NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

In Indonesia, less than half of small businesses have access to formal financing. This fact is staggering given the importance of entrepreneurship in the thriving South Asian economies and it is one of the main reasons why New Ventures hosted its First Annual Investor Forums in India and Indonesia.

Earlier this week, 350 investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and business leaders convened to see the twenty new enterprises being added to the New Ventures portfolio. These entrepreneurs represent a variety of sectors like clean energy and ecotourism, but all share a common vision of markets where sustainable practices lead to even greater market value.

Virginia Barreiro has the full story including the six big winners, but check out a few of the comments overheard from her and others attending the forums:

“There have been significant barriers existing, not only in Indonesia but also in other developing countries, in relation to the development of sustainable SMEs, such as barriers to accessing finance and markets… but the market, globally, is paving a new path of enterprise development, which is more socially responsible, environmentally beneficial, innovative and profitable.”
-Virginia Barreiro, Director, New Ventures

?We are thankful to New Ventures for providing us this opportunity to bring our technology in front of national and global players. This Investor Forum provided us with the perfect platform for networking? From the mentoring phase to the development of our business plan; the New Ventures team has helped us to broaden our horizons and think globally.?
-Dr. Abhay Shendye of ABT Bioproducts

“WRI’s New Ventures program has identified several attractive deals achieving triple bottom-line impacts for our fund, and we will be looking closely at the businesses they identify in India. Also, the New Ventures program adds value for us because the mentoring program raises these businesses to the level where they are better prepared to interact with us and other investors.?
-Jennifer Morris, Verde Ventures fund manager at Conservation International.