Description
On this description around new ventures works at the intersection of three defining trends entrepreneurship.
As the world’s population rises,
how can business help to meet the
ever-increasing needs of a growing
world while protecting threatened
resources such as clean air, water
and other natural resources?
NEW VENTURES ACCOMPLISHMENTS
255
Provided
business development
support to
innovative environmentally
focused enterprises
203
Facilitated
million dollars in
investment into
these companies
24,000
Supported the
creation of
local jobs in
2010 alone
This question is especially relevant
in emerging markets, where
population growth is expected to
continue alongside rapid economic
growth in the coming decades.
In these emerging economies, small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) play
a pivotal role in driving economic
development. They can shape
growth that is both economically
and environmentally sustainable.
New Ventures works in six key emerging
economies around the world to promote
the growth of successful SMEs with
positive environmental impacts. We
support businesses that ofer substitutes
or solutions to resource-intensive
products or services (clean technologies,
renewable energy) and/or responsibly use
natural resources (organic agriculture,
sustainable forestry). We help companies
receive adequate business skills training
and access capital and the appropriate
markets for their goods and services.
New Ventures works at the intersection of
three de?ning trends: entrepreneurship,
environment and emerging markets.
New Ventures is headquartered
in Washington, DC, at the World
Resources Institute (WRI), one of the
world’s leading environmental think
tanks. New Ventures has access to
WRI’s technical and research expertise,
as well as connections to a global
network of experts in ?elds such as
biodiversity, clean energy, air quality,
natural resource management, and
transportation. New Ventures and its
partners share WRI’s commitment
to providing innovative paths to a
sustainable planet through work that is
accurate, fair, and independent.
WRI’s mission is to move human society
to live in ways that protect Earth’s
environment and its capacity to provide
for the needs and aspirations of current
and future generations. WRI is a global
environmental think tank that goes
beyond research to put ideas into action.
It works with governments, companies,
and civil society to build solutions
to urgent environmental challenges.
WRI’s transformative ideas protect the
earth and promote development because
sustainability is essential to meeting
human needs and ful?lling human
aspirations in the future.
WRI spurs progress by providing
practical strategies for change and
efective tools to implement them.
Success is measured in the form of
new policies, products and practices
that shift the ways governments work,
companies operate and people act. WRI
operates globally because today’s
problems know no boundaries. WRI is
an avid communicator because people
everywhere are inspired by ideas,
empowered by knowledge, and moved
to change by greater understanding.
New Ventures provides support to
innovative small and medium enterprises
in six of the world’s most dynamic
emerging economies: Brazil, China,
Colombia, India, Indonesia and Mexico.
These businesses underpin economic
development, create jobs, provide solid
?nancial returns to their investors
and address the world’s most critical
environmental challenges. The activities
of New Ventures and its collaboration
with environmental, philanthropic,
business and policy leaders inspire
thought leadership relating to
environmental entrepreneurship
and enable its growth in emerging
markets. As a result, environmentally-
focused entrepreneurs are able to
transform their ideas into successful,
growing companies that help reduce
pollution, increase clean energy, protect
biodiversity and improve communities’
quality of life.
As one of the earliest organizations
working with SMEs in emerging markets,
New Ventures brings years of in-country
expertise and insight to its strategies and
operations. As one of the only business
development service providers working
speci?cally with environmental SMEs,
New Ventures is uniquely positioned not
only to help individual companies, but
also to in?uence and address barriers to
the growth of the sector as a whole.
New Ventures works through on-
the-ground partnerships with six
Local Centers that, alongside its
Washington, DC hub, form a dynamic
global network to promote the growth of
environmental entrepreneurship.
135,000
Tons of CO2e reduced by New
Ventures companies in 2010, the
equivalent of removing over 112,000
cars from the road for one year
1,490,448
Hectares of land placed under
sustainable management by New
Ventures companies in 2010, an area
greater than that of Connecticut
The New Ventures
Global Network
Our Global Network consists of six Local Centers and one Global Hub,
housed at the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC.
New Ventures Colombia
YEAR FOUNDED: 2008
New Ventures Mexico
YEAR FOUNDED: 2000
New Ventures Brazil
YEAR FOUNDED: 2002
Global Hub
WASHINGTON, DC
$1,217,436
The amount spent on business
development services for New Ventures
entrepreneurs in 2010
This number translates into the
creation of over $917 million of local
economic growth through revenue
generation ($858,492,223) and
employee wages ($58,524,390).
30,000+ = The number of
training hours New Ventures
has provided to companies
since 1999
$705 = The number of dollars
generated by New Ventures
entrepreneurs for every dollar
spent on training and business
acceleration services
New Ventures India
YEAR FOUNDED: 2006
New Ventures China
YEAR FOUNDED: 2006
New Ventures Indonesia
YEAR FOUNDED: 2005
OVER THE PAST DECADE, New Ventures has
successfully established a strong local presence in six
key emerging economies: Brazil, China, Colombia,
India, Indonesia and Mexico. These countries are
home to 46% of the world’s population and account
for 25% of the protected biodiversity areas on the
planet. New Ventures has created a network of
six Local Centers, formed with its partners in the
countries where it works. Every Local Center is led
by a New Ventures
Country Director with
extensive experience
and expertise.
