Small enterprises are often the backbone of the private sector in the developing world, creating jobs and providing a tax base for local government. This report looks at 16 initiatives that support entrepreneurship and what they provide. Although the list covers a wide range, it emphasises international initiatives that work at a community level because that approach is growing in prominence and proving to be effective in development aid.

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Table of contents

Executive summary
Table of contents
1 Introduction
2 Why is entrepreneurship important to development?

2.1 Barriers to entrepreneurship
2.2 ICT and entrepreneurship

3 Entrepreneurship support initiatives

3.1 Acumen Fund
3.2 Cape IT Initiative (CITI)
3.3 Development Gateway
3.4 DevelopmentSpace
3.5 Digital Partners
3.6 Endeavor Global
3.7 Enterprise Development Department of the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID)
3.8 The Foundation for Economic and Business Development (FEBDEV)
3.9 Geekcorps, a division of the International Service Corps
3.10 Grameen Family of Organisations
3.11 National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Malaysia (NAWEM)
3.12 New Ventures
3.13 PEOPLink
3.14 Technoserve
3.15 Trickle Up
3.16 Volunteers in Technical Assistance

4 Trends in the field

4.1 Approaches to entrepreneurship support
4.2 Models for framing an ESI
4.3 A range of services offered
4.4 Wealth creation as a vehicle of social change: the move toward social entrepreneurship
4.5 Applying sound business practices to development aid
4.6 The importance of being choosy: screening participant entrepreneurs carefully
4.7 Focusing on people
4.8 Integrating ICT

5 Conclusions
Annex 1: Inventory of entrepreneurship support initiatives in developing countries
Annex 2: Comparison chart of entrepreneurship support initiatives

 

Acknowledgements

This report was prepared by bridges.org to inform the deliberations of the Business Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Working Group of the UN ICT Task Force. We would like to thank the people and organisations that provided information for this report. We would also like to thank Hewlett-Packard for supporting this work.