We offer a comprehensive range of services to support the growth of dynamic and inclusive start-up ecosystems, with a strong emphasis on social and impact enterprises. Our work includes ecosystem assessments, mapping of entrepreneurial networks, and analysis of regulatory and financial environments affecting start-ups, impact enterprises and social innovations. We carry out detailed research into market barriers, investment trends, and the needs of early-stage businesses, helping to identify gaps and opportunities for intervention. 

Our services include the design and delivery of tailored strategies and capacity-building programmes for entrepreneurs as well as accelerators and incubators. We also advise on access to finance and investment readiness, with a focus on innovative and blended finance. We support institutional strengthening of micro finance institutions and systems. We facilitate connections between entrepreneurs and key ecosystem actors by organising investor matchmaking events, stakeholder dialogues, and policy roundtables.

Additionally, we support the creation of mentorship schemes and peer learning platforms, ensuring entrepreneurs have access to the resources, networks, and policy support they need to succeed. We place a strong focus on ensuring that underrepresented groups — such as women, youth, and marginalised communities — are included and supported through targeted outreach, inclusive programme design, and advocacy for enabling policies that lower entry barriers and promote equitable growth.

Our team applies systemic approaches to enhance market linkages and value chain performance. We work with local actors to identify constraints and opportunities, facilitating inclusive growth and improved market access for small producers and businesses.  We deeply understand the constraints of large businesses in terms of their procurement needs, as well as the characteristics of various intermediaries and small businesses across the chain and we help drive strategies for holistic and business driven development of value chains even in challenging markets. We have particular expertise in supporting the agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, and mining sectors among others, as well as integrating environmental sustainability and gender equity into value chain strategies.

We help create an enabling environment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with a particular focus on impact and social enterprises, by understanding their specific localised barriers and then strengthening business development services (BDS) and capacity building across various ecosystem actors. Our work involves research, assessment, and analysis as well as strategy setting, innovation facilitation, and program design. 

While we can work directly with SMEs in all of these areas, we often work in collaboration with incubators, accelerators and other BDS providers to help them craft their own strategies and approaches for maximal impact. We have experience working with entrepreneurs and SMEs at all levels of their entrepreneurship journey – from ideation to scaling, and beyond. We also believe in the power of collaboration and systemic action: we facilitate public-private partnerships, and we help design large scale impact measurement and management including on multistakeholder partnerships. We aim to reduce barriers to entry and growth, particularly for women-led businesses and enterprises in fragile settings.

Our team has extensive experience in global research and strategy setting for impact investing, innovative and blended finance, and access to finance for SMEs, including social and impact enterprises.  We help carry out systemic analysis on national or regional SDG aligned investment opportunities and have experience across the spectrum of impact investing, from impact-first to finance-first approaches and using a wide range of innovative instruments. We also work with individual investors to help craft impact measurement approaches and assist with their investment strategy from pipeline to exit. 

A thriving private sector depends on effective and transparent policy frameworks. We support governments, development actors, and business associations in developing and implementing policies that foster entrepreneurship, investment, and social / inclusive innovation. This includes recommendations for regulatory simplification, public-private dialogue, and strategies to formalise the informal economy. Our approach ensures that reforms are grounded in evidence and are responsive to the needs of local businesses. To this end we help guide, facilitate and lead large scale participatory stakeholder engagement through a mix of hands-on approaches rooted in collaborative leadership.