Each New Ventures
Local Center has built
a support network for
local entrepreneurs,
drawing from
investors, ?nancial institutions, development
agencies, government and policymakers, academia
and business schools, large companies and
multinationals, and other leading think tanks and non-
governmental organizations (NGOs). These actors
each play a unique role in providing the resources
and technical support that environmentally focused
SMEs need to thrive and grow. The partnerships
also enable New Ventures to identify and address
speci?c barriers to environmental entrepreneurship
from within each country of operation.
Leveraging
Effective Partnerships
New Ventures Mexico, one of
the most established centers in
the New Ventures network, is
recognized as the country’s leading
environmental business accelerator.
In order to increase support around
environmental entrepreneurship
in Mexico’s business community,
New Ventures Mexico established
The Sustainable Minds Network,
Mexico’s ?rst network of business
mentors aimed exclusively at
environmental entrepreneurship.
New Ventures focuses on
three core areas essential to
the growth of environmental
entrepreneurship in emerging
markets: Business Development,
Investment Facilitation and
Global Network Building.
Strategy
Developing Successful Businesses
Business development lies at the core of the
New Ventures strategy.
Environmentally focused enterprises are carefully
selected to participate in New Ventures mentoring and
acceleration programs. Each Local Center has a locally
adapted curriculum, but the focus and results are the same
across the board: enterprises prepared to manage growth;
attract investment capital; and assess their own ?nancial,
environmental, and social performance. Services ofered
by New Ventures include one-on-one mentoring with
business leaders, access to investors, venues to connect
with peers in order to share best practices and explore
partnerships, and training workshops around key business
and management skills.
In addition to working with individual businesses,
New Ventures drives broader change by engaging and
creating partnerships with civil society, government,
investors, and multinational and large companies to support
entrepreneurial solutions to sustainable development.
1
Facilitating Investment to Spur Growth
New Ventures helps to grow the pool of both available
and invested capital to address the funding needs of
environmental SMEs, enabling their businesses to grow and
their positive environmental and social impacts to increase.
New Ventures companies seek investment from a variety
of investors, including commercial
banks, angel investors and venture
capitalists. Annual Investor Forums
are held in each New Ventures country,
showcasing companies chosen for the
New Ventures program to an audience
of potential investors and business
partners to help attract ?nancing.
New Ventures also encourages the
?ow of capital to the environmental
SME sector as a whole by providing
investor-targeted research, and promoting new mechanisms
for evaluating environmental impacts. New Ventures is
leading the way in creating rigorous standards for investors to
understand and assess the environmental and social impacts
of SMEs in emerging markets.
Creating a Vibrant Global Network
New Ventures is building a vibrant and strong global network
for environmentally focused SMEs to share knowledge, learn
from each other and seize opportunities for collaboration
across borders.
This Global Network allows New Ventures
to have an impact beyond the companies
and countries that it works with directly. It
also allows the Local Centers to learn from
each other’s successes and failures through
staf exchanges and annual Country Director
meetings. A robust internal communications
platform encourages communication
across the Global Network and helps to
identify collaborative opportunities between
diferent Local Centers.
The New Ventures Global Portfolio, a select group of
entrepreneurs with strong ?nancial performance and high
growth potential, highlights the importance of a strong Global
Network. Companies in the Global Portfolio hope to raise
capital from international investors and build partnerships
beyond their home countries. New Ventures facilitates cross-
country connections in today’s increasingly global economy.
2 3
An investor poses
a question to an
entrepreneur at a
New Ventures China
Investor Forum.
Facilitating
Investment
to Spur Growth
Developing Successful Businesses:
Proving the Concept
IN 1999, WHEN NEW VENTURES WAS FOUNDED to
build capacity and support environmentally-focused SMEs
in emerging markets, the concept of building a “greener
economy” was challenged by skeptics. New Ventures itself
was a start-up pioneering a new path to environmental
entrepreneurship. Since then, New Ventures’ work has
helped to spread a clear message: SMEs can provide
solutions to environmental and social problems while also
creating pro?ts. Investors are seeing an ever-increasing
pipeline of environmental businesses that can create
attractive investments.
New Ventures has successfully helped SMEs grow and meet
the challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change and
water scarcity in six key emerging markets. The growth
of environmental entrepreneurship and New Ventures’
successes has been re?ected in the increasing number of
applicants to the New Ventures programs each year. For
example, in one year the number of applicants to New
Ventures Colombia grew from 90 to 160.
TO DATE, NEW VENTURES HAS successfully facilitated
the transfer of $203M in investment into companies that
have participated in its enterprise development programs.
After receiving tailored business strategy advice from
investment and business professionals, New Ventures
companies are well prepared to showcase their businesses to
potential investors and attract the capital they need to grow.
