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India’s Impact Enterprises Need More Debt Financing to Grow: Here’s How Businesses, Lenders and Regulators Can Make That Happen
Many Indian social entrepreneurs struggle to obtain debt financing, as banks typically steer clear of these young companies, and alternative lenders charge unsustainably high interest rates. Meanwhile, India’s impact investors have shown far more interest in buying stakes in impact enterprises than lending money to them. Sudarshan Sampathkumar and Anuja Kadam at The Bridgespan Group explore solutions to this challenge, based on the findings from a new report.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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What’s the Matter with WASH?: Why Struggling Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Businesses Need More than Just Investment
Despite limitless demand, most water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) businesses – particularly those serving the poorest customers – are struggling to find a market and attract investors. Annie Hall at Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor shares insights from a new report that explores where WASH businesses are going wrong – and how investors and development sector players can help.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise, WASH
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Where’s the Capital for Home-Grown Companies? Why Energy Access Investments in Kenya Need to Go Local
So far this year, 75% of global investment commitments in off-grid solar technology have gone to just three companies — a troubling trend since 2012. And as Kevin Johnstone at the International Institute for Environment and Development points out, many of the founders of the biggest solar companies are North American or European. Focusing on Kenya, he explores why the energy access sector needs more businesses founded, managed and run by local entrepreneurs, and what needs to be done to align investors and capital markets with Kenyan investment opportunities.
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Lack of Capital is Just the Beginning: Why Roof-Top Solar is Facing Greater Challenges Than Many People Think
The solar energy sector is dynamic and growing – but as Rik Teeuwen at Footlight International points out, it's also unsettled, as off-grid solar players navigate challenges ranging from lack of finance to inconsistent regulation. In light of those issues, he pushes back on the argument, expressed by candi solar CEO Philippe Flamand on NextBillion earlier this year, that rooftop solar is a “no-brainer” for micro, small and medium enterprises. The truth, he says, is far more nuanced.
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Reversal of Fortune: Five Ways Biden’s Win Will Boost Impact Investing in Emerging Markets
In the aftermath of the U.S. election, there's been considerable discussion of how Biden’s victory will impact different industries. According to Josh Knauer at JumpScale, one particular sector that will benefit is impact investing. He explains how the work of impact investors had become more difficult during the Trump years, and why there's reason to believe that the incoming administration will give the sector’s efforts in emerging markets a significant boost.
- Categories
- Energy, Finance, Investing, Technology, Transportation
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Taking Control of the Value for Money Narrative: How Innovative Metrics Are Making Impact Part of the Financial Equation
The nonprofit VisionSpring—which provides affordable, high-quality eyeglasses to base of the pyramid customers—realized it needed a metric that could balance cost and impact, while keeping its target customers at the center of decision-making. Analysts at CASE and SoJo discuss the value of the “programmatic value for money metric” VisionSpring implemented, and explore how this type of metric can help organizations consider trade-offs between cost and impact.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise
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Leveraging the COVID-19 Crisis for Local Development: How the Pandemic Can Strengthen Public-Private Collaboration in Africa
The COVID-19 pandemic is a massive humanitarian crisis. But as Malado Kaba, the first female Economy and Finance Minister of the Republic of Guinea argues, it could also be an opportunity for the African continent. She explores how public-private partnerships and improved collaboration across industries and sectors could create sustainable change—if governments take the lead in mobilizing private sector and development partners to support locally driven solutions.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Investing
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A Phone Can Only Do So Much: Why Mobile Access Isn’t Leading To Digital Financial Service Usage Among Women in India
India has made significant progress in financial inclusion in recent years. However low-income working women are not benefiting from this momentum, even when they receive their wages digitally. To better understand why, BSR’s HERproject and MSC have researched the financial behaviors of female garment workers in India. Akhand Tiwari at MSC and James Steady at BSR explore the results, and discuss how the financial inclusion sector should respond.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Telecommunications
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