Small, Growing Businesses and Employment

Beyond the Numbers – Decoding the Gender Gap in Financing MSMEs in India

Partners: Villgro, ANDE India, USAID, Caspian Debt Women-run micro, small and medium enterprises (WMSMEs) account for approximately only 20 percent of all MSMEs in India. WMSMEs are constrained by various challenges, principally access to finance at different stages of the … Read More

Vulnerability to Resilience: Fostering a Just Transition for MSMEs in India

Partner: World Resources Institute (WRI) India Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises play a vital role in India’s economy, contributing significantly to employment generation and overall economic growth. However, they often face unique challenges such as limited access to technology, financial … Read More

Enabling Integrated Enterprise Development –
From Siloed Solutions to Systemic Change 

Sharon Buteau

Given the multidimensionality of poverty, a combination of well-thought-out interventions is required to address the many interconnected challenges related to development. Complex interventions are increasingly being implemented in the area of livelihood creation, rural development and community health as a … Read More

Can ‘Hybrid’ Models Work for Women in Rural India? Insights from a Field Visit

Kaavyayani Pal

“I was not allowed outside of my home, so I did not know about any job opportunities.” Kavita* — Orakhan Village, Uttarakhand Kavita* speaks softly as her daughter falls asleep on a bed next to us. It is a sunny winter … Read More

From Margins to Mainstream: State and Private Initiatives Shaping Women’s Collectives in the Digital Economy

Sharon Buteau, Vidyuth Sreenivasan, Mridulya Narasimhan, John Victor Arun Kumar

As the world moves towards an increasingly interconnected and technology-driven future, Indian businesses have not only embraced this paradigm shift but are actively reaping its immense benefits. However, this disruptive growth in e-commerce and social commerce has not borne equal … Read More

Making ‘Hybrid’ Work for Women: Emerging Insights and Opportunities for Moving the Needle

Partners: Zoom Inc, IWWAGE The COVID pandemic has re-defined the nature of work, and brought different working models such as remote and hybrid working arrangements into the spotlight across the globe. In India, where advancing women’s labour force participation in … Read More

SARDI India MSME Tech Policy Fellowship: Emerging Insights and the Way Forward

Partners: USAID, DAI There are over 63 million MSMEs in India, 99% of which are microenterprises. Over 80% of those microenterprises do not employ any workers and nearly 70% of enterprises are not registered with any statutory office, thus being … Read More

Hybrid Work and its Effect on Women’s Labour Force Participation: A Policy Review

Nikore Associates, LEAD at Krea University, IWWAGE, Zoom Video Communications

COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns led to severe disruptions in the global economy, and redefined the idea of the ‘workspace’. Global trends suggest that organisations across industries are shifting towards a hybrid model, where workers can work from home as … Read More

How Far Is the Nearest Hospital? Accurately Estimating Travel Distance and Time in Social Surveys

Nelson Mathews, Shruti Kakade

“Living on a remote island in Pulicat, it is difficult for us to take people to a hospital during medical emergencies. Just last month, a village resident suffered a snake bite but passed away while he was being transferring to … Read More

Empowering Nano Entrepreneurs to Transform India’s Economy

Sharvi Dublish, Abhishek Gupta

In India, the ingenuity, vision, and limitless potential of nano entrepreneurs represent a tremendous and largely untapped opportunity. According to the baseline report of a longitudinal study on credit access for nano enterprises, conducted by LEAD at Krea University, nano entrepreneurs are … Read More