Pro Nature, an Indian company selling certi?ed organic
foods such as ?our, jam and rice, received investment
through its connection to New Ventures. Large grocery
stores chains in India wanted to stock Pro Nature’s products,
but the company needed to expand production in order to
meet the demand from these new buyers. New Ventures
India introduced Pro Nature to an Indian angel investor who
provided $200,000 for Pro Nature to scale its operations and
become a supplier for large grocery chains.
New Ventures companies provide local communities with jobs.
“New Ventures has helped me grow
my business. We all know where
we’re heading, but we don’t know
exactly the methods of how to get
there and how to pass the message
to more people. New Ventures is very
good at that.”
Hugo Hernandez, CEO, Vidrios Marte,
a New Ventures enterprise
New Ventures companies come from the raw materials,
manufacturing and services sectors, and provide a wide
range of products and services. The companies vary in
revenue and number of employees, but all are commercially
viable and looking to grow both in size and impact.
Expanding Investor Networks
New Ventures works to drive investment across the
environmentally focused SME sector by supporting the
creation of investor networks and funds that invest in
environmental entrepreneurship.
Stratus Investment Fund in Brazil ?rst became involved with
New Ventures at the inaugural New Ventures Investor Forum
in 2000. Five years of engagement later, Stratus launched
VC III, a $15 million venture capital fund designed to invest
solely in environmentally sustainable enterprises.
In Indonesia, New Ventures played a major role in the
establishment of the ?rst angel investor group to focus
on Indonesian companies with positive social and
environmental impacts. By providing this group, PT Social
Enterprise Indonesia (PT SEI), with tangible examples
of dynamic and innovative SMEs as potential companies
in which to invest, New Ventures was instrumental
in convincing them that there would be a strong deal
pipeline. New Ventures Indonesia advised PT SEI during
its formation stage, and the
group committed $2 million
in investment to the country’s
social enterprise sector.
In India, New Ventures
created the ?rst “Green
Investors Network” to
convene angel investors,
social enterprise funds, seed
and venture capital funds,
banks and corporate investors
in India interested in
investing in environmentally
focused enterprises. As part
of the network, members take part in deal ?ow sessions
between entrepreneurs and investors and round table
discussions while also receiving access to the New Ventures
India mentors and coaches’ network.
“Before working with New Ventures, our business was disconnected from the support
networks for sustainable companies. . . . The New Ventures team gave us visibility, helped
us strategize, and provided us access to potential partners and investors.”
David Velasco of Café La Selva, a New Ventures enterprise
New Ventures Country Director
Sanjoy Sanyal speaks to Indian
investors.
Under WRI’s rigorous peer-review
process, New Ventures has
successfully published cutting-edge
research that has in?uenced its
target ?nancial markets audience.
Providing Thought Leadership through
Solution-Driven Research
In “The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business
Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid” produced
in partnership with the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), New Ventures measured the
market opportunity of the base of the economic pyramid
(BoP) using the World Bank’s national household data. This
research has been widely cited in follow-up publications,
including extensively in the 2010 JP Morgan/Rockefeller
Foundation report “Impact Investments: An Emerging Asset
Class,” which de?nes and sizes the current opportunity for
impact investing.
New Ventures provided an overview of the barriers
to growth for SMEs in developing countries in “On
the Frontiers of Finance: Scaling up Investment
in Sustainable Small and Medium Enterprises
in Developing Countries.” This publication is currently used
in the orientation curricula for the Aspen Institute of
Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and has been referenced
by numerous impact investors to provide a view of the market
when launching new funds.
New Ventures released “Powering Up: The
Investment Potential of Energy Service
Companies in India.” This research led to the
exploration and piloting of ?nancial products for
energy efciency projects by the Industrial Bank of India,
India’s fourth largest bank.
New Ventures published “Power to the People:
Investing in Clean Energy for the Base of
the Pyramid in India” with the Centre for
Development Finance at the Institute for Financial
Management and Research (CDF-IFMR). This report
calculated the size of the clean-energy market servicing
India’s rural poor. Within a few months of its release, the
publication was being used by leading Indian clean energy
companies, such as New Ventures enterprise Husk Power
Systems, to set goals for growth and to present the strength of
their market opportunity to potential investors.
2007
2009
2009
2010
INVESTORS WISHING to create positive social
and environmental impacts with their investments
increasingly seek to quantify these impacts. In order
to drive greater investment into enterprises like New
Ventures’ companies, New Ventures is collaborating
with the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN)
Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS)
team to develop standardized environmental metrics
for SMEs. IRIS is recognized as an industry leader
working to provide a
common language for
describing the social
and environmental
performance of an
organization.
Building on WRI’s
extensive expertise
in developing tools
to measure greenhouse gas emissions, water usage
and ecosystems services, New Ventures has led the
Energy, Environment and Water (EEW) Working Group
of IRIS to develop a core set of indicators for energy
(renewable energy and energy efciency), climate change
(greenhouse gas emissions reduced, carbon ofsets
generated) and water (quality and availability).
