SSIE-B - Scaling Social and Impact Enterprises in Bangladesh
By deploying innovative blended finance solutions and Swiss expertise on impact investment, SDC will accelerate the growth of social and impact-oriented start-up enterprises in Bangladesh. This will be achieved by improving the services available to entrepreneurs, stimulating investments into early-stage social enterprises, and creating incentives for enterprises to become more impact oriented. It will allow Switzerland to test a mechanism to leverage private resources for development, and improve the lives of poor men and women in a highly cost-effective manner, multiplying the impact of ODA resources.
| Country/region | Topic | Period | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bangladesh |
Employment & economic development Humanitarian Assistance & DRR Culture / development awareness nothemedefined
Business support & economic inclusion
Emergency food assistance SME development Protection, access & security Development awareness Financial policy |
15.12.2018
- 31.12.2026 |
CHF 6’670’000
|
- Foreign private sector North
- Foreign private sector South/East
-
Sector according to the OECD Developement Assistance Commitiee categorisation BUSINESS & OTHER SERVICES
EMERGENCY RESPONSE
INDUSTRY
EMERGENCY RESPONSE
BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES
Unallocated / Unspecified
Sub-Sector according to the OECD Developement Assistance Commitiee categorisation Business support services and institutions
Emergency food aid
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development
Material relief assistance and services
Financial policy and administrative management
Promotion of development awareness (non-sector allocable)
Aid Type Mandate without fiduciary fund
Project and programme contribution
Technical assistance inclusive experts
Project number 7F09990
| Background | Giant conglomerates of social businesses like Grameen and BRAC and their charismatic founders inspire many young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. Many start-ups seek to generate an impact for SDC’s target group through at least partially commercial approaches. However, business acumen and access to finance are major bottlenecks for these start-ups to go to scale. Switzerland has a clear-cut comparative advantage in the field of impact investment. One third of impact-oriented assets globally are managed in Switzerland (ResponsAbility, Symbiotics, etc.). SDC has pioneered and capitalized on first experiences with innovative instruments to align social and financial returns of social enterprises such as Social Impact Incentives (SIINC), and is supporting capacity building and innovation via the Social Finance Academy. |
| Objectives | Poor and disadvantaged women and men move out of poverty and improve their well-being through opportunities on inclusive markets as customers, suppliers and/or employees of social and impact enterprises. |
| Target groups |
Direct beneficiaries: - Incubators, accelerators and other service providers; - Social and impact enterprises; - Government of Bangladesh partners (improve regulation) Indirect, but ultimate beneficiaries: Low income men and women in Bangladesh as customers, suppliers and/or employees of the social and impact enterprises. |
| Medium-term outcomes |
1. Up to 150 social enterprises grow and create additional income and employment for poor and disadvantaged people – particularly women - after having received tailored capacity building through incubators; 2. Up to 21 social enterprises create additional income and employment for poor and disadvantaged people– particularly women –after having scaled their operations thanks to private investments catalyzed by SDC; 3. Donors, impact investors and government promote an enabling environment for social entrepreneurship and impact investing and improve access to finance for social enterprises through innovative blended finance instruments. |
| Results |
Expected results: - Incubators/local organisations more effective due to SSIE-B support; - Social Enterprises receive tailored support; - Social Enterprises secure appropriate investment; - SIINC-based payments/matching funds ensure financial viability in the short to medium term; - Robust and convincing social impact data made available (with sex disaggregation, where feasible). Results from previous phases: Promoting social entrepreneurship has been successfully tested in Latin America. Innovative and blended finance have also been tested in another programme, both of which serve as lessons learnt for this programme. |
| Directorate/federal office responsible |
SDC |
| Credit area |
Development cooperation |
| Project partners |
Contract partner Private sector Other partners Roots of Impact, Germany through a contribution. |
| Coordination with other projects and actors | There are potential synergies with a DFID funded programme, Business Finance for the Poor in Bangladesh (BFP-B) and the Australian funded Scaling Frontier Innovation (SFI) Program that covers all of South and South East Asia and for now only has one partnership with a Social Enterprise in Bangladesh. Contact has been established with the BFP-B programme, which will end soon and has a more narrow focus on financial technology. Further synergies may arise with SDC funded programmes in Bangladesh, depending on the nature of the Social Enterprises that will be selected for support under the Capacity Building and Catalytic Funding pillars. |
| Budget | Current phase Swiss budget CHF 6’670’000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF 5’824’497 |
| Project phases | Phase 2 01.01.2024 - 31.10.2027 (Current phase) Phase 1 15.12.2018 - 31.12.2026 (Current phase) |
