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From Nano to Investable: Why Formalising MSMEs Hasn’t Led to Scale, and What India Can Do About It
India has achieved something remarkable over the past decade: Millions of once-informal micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been formalized, and it is now easier to start and register a business, and access credit and government programs and markets. But according to Pranshu Chhabra, Rudra Midhun Kumar and Chiropriya Dasgupta at Quiver, over 99% of these enterprises remain at the "micro" level, and the overwhelming majority of them are classified as “nano,” a subset of the lowest level of the MSME classification. They argue that while India has become very good at bringing enterprises into the formal system, it is struggling to help them move into their next stage of growth: becoming large enough to attract formal investment. They explore this challenge, explaining why the transition from nano to investable cannot be solved by capital alone.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- governance, MSMEs, public policy, scale
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Analysis: The Turbulent AI Era Is Here. The Choices We Make Now Are Critical.
The transition to the AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history. Right now, we are not preparing adequately for that transition. If the world takes the right steps, AI will be a force for good and leave everyone better off.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Global
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Nairobi Targets Creators With New Fees as County Expands Digital Tax Net
The sharpest divide is between local and external filmmakers, with foreign productions paying more than six times what local producers pay for a single shoot.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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ATEC Receives a Letter of Authorisation From the Bangladesh Government to Generate Article 6.2 Carbon Credits
The LOA formalises the Bangladesh government's approval for the international transfer of generated ITMOs, making ATEC the first clean cooking developer to receive an LOA in Bangladesh.
- Categories
- Environment, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Financing AI Transformation in LMICs: What Multilateral Development Banks Must Do Differently
Multilateral development banks have spent the last decade building the foundations of digital economies across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and the broadband networks, digital ID systems and other priorities they've financed are helping to make AI deployments in these markets possible. But as Kunal Walia at Dalberg Advisors explains, this funding often goes toward piloting individual use cases, expanding digital infrastructure or creating an enabling environment, rather than uniting these different components into holistic AI systems that aim to scale. He argues that multilateral development banks must rethink their approach to ensure that the infrastructure they've helped build can actually enable AI transformation.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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Nigeria Launches an Ambitious National Digital Cloud Policy
The final phase will involve scaling government migration, expanding infrastructure, onboarding participating states, strengthening regional interconnection and increasing digital service exports.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Why We Should All Be Worried About AI in Elections
"The more important question is not what happens when AI generates a fake video of a candidate, but what happens when it is embedded in the systems that administer elections themselves — in procurement decisions, biometric voter-verification systems, and data-sharing arrangements."
- Region
- Global
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Eight More Nations Pledge New Circular Economy Roadmaps in Africa
As part of this second phase of the National Roadmaps for the Circular Economy (NCER) program, Angola, Liberia, Madagascar, and Senegal will develop their own roadmaps by identifying priority sectors, aligning institutional efforts, and tailoring strategic guidelines to their local productive structures.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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