To help entrepreneurs on the ground report credible
data to investors in an efcient and efective manner,
New Ventures partnered with clean energy investment
fund E+Co to launch the Toolkit for Impact Measurement
(TIMe) in 2010. TIMe resources have been provided to
entrepreneurs and to in-country practitioners, laying the
groundwork for a simple company-wide environmental
management plan to help SMEs improve their company’s
operating efciencies and environmental impact, thereby
reducing risks and improving bottom-line costs.
Through its engagement with New Ventures, the Global
Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS), a standardized
rating system for emerging market SMEs and impact
investment funds, now requires environmental criteria
in their enterprise and fund level ratings. In August
2010, eleven leading emerging market fund managers
agreed to use the GIIRS rating system in their investment
decision-making and have raised up to US$1 billion to
invest in high impact GIIRS-rated enterprises. By serving
on the GIIRS emerging markets standards advisory
committee, New Ventures played a key role in embedding
environmental metrics into the rating system, raising
the visibility of environmentally focused businesses in
emerging markets.
Entrepreneurs at a
TIMe seminar review
methodology for
quantifying their
GHG emissions.
Leading on Environmental Impact Measurement
New Ventures Mexico enterprise ¡Échale! a tu casa helps families in Mexico build their own sustainable homes and communities.
NEW VENTURES HAS TRANSITIONED from a group of
individual Local Centers creating on-the-ground change into
a global network supporting environmental entrepreneurship.
In 2008, New Ventures held its ?rst Directors Meeting,
bringing together its six Country Directors to collaborate on
strategy and to launch the New Ventures Global Network.
Directors Meetings are now held at least annually, providing
opportunities to discuss successes and challenges, as well
as trends in environmental entrepreneurship in six dynamic
Case Study: LANDWASHER – CHINA
Through the Global Network, New Ventures companies have
increasing opportunities to travel to other countries to build
connections and business opportunities. In 2011, New Ventures
China company Landwasher attended the New Ventures India
Investor Forum and met with business leaders in India to discuss
expanding its water-free ?ushable toilet technology to the Indian
market. India is a strong potential market for Landwasher given
its rapid population and infrastructure growth and the fact that
there is currently no competition for its technology. Landwasher
has applied for Indian patents to expand its business beyond its
home market in China.
Landwasher’s water-free toilets conserve water
resources while also reducing water contamination.
emerging markets. These meetings allow New Ventures to
keep on top of key developments that could shape new ideas
and strategies in the environmental and entrepreneurial ?elds
in the countries where it works.
In 2011, New Ventures continued to strengthen its Global
Network through an inaugural Global Investor Forum and
the launch of the New Ventures Global Portfolio. The Global
Portfolio features companies looking for international
investment that have passed a rigorous selection process,
including evaluations from panels of both environmental and
investment experts. Selected companies traveled to New York
for the ?rst Global Investor Forum to present their business
plans on an international stage and inspire their audience
about the power of small businesses to create positive
environmental change.
Creating a Vibrant
Global Network
New Ventures also serves as a Managing
Partner for the blog NextBillion.net.
NextBillion, launched by WRI in 2005, has become
the leading website exploring the connection
between development and enterprise with more
than 40,000 unique visitors per month. NextBillion
uses its blog, newsroom, research tool and career
center for discussion, networking and as a knowledge
base for a community of business leaders, social
entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations,
policymakers and academics interested in innovative
business solutions to development issues. NextBillion
has expanded its in?uence into the Spanish- and
Portuguese-speaking communities through the
launch of NextBillion Español and NextBillion Brasil.
BusinessWeek recognized NextBillion as
an “Editor’s Pick: Best of the Web” site.
www.new-ventures.org
(New Ventures)
www.wri.org
(WRI)
For more information
NextBillion.net
Over the next ten years, the world’s
demand for “clean” growth will
increasingly shine a spotlight on
environmental entrepreneurship.
New Ventures sees many exciting
opportunities to continue growing
its operations and impact. With
its expertise on the ground and
burgeoning global network, New
Ventures is well-positioned to
unleash increased support for
environmental entrepreneurship
in emerging economies and help
environmentally focused SMEs
gain signi?cant market share.
By increasing the investment available
to environmental entrepreneurs,
strengthening in-country resources
to support them and creating a
vibrant global network to enable
knowledge sharing, New Ventures
will enable the entrepreneurs at
the heart of tomorrow’s economy
to address the world’s growing
environmental challenges.
Looking
Forward
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Afairs
Fundación AVINA
Morgan Stanley
Rockefeller Foundation
UK Department for International Development
UPS Foundation
US Department of State?–?Asia Paci?c Partnership
Zennström Philanthropies
Center for Sustainability Studies at Fundação
Getulio Vargas, Brazil
Institute for the Environment and
Development, China
Universidad de los Andes School of Management
UASM
Confederation of Indian Industry – Godrej Green
Business Centre (CII – Godrej GBC), India
Strategic Partners
Supporters
Local Center Partners
10 G Street, NE (Suite 800)
Washington, DC 20002 USA
+1 . 202 . 729 . 7600
doc_136440559.pdf
On this description around new ventures works at the intersection of three defining trends entrepreneurship.
