Impact Investing in Africa: A Case Study on East Africa
Dr. Jamie Van Leeuwen and Mr. Michael Feinberg
Wilson Center 

In this policy paper, Public Policy Fellow Jamie Van Leeuwen and Michael Feinberg analyze the case study of Staffable, a social impact company in Kampala, Uganda and their approach to measuring the efficacy of social impact. They provide policy recommendations on how philanthropists, investors, and non-governmental organizations can standardize performance metrics to measure social impact investing, as well as recommend investments in workforce development in order to reduce dependency. 

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State of the Small & Growing Business Sector:

2017 Impact Report

by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs 

Since 2009 ANDE has been tracking the state of the small and growing business (SGB) sector to assess its growth and impact on emerging market economies. This year’s report begins with an overview of SGB intermediaries in 2017. including data on capacity development services, direct investments into SGBs, and donor funding. Next, the report focuses on trends and activities at ANDE’s seven regional chapters that were active in 2017: Brazil, Central America/Mexico, East Africa, East and Southeast Asia, India, South Africa, and West Africa.  

Here are some report insights. Check out the report to get the full picture.

Capacity Development Services

• Over half of ANDE members say they prioritize gender inclusion. Of the capacity development providers that completed the survey, 77 percent said they prioritize gender inclusion, as opposed to 54 percent of investors.
• GALI has identified over 500 accelerators working globally, at least 218 of which operate in emerging markets. 

• Corporate foundations are important funders in the sector, and corporate social responsibility units often facilitate important capacity development services. However, data shows that the majority of ANDE member partnerships focus on the corporation’s core business unit.

SGB Investing

• Over 400 investment vehicles have launched in the past 10 years that invest in emerging market SGBs, with an estimated US $11 billion in committed capital.

• Forty-seven investment vehicles launched in 2017, and a third of these focus on the information, communications, and technology (ICT) sector.

• According to the Emerging Market Private Equity Association (EMPEA), US $217 million was invested in deals US $2 million and under in 2017, which represents 21 percent of total emerging market deals.

Donor Funding for the SGB Sector

• In 2016, Funding for SMEs declined to US $3.7 billion from US $4.1 billion in 2015.

• European donors and institutions continued to make up 80 percent of all donor disbursements to SMEs in 2016.

• In 2016, Turkey received the most SME funding for the third consecutive year, receiving one third of all funding allocated to SMEs from 2012 to 2016.

Regional Insights

ANDE’s regional chapters promote collaboration and knowledge sharing among local ANDE members and support regional activities and advocacy efforts that support SGBs in the region. This section of the report highlights data on each entrepreneurial ecosystem, and regional leaders’ perspectives on key trends for each region. 

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Financial Inclusion Hype vs. Reality: Deconstructing the 2017 Findex Results
Center for Financial Inclusion

This report spotlights key financial inclusion indicators, including account usage, borrowing, saving and resilience, among others, and takes an in-depth look at six countries that help tell the story of financial inclusion progress around the world. In short, we find that after correcting for account dormancy in developing countries, account growth has slowed, the access-usage gap is widening, credit is flat and savings is declining. A bright spot, however, is the proliferation in the use of digital payments.

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Women, Business, and the Law 2018
World Bank Group

In its 5th edition, Women, Business and the Law introduces scoring to better inform the reform agenda. The report tracks progress made over the past two years and identifies opportunities to ensure economic empowerment for all.

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RENEW 2017 Impact Report
RENEW

In this report, RENEW takes a closer look at their business model and the Impact Angel Network’s (IAN) portfolio in Ethiopia to see how they complement and intrinsically support the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The IAN’s current portfolio includes companies from the energy, coffee, teff, sesame, juice, textile, emergency care and logistics industries.

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