Publication database

The Partnership Co-design Toolkit offers a disciplined approach to co-designing business models for resilient value chain partnerships. It builds upon MIT D-Lab learnings from designing and testing the P-ACT Conversation tool and SEED’s experience with their Entreprise toolkit; as well as an in-depth literature review of existing partnership design and facilitation tools.

What if world-leading organizations teamed up to develop, experiment with, and scale technology and business solutions to global poverty? This report is a reflection of the Practical Impact Alliance (PIA)’s journey and what MIT D-Lab learned from building and supporting the PIA network. The insights are also relevant for other intrapreneurs, practitioners, and network operators seeking to drive innovation, build capacity or foster collective action in the inclusive business or international development sectors.

In recent years, there has been growing interest and funding dedicated to technical assistance designed to strengthen the commercial and development impact of businesses in developing markets. However, relatively little is known about the nature and effectiveness of these initiatives. Designed to address this knowledge gap, this paper focuses on efforts by development finance institutions (DFIs) to provide technical assistance to agribusinesses, which receive 30% of all TA. The input for this analysis was obtained through primary and secondary research, including interviews with 11 DFIs. The feedback from DFIs was that they expect the provision of inclusive TA in agriculture to rise. However, to catalyse greater resource allocation towards inclusive TA, respondents agreed the evidence case needs to be clear both in terms of commercial and development impact.

This guide shows how large companies can collaborate with other actors to build business ecosystems that enable small and medium sized companies (SMEs) to thrive. Based on concrete examples, it establishes elements of “Market Building Collaboration” and points out an agenda for action for large companies, the public sector and SME support institutions.

The authors aim to catalyze a competitive marketplace of companies providing smallholder farmers with a choice of affordable, inclusive and high-quality services. For this they are building a common understanding of the key barriers and opportunities for providing smallholders tailored, high-quality services at scale, coupled with advice, technical assistance and de-risking finance to pilot new business models and partnerships.