As the world’s population rises,
how can business help to meet the
ever-increasing needs of a growing
world while protecting threatened
resources such as clean air, water
and other natural resources?
NEW VENTURES ACCOMPLISHMENTS
255
Provided
business development
support to
innovative environmentally
focused enterprises
203
Facilitated
million dollars in
investment into
these companies
24,000
Supported the
creation of
local jobs in
2010 alone
This question is especially relevant
in emerging markets, where
population growth is expected to
continue alongside rapid economic
growth in the coming decades.
In these emerging economies, small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) play
a pivotal role in driving economic
development. They can shape
growth that is both economically
and environmentally sustainable.
New Ventures works in six key emerging
economies around the world to promote
the growth of successful SMEs with
positive environmental impacts. We
support businesses that ofer substitutes
or solutions to resource-intensive
products or services (clean technologies,
renewable energy) and/or responsibly use
natural resources (organic agriculture,
sustainable forestry). We help companies
receive adequate business skills training
and access capital and the appropriate
markets for their goods and services.
New Ventures works at the intersection of
three de?ning trends: entrepreneurship,
environment and emerging markets.
New Ventures is headquartered
in Washington, DC, at the World
Resources Institute (WRI), one of the
world’s leading environmental think
tanks. New Ventures has access to
WRI’s technical and research expertise,
as well as connections to a global
network of experts in ?elds such as
biodiversity, clean energy, air quality,
natural resource management, and
transportation. New Ventures and its
partners share WRI’s commitment
to providing innovative paths to a
sustainable planet through work that is
accurate, fair, and independent.
WRI’s mission is to move human society
to live in ways that protect Earth’s
environment and its capacity to provide
for the needs and aspirations of current
and future generations. WRI is a global
environmental think tank that goes
beyond research to put ideas into action.
It works with governments, companies,
and civil society to build solutions
to urgent environmental challenges.
WRI’s transformative ideas protect the
earth and promote development because
sustainability is essential to meeting
human needs and ful?lling human
aspirations in the future.
WRI spurs progress by providing
practical strategies for change and
efective tools to implement them.
Success is measured in the form of
new policies, products and practices
that shift the ways governments work,
companies operate and people act. WRI
operates globally because today’s
problems know no boundaries. WRI is
an avid communicator because people
everywhere are inspired by ideas,
empowered by knowledge, and moved
to change by greater understanding.
New Ventures provides support to
innovative small and medium enterprises
in six of the world’s most dynamic
emerging economies: Brazil, China,
Colombia, India, Indonesia and Mexico.
These businesses underpin economic
development, create jobs, provide solid
?nancial returns to their investors
and address the world’s most critical
environmental challenges. The activities
of New Ventures and its collaboration
with environmental, philanthropic,
business and policy leaders inspire
thought leadership relating to
environmental entrepreneurship
and enable its growth in emerging
markets. As a result, environmentally-
focused entrepreneurs are able to
transform their ideas into successful,
growing companies that help reduce
pollution, increase clean energy, protect
biodiversity and improve communities’
quality of life.
As one of the earliest organizations
working with SMEs in emerging markets,
New Ventures brings years of in-country
expertise and insight to its strategies and
operations. As one of the only business
development service providers working
speci?cally with environmental SMEs,
New Ventures is uniquely positioned not
only to help individual companies, but
also to in?uence and address barriers to
the growth of the sector as a whole.
New Ventures works through on-
the-ground partnerships with six
Local Centers that, alongside its
Washington, DC hub, form a dynamic
global network to promote the growth of
environmental entrepreneurship.
135,000
Tons of CO2e reduced by New
Ventures companies in 2010, the
equivalent of removing over 112,000
cars from the road for one year
1,490,448
Hectares of land placed under
sustainable management by New
Ventures companies in 2010, an area
greater than that of Connecticut
The New Ventures
Global Network
Our Global Network consists of six Local Centers and one Global Hub,
housed at the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC.
New Ventures Colombia
YEAR FOUNDED: 2008
New Ventures Mexico
YEAR FOUNDED: 2000
New Ventures Brazil
YEAR FOUNDED: 2002
Global Hub
WASHINGTON, DC
$1,217,436
The amount spent on business
development services for New Ventures
entrepreneurs in 2010
This number translates into the
creation of over $917 million of local
economic growth through revenue
generation ($858,492,223) and
employee wages ($58,524,390).
30,000+ = The number of
training hours New Ventures
has provided to companies
since 1999
$705 = The number of dollars
generated by New Ventures
entrepreneurs for every dollar
spent on training and business
acceleration services
New Ventures India
YEAR FOUNDED: 2006
New Ventures China
YEAR FOUNDED: 2006
New Ventures Indonesia
YEAR FOUNDED: 2005
OVER THE PAST DECADE, New Ventures has
successfully established a strong local presence in six
key emerging economies: Brazil, China, Colombia,
India, Indonesia and Mexico. These countries are
home to 46% of the world’s population and account
for 25% of the protected biodiversity areas on the
planet. New Ventures has created a network of
six Local Centers, formed with its partners in the
countries where it works. Every Local Center is led
by a New Ventures
Country Director with
extensive experience
and expertise.
