Publication database

This document provides the full version of the Business Innovation Facility pilot which provided technical assistance to inclusive businesses in Bangladesh, India, Malawi, Nigeria and Zambia. It discusses business model focus, target audience, progress and common constraints of the 33 inclusive businesses that had received support during the first two years of the pilot.

Based on a review of more than ten case studies, Microinsurance Paper No. 27 identifies barriers to access and provides strategies to overcome them. More specifically, it takes a closer look at three business processes that enable access – enrolment, premium collection and renewal – and some related success factors. The goal is to provide concrete examples of how microinsurance schemes can improve clients’ access to products.

Insurers are using mobile phones to address two main challenges facing the microinsurance sector: increasing efficiency and reaching scale. Microinsurance Paper #26 is based on a review of literature and 13 insurance schemes that are using mobile phones in some capacity. The review reveals good practices and lessons for insurers to consider when implementing mobile-based microinsurance.

This report discusses how agricultural microinsurance can be used to support smallholder farmers in developing countries helping them to cope with the effects of climate change, such as droughts, floods, or increased frequency and severity of infestations. It identifies direct mechanisms to induce disaster risk reduction 'DRR' via micro-insurance, and it analyses the existing agricultural microinsurance products where these mechanisms have been employed.

Research paper #35 provides a selective overview of the current state of research on the impact of microinsurance. Its key purpose is to explore the role played by insurance in developing countries. In reviewing the most recent literature about the impact of microinsurance in developing countries, special attention is given to the issue of statistical identification of the impact, and to the need of highlighting the channels through which microinsurance affects the outcomes. Although the effects of microinsurance are heterogeneous across the studies reviewed, this review shows that micro-insurance seems to achieve markedly positive results under specific provisions.

Many countries are pursuing government-sponsored health insurance as a primary path towards universal health coverage. In these same countries, there are private health microinsurance schemes sponsored by community-based organizations, commercial insurance companies, or other institutions. In Microinsurance Paper #23, the Facility explores the hypothesis that government-sponsored initiatives should collaborate with private actors to accelerate the expansion of health insurance to informal workers and their families. 

This article provides a collection of essays on the topic of 'accelerating entrepreneurship'. It includes lead essays 'Incubators Are Popping Up Like Wildflowers...' from Randall Kempner; 'A Systemic Approach to Accelerating Entrepreneurship' by Mary Walshok; and 'What Do Accelerators Do?' by Susan Cohen.

Research Paper #34 presents results from a randomized control trial in rural China designed to understand whether a change in the timing of the payment of a premium for swine insurance helps overcoming barriers to insurance demand and whether insurance allows farmers to increase investment in activities that expose them to more risk. Findings show that insurance take-up is three times higher among those who were given the option to pay at the end of the insured period; that insurance has a positive impact on investment; and that encouraging insurance purchases can have a positive long run effect on the income and welfare or rural households.

Many innovative products and services are being developed for Base of Pyramid markets - stoves, water purifiers, off-grid power and nutritious foods, for example. However, the companies developing these products have to be innovative and creative in the face of several challenges: low purchasing power, traditional consumer preferences and logistical problems, such as inadequate infrastructure that hamper market growth.This document explores the ways in which companies are tackling these issues and innovating.

This short study in brief examines the factors that can create a social system change in an industry: market dynamics and value chains, public policies and industry norms, full inclusion and empathy, business-social congruence and the culture of change making. The publication is based on surveys with 217 Ashoka Fellows from 42 countries.