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.

Paese/Regione Tema Periodo Budget
Bangladesh
Impiego & sviluppo economico
Assistenza umanitaria & RRC
Cultura / sensibilizzazione allo sviluppo
nothemedefined
Supporto commerciale & inclusione economica
Aiuto alimentare d’emergenza
Sviluppo delle piccole e medie imprese (PMI)
Protezione, accesso & sicurezza
Sensibilizzazione allo sviluppo
Financial policy
15.12.2018 - 31.12.2026
CHF  6’670’000
Contesto 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.
Obiettivi 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. 
Gruppi target

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.

Effetti a medio termine

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.

Risultati

Risultati principali attesi:  

-    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).


Risultati fasi precedenti:   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. 


Direzione/Ufficio responsabile DSC
Credito Cooperazione allo sviluppo
Partner del progetto Partner contrattuale
Economia privata
  • Settore privato straniero Nord
  • Settore privato straniero Sud/Est


Altri partner
Roots of Impact, Germany through a contribution.
Coordinamento con altri progetti e attori 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 Fase in corso Budget Svizzera CHF    6’670’000 Budget svizzero attualmente già speso CHF    5’788’956
Fasi del progetto Fase 1 15.12.2018 - 31.12.2026   (Fase in corso)