Each New Ventures
Local Center has built
a support network for
local entrepreneurs,
drawing from
investors, ?nancial institutions, development
agencies, government and policymakers, academia
and business schools, large companies and
multinationals, and other leading think tanks and non-
governmental organizations (NGOs). These actors
each play a unique role in providing the resources
and technical support that environmentally focused
SMEs need to thrive and grow. The partnerships
also enable New Ventures to identify and address
speci?c barriers to environmental entrepreneurship
from within each country of operation.
Leveraging
Effective Partnerships
New Ventures Mexico, one of
the most established centers in
the New Ventures network, is
recognized as the country’s leading
environmental business accelerator.
In order to increase support around
environmental entrepreneurship
in Mexico’s business community,
New Ventures Mexico established
The Sustainable Minds Network,
Mexico’s ?rst network of business
mentors aimed exclusively at
environmental entrepreneurship.
New Ventures focuses on
three core areas essential to
the growth of environmental
entrepreneurship in emerging
markets: Business Development,
Investment Facilitation and
Global Network Building.
Strategy
Developing Successful Businesses
Business development lies at the core of the
New Ventures strategy.
Environmentally focused enterprises are carefully
selected to participate in New Ventures mentoring and
acceleration programs. Each Local Center has a locally
adapted curriculum, but the focus and results are the same
across the board: enterprises prepared to manage growth;
attract investment capital; and assess their own ?nancial,
environmental, and social performance. Services ofered
by New Ventures include one-on-one mentoring with
business leaders, access to investors, venues to connect
with peers in order to share best practices and explore
partnerships, and training workshops around key business
and management skills.
In addition to working with individual businesses,
New Ventures drives broader change by engaging and
creating partnerships with civil society, government,
investors, and multinational and large companies to support
entrepreneurial solutions to sustainable development.
1
Facilitating Investment to Spur Growth
New Ventures helps to grow the pool of both available
and invested capital to address the funding needs of
environmental SMEs, enabling their businesses to grow and
their positive environmental and social impacts to increase.
New Ventures companies seek investment from a variety
of investors, including commercial
banks, angel investors and venture
capitalists. Annual Investor Forums
are held in each New Ventures country,
showcasing companies chosen for the
New Ventures program to an audience
of potential investors and business
partners to help attract ?nancing.
New Ventures also encourages the
?ow of capital to the environmental
SME sector as a whole by providing
investor-targeted research, and promoting new mechanisms
for evaluating environmental impacts. New Ventures is
leading the way in creating rigorous standards for investors to
understand and assess the environmental and social impacts
of SMEs in emerging markets.
Creating a Vibrant Global Network
New Ventures is building a vibrant and strong global network
for environmentally focused SMEs to share knowledge, learn
from each other and seize opportunities for collaboration
across borders.
This Global Network allows New Ventures
to have an impact beyond the companies
and countries that it works with directly. It
also allows the Local Centers to learn from
each other’s successes and failures through
staf exchanges and annual Country Director
meetings. A robust internal communications
platform encourages communication
across the Global Network and helps to
identify collaborative opportunities between
diferent Local Centers.
The New Ventures Global Portfolio, a select group of
entrepreneurs with strong ?nancial performance and high
growth potential, highlights the importance of a strong Global
Network. Companies in the Global Portfolio hope to raise
capital from international investors and build partnerships
beyond their home countries. New Ventures facilitates cross-
country connections in today’s increasingly global economy.
2 3
An investor poses
a question to an
entrepreneur at a
New Ventures China
Investor Forum.
Facilitating
Investment
to Spur Growth
Developing Successful Businesses:
Proving the Concept
IN 1999, WHEN NEW VENTURES WAS FOUNDED to
build capacity and support environmentally-focused SMEs
in emerging markets, the concept of building a “greener
economy” was challenged by skeptics. New Ventures itself
was a start-up pioneering a new path to environmental
entrepreneurship. Since then, New Ventures’ work has
helped to spread a clear message: SMEs can provide
solutions to environmental and social problems while also
creating pro?ts. Investors are seeing an ever-increasing
pipeline of environmental businesses that can create
attractive investments.
New Ventures has successfully helped SMEs grow and meet
the challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change and
water scarcity in six key emerging markets. The growth
of environmental entrepreneurship and New Ventures’
successes has been re?ected in the increasing number of
applicants to the New Ventures programs each year. For
example, in one year the number of applicants to New
Ventures Colombia grew from 90 to 160.
TO DATE, NEW VENTURES HAS successfully facilitated
the transfer of $203M in investment into companies that
have participated in its enterprise development programs.
After receiving tailored business strategy advice from
investment and business professionals, New Ventures
companies are well prepared to showcase their businesses to
potential investors and attract the capital they need to grow.
