social benefits. Ultimately, we believe that SGBs can help lift countries out of poverty.
The USAID-ANDE Guatemala Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (GEDI) Fund aims to develop a coordinated set of expanded business support services for entrepreneurs to grow to access capital and markets in Guatemala. This call for concept notes closes on December 15.
The Gender Lens Investment Pay for Results Fund aims to use grant capital to test models for increasing investment into women-led SGBs in emerging markets. This call for concept notes closes on December 23.
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.
Entrepreneurial ecosystems comprise the set of cultural, political, and economic elements that allow entrepreneurs to start, sustain, and scale a new business. While the concept of an entrepreneurial ecosystem is well-established, the evidence base on how exactly ecosystems grow and whether interventions can accelerate this growth is still emerging. This report synthesizes the existing evidence on the complex process of building entrepreneurial ecosystems and offers key lessons from the literature.
With the launch of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, "SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth" has become a rallying cry for practitioners aiming to boost entrepreneurship as a means of economic and social development. However, while the concept of decent work may seem straightforward, clearly defining a “quality job” has proven to be a complex endeavor. The report by ANDE first summarizes how job quality is defined and measured, then provides an overview of the current evidence on the quality of jobs within SMEs, and finally examines the effectiveness of interventions to improve job quality.
We're exploring how ANDE members in East and Southeast Asia navigate through the digital world in our new video series ‘Exploring Digitalization Journeys.’
We featured ANDE members and their entrepreneurs in our communications series ‘Exploring Digitalization Journeys’. This blog meets entrepreneurs of Mercy Corps Indonesia, an international non-profit organization founded in 1979 that has helped people in vulnerable areas; 42 countries and has helped more than 19 million people improve their quality of life.
We featured ANDE members and their entrepreneurs in our communications series ‘Exploring Digitalization Journeys’. This blog meets ONOW Myanmar, a social enterprise committed to delivering financially sustainable positive change in the lives of the entrepreneurs they work with, to hear how they digitally support entrepreneurs in Myanmar.
Given the importance of SGBs to economic growth and job creation, supporting these businesses must be a critical part of the global recovery. To support our members and the overall SGB sector during the ongoing crisis, ANDE is working to understand and meet our members’ evolving needs, providing relevant resources and a platform for sharing adaptation strategies.