Publication database

IIC releases an annual “Year in Retrospect" publication that throws light on investment trends and emerging market developments across key impact sectors such as Financial Inclusion, Agriculture, Healthcare, Technology for Development and Climate-tech. Their research highlights that 2021 has proven to be a strong year for the Indian impact sector, with more than 300 impact focussed enterprises raising $7 Bn in capital. While investment activity was robust across sectors as well as the stage of development of the enterprise, several late-stage companies have raised significant amounts of capital leading to a 135% growth in overall capital raised in 2021 vis a vis 2020.

Between November 2018 and November 2019, Gates Foundation and Mars Edge discussed collaboration opportunities to accelerate the urban go-to-market strategy of Mars Edge’s nutritious savory snack GoMo™, specifically designed to help address nutritional deficiencies of 6-18 year olds in India, with a focus on reaching low-income consumers. The Growth for Growth (G4G) network of service providers set up by the Foundation’s PSP program co-designed this strategy to reach lower-income urban areas. In December 2019, the PSP approved a grant to assess and adapt the model during a market test. As part of the grant, the collaboration between G4G and Mars then continued until December 2020. This case study aims to share the lessons learned throughout this journey, in terms of public-private collaboration and innovation process.

Microinsurance Paper #17 presents lessons from IFFCO-TOKIO's implementation of a livestock insurance product using radio-frequency identification technology. It outlines how IFFCO-TOKIO improved value for clients through new business processes. The case shows that if administered carefully, livestock insurance has the potential to be viable with scale.

This research report uses country level data and expert interviews to understand the critical gender gaps and entrepreneurial solutions to advance the lives of women in Southeast Asia. The study outlines a framework that captures economic empowerment, personal safety and mobility, formal representation, education, health, time and decision-making as seven mutually reinforcing dimensions that are critical to women’s empowerment in Southeast Asia. The report shows that while many development indicators demonstrate that the lives of women in Asia have drastically improved, endemic problems continue to keep them from fulfilling their potential.

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.

The goal of this document is to provide the key principles of social investment in Asia, based on an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with a range of experts. Mapped across the life-cycle of a project, these are broad, high-level principles that work for investments encompassing the SDGs, with specific examples from areas of healthcare, gender, livelihoods and climate in Asia. For social investors looking to incorporate the SDG Impact Standards developed by UNDP12 in their work, the principles can serve as an accessible pathway to provide direction.

The study (i) reviews the definitions and concepts of social enterprises, (ii) outlines the landscape across 10 selected countries in Asia and Latin America, (iii) discusses challenges to scaling as faced by social enterprises, and (iv) presents suggestions for development banks to extend support to social enterprises through public and private sector investments. The study categorizes social enterprises and argues that the comparative advantage of development banks is to support selected social enterprises that are commercially bankable and have the base of the pyramid (BOP) at the core of their business operations. Development banks can support these enterprises—considered as the inclusive businesses of the future—through investing in impact funds and/or public sector loans.

This publication shows how Japanese retailer MUJI has built an inclusive supply chain positively impacting on small producers at the base of the pyramid (BOP), and how its stakeholders perceive its benefits. The report reflects direct feedback gathered during interviews and surveys conducted by IFC with different stakeholders in MUJI's supply chain, including producers, customers, employees, and management. The report highlights key challenges and opportunities that stem from engagement with the BOP producers in emerging markets. It also provides insights into good practice in incorporating the BOP producers into global value chains, drawing on MUJI’s experiences.

Microfinance institutions have started to bundle their basic loans with other financial services, such as health insurance. Using a randomized control trial in Karnataka, India, Research Paper #37 evaluated the impact on loan renewal from mandating the purchase of actuarially-fair health insurance covering hospitalization and maternity expenses. Bundling loans with insurance led to a 16 percentage point (23%) increase in drop-out from microfinance, as many clients preferred to give up microfinance than pay higher interest rates and receive insurance. There was no adverse selection in insurance enrollment, but only because there was a total absence of demand for health insurance. Further, the decrease in microfinance loan renewal reduced clients' access to credit and had negative impacts on their businesses.

In order to ascertain the potential of production & processing of spices in the North East Region (specifically in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland) along with the hill state of Uttarakhand, and to suggest a scalable and market driven way forward, YES BANK in association with IDH conducted an extensive study on establishing a “Business Case for Production and Processing of Spices” in the identified states. The report provides strategic recommendations for spices sector to augment sustainable production practices, value addition, marketability and branding from the identified states. I am confident that the contents of this publication will serve as a useful reference for the industry and prospective investors for planning a range of initiatives in the Spices sector in the identified geography.