Pro Nature, an Indian company selling certi?ed organic
foods such as ?our, jam and rice, received investment
through its connection to New Ventures. Large grocery
stores chains in India wanted to stock Pro Nature’s products,
but the company needed to expand production in order to
meet the demand from these new buyers. New Ventures
India introduced Pro Nature to an Indian angel investor who
provided $200,000 for Pro Nature to scale its operations and
become a supplier for large grocery chains.
New Ventures companies provide local communities with jobs.
“New Ventures has helped me grow
my business. We all know where
we’re heading, but we don’t know
exactly the methods of how to get
there and how to pass the message
to more people. New Ventures is very
good at that.”
Hugo Hernandez, CEO, Vidrios Marte,
a New Ventures enterprise
New Ventures companies come from the raw materials,
manufacturing and services sectors, and provide a wide
range of products and services. The companies vary in
revenue and number of employees, but all are commercially
viable and looking to grow both in size and impact.
Expanding Investor Networks
New Ventures works to drive investment across the
environmentally focused SME sector by supporting the
creation of investor networks and funds that invest in
environmental entrepreneurship.
Stratus Investment Fund in Brazil ?rst became involved with
New Ventures at the inaugural New Ventures Investor Forum
in 2000. Five years of engagement later, Stratus launched
VC III, a $15 million venture capital fund designed to invest
solely in environmentally sustainable enterprises.
In Indonesia, New Ventures played a major role in the
establishment of the ?rst angel investor group to focus
on Indonesian companies with positive social and
environmental impacts. By providing this group, PT Social
Enterprise Indonesia (PT SEI), with tangible examples
of dynamic and innovative SMEs as potential companies
in which to invest, New Ventures was instrumental
in convincing them that there would be a strong deal
pipeline. New Ventures Indonesia advised PT SEI during
its formation stage, and the
group committed $2 million
in investment to the country’s
social enterprise sector.
In India, New Ventures
created the ?rst “Green
Investors Network” to
convene angel investors,
social enterprise funds, seed
and venture capital funds,
banks and corporate investors
in India interested in
investing in environmentally
focused enterprises. As part
of the network, members take part in deal ?ow sessions
between entrepreneurs and investors and round table
discussions while also receiving access to the New Ventures
India mentors and coaches’ network.
“Before working with New Ventures, our business was disconnected from the support
networks for sustainable companies. . . . The New Ventures team gave us visibility, helped
us strategize, and provided us access to potential partners and investors.”
David Velasco of Café La Selva, a New Ventures enterprise
New Ventures Country Director
Sanjoy Sanyal speaks to Indian
investors.
Under WRI’s rigorous peer-review
process, New Ventures has
successfully published cutting-edge
research that has in?uenced its
target ?nancial markets audience.
Providing Thought Leadership through
Solution-Driven Research
In “The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business
Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid” produced
in partnership with the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), New Ventures measured the
market opportunity of the base of the economic pyramid
(BoP) using the World Bank’s national household data. This
research has been widely cited in follow-up publications,
including extensively in the 2010 JP Morgan/Rockefeller
Foundation report “Impact Investments: An Emerging Asset
Class,” which de?nes and sizes the current opportunity for
impact investing.
New Ventures provided an overview of the barriers
to growth for SMEs in developing countries in “On
the Frontiers of Finance: Scaling up Investment
in Sustainable Small and Medium Enterprises
in Developing Countries.” This publication is currently used
in the orientation curricula for the Aspen Institute of
Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and has been referenced
by numerous impact investors to provide a view of the market
when launching new funds.
New Ventures released “Powering Up: The
Investment Potential of Energy Service
Companies in India.” This research led to the
exploration and piloting of ?nancial products for
energy efciency projects by the Industrial Bank of India,
India’s fourth largest bank.
New Ventures published “Power to the People:
Investing in Clean Energy for the Base of
the Pyramid in India” with the Centre for
Development Finance at the Institute for Financial
Management and Research (CDF-IFMR). This report
calculated the size of the clean-energy market servicing
India’s rural poor. Within a few months of its release, the
publication was being used by leading Indian clean energy
companies, such as New Ventures enterprise Husk Power
Systems, to set goals for growth and to present the strength of
their market opportunity to potential investors.
2007
2009
2009
2010
INVESTORS WISHING to create positive social
and environmental impacts with their investments
increasingly seek to quantify these impacts. In order
to drive greater investment into enterprises like New
Ventures’ companies, New Ventures is collaborating
with the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN)
Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS)
team to develop standardized environmental metrics
for SMEs. IRIS is recognized as an industry leader
working to provide a
common language for
describing the social
and environmental
performance of an
organization.
Building on WRI’s
extensive expertise
in developing tools
to measure greenhouse gas emissions, water usage
and ecosystems services, New Ventures has led the
Energy, Environment and Water (EEW) Working Group
of IRIS to develop a core set of indicators for energy
(renewable energy and energy efciency), climate change
(greenhouse gas emissions reduced, carbon ofsets
generated) and water (quality and availability).
