Publication database

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) launched the Advancing Women’s Empowerment Fund (AWEF) in 2019 with support from the Visa Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The overall goal of AWEF-funded projects is to address the gender financing gap for women-owned small and growing businesses (SGBs) in developing economies. The first round of grantmaking, AWEF Asia, funded eight entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) in Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, Pakistan, and India, as well as programs serving the region as a whole. This report summarizes the lessons learned from these grants.

Following the request of the Government of Cambodia, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN) have conducted the present landscape study. This study includes a market study of current inclusive business models in Cambodia and an assessment of the enabling environment, and provides recommendations for promoting inclusive businesses in Cambodia.

This report presents the main messages of the Second ASEAN Inclusive Business Summit that took place on 1 November 2019 in Bangkok. As a result of efforts to promote inclusive business at the ASEAN and national levels, the majority of ASEAN Member States are engaging actively in inclusive business policy development. ASEAN leaders have commended and encouraged governments and private sector actors to continue promoting inclusive business, as stated in the ASEAN Chairman’s Statement of the 35th ASEAN Summit. A framework for the development of effective inclusive business policy instruments has emerged through the experience of frontrunner countries, highlighting eight strategic areas of inclusive business promotion.

With the support of Grow Asia, the Cambodia Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture (CPSA) was launched in May 2016 in order to link smallholder farmers to the market. CPSA focuses on six key crops: cassava, coconut, palm sugar, pepper, rice and vegetables. This publication provides a market snapshot for these crops and outlines CPSA's strategic approach. 

What lies behind a successful customer-centric organization? This case study looks at the process by which customer centricity has evolved and has been shaped over time within AMK, a Cambodian microfinance institution (MFI). It shows the crucial role that leadership and upper management play in building and sustaining a customer-centric culture and practice. 

The Thomson Reuters Foundation's work in Southeast Asia continues to prove that social entrepreneurs are at the forefront of driving change and creating social impact. The legal structure that social entrepreneurs choose for their venture can have a significant bearing on their ability to achieve social change. The guide identifies the advantages and disadvantages of each structure and sets out the relevant registration procedures, regulatory and governance considerations, tax treatment as well as finance and fundraising options – an understanding of all of this is so crucial to ensuring the sustainability, good governance and success of a social venture. 

Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK) participated in the ILO Microfinance for Decent Work (MF4DW) action research from 2008-2012. As part of this global experimental research, AMK introduced a financial education programme in two rural branches. The programme aimed to address challenges that clients faced in regard to the risk management strategies they use and their levels of indebtedness. The impact of the financial education programme on clients’ financial attitude and behaviour, risk management strategies, asset building, over-indebtedness and multiple borrowing, and vulnerability, was measured employing a difference-in-difference methodology. The econometric analysis is based on a balanced three-wave panel data set with target and control groups. It shows that AMK’s financial education programme had the strongest impact on the repayment behaviour of clients with a significant reduction of 3.4 per cent in late repayments. The innovation also had significant and positive impact on asset building outcome variables such as insurance take-up with a 10 per cent increase. The programme positively influenced financial attitude as shown by a significant decrease in client belief that it is impossible to save, clients’ association of savings and security increasing by 1 per cent as well as changing attitudes towards borrowing. However, the analysis also shows insignificant and/or unexpected results for other outcome variables, which may be due to some issues with the experimental design of the research and the survey instrument. It is therefore possible that the innovation may have had a stronger impact than actually measured and reported in this document.