To help entrepreneurs on the ground report credible
data to investors in an efcient and efective manner,
New Ventures partnered with clean energy investment
fund E+Co to launch the Toolkit for Impact Measurement
(TIMe) in 2010. TIMe resources have been provided to
entrepreneurs and to in-country practitioners, laying the
groundwork for a simple company-wide environmental
management plan to help SMEs improve their company’s
operating efciencies and environmental impact, thereby
reducing risks and improving bottom-line costs.
Through its engagement with New Ventures, the Global
Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS), a standardized
rating system for emerging market SMEs and impact
investment funds, now requires environmental criteria
in their enterprise and fund level ratings. In August
2010, eleven leading emerging market fund managers
agreed to use the GIIRS rating system in their investment
decision-making and have raised up to US$1 billion to
invest in high impact GIIRS-rated enterprises. By serving
on the GIIRS emerging markets standards advisory
committee, New Ventures played a key role in embedding
environmental metrics into the rating system, raising
the visibility of environmentally focused businesses in
emerging markets.
Entrepreneurs at a
TIMe seminar review
methodology for
quantifying their
GHG emissions.
Leading on Environmental Impact Measurement
New Ventures Mexico enterprise ¡Échale! a tu casa helps families in Mexico build their own sustainable homes and communities.
NEW VENTURES HAS TRANSITIONED from a group of
individual Local Centers creating on-the-ground change into
a global network supporting environmental entrepreneurship.
In 2008, New Ventures held its ?rst Directors Meeting,
bringing together its six Country Directors to collaborate on
strategy and to launch the New Ventures Global Network.
Directors Meetings are now held at least annually, providing
opportunities to discuss successes and challenges, as well
as trends in environmental entrepreneurship in six dynamic
Case Study: LANDWASHER – CHINA
Through the Global Network, New Ventures companies have
increasing opportunities to travel to other countries to build
connections and business opportunities. In 2011, New Ventures
China company Landwasher attended the New Ventures India
Investor Forum and met with business leaders in India to discuss
expanding its water-free ?ushable toilet technology to the Indian
market. India is a strong potential market for Landwasher given
its rapid population and infrastructure growth and the fact that
there is currently no competition for its technology. Landwasher
has applied for Indian patents to expand its business beyond its
home market in China.
Landwasher’s water-free toilets conserve water
resources while also reducing water contamination.
emerging markets. These meetings allow New Ventures to
keep on top of key developments that could shape new ideas
and strategies in the environmental and entrepreneurial ?elds
in the countries where it works.
In 2011, New Ventures continued to strengthen its Global
Network through an inaugural Global Investor Forum and
the launch of the New Ventures Global Portfolio. The Global
Portfolio features companies looking for international
investment that have passed a rigorous selection process,
including evaluations from panels of both environmental and
investment experts. Selected companies traveled to New York
for the ?rst Global Investor Forum to present their business
plans on an international stage and inspire their audience
about the power of small businesses to create positive
environmental change.
Creating a Vibrant
Global Network
New Ventures also serves as a Managing
Partner for the blog NextBillion.net.
NextBillion, launched by WRI in 2005, has become
the leading website exploring the connection
between development and enterprise with more
than 40,000 unique visitors per month. NextBillion
uses its blog, newsroom, research tool and career
center for discussion, networking and as a knowledge
base for a community of business leaders, social
entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations,
policymakers and academics interested in innovative
business solutions to development issues. NextBillion
has expanded its in?uence into the Spanish- and
Portuguese-speaking communities through the
launch of NextBillion Español and NextBillion Brasil.
BusinessWeek recognized NextBillion as
an “Editor’s Pick: Best of the Web” site.
www.new-ventures.org
(New Ventures)
www.wri.org
(WRI)
For more information
NextBillion.net
Over the next ten years, the world’s
demand for “clean” growth will
increasingly shine a spotlight on
environmental entrepreneurship.
New Ventures sees many exciting
opportunities to continue growing
its operations and impact. With
its expertise on the ground and
burgeoning global network, New
Ventures is well-positioned to
unleash increased support for
environmental entrepreneurship
in emerging economies and help
environmentally focused SMEs
gain signi?cant market share.
By increasing the investment available
to environmental entrepreneurs,
strengthening in-country resources
to support them and creating a
vibrant global network to enable
knowledge sharing, New Ventures
will enable the entrepreneurs at
the heart of tomorrow’s economy
to address the world’s growing
environmental challenges.
Looking
Forward
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Afairs
Fundación AVINA
Morgan Stanley
Rockefeller Foundation
UK Department for International Development
UPS Foundation
US Department of State?–?Asia Paci?c Partnership
Zennström Philanthropies
Center for Sustainability Studies at Fundação
Getulio Vargas, Brazil
Institute for the Environment and
Development, China
Universidad de los Andes School of Management
UASM
Confederation of Indian Industry – Godrej Green
Business Centre (CII – Godrej GBC), India
Strategic Partners
Supporters
Local Center Partners
10 G Street, NE (Suite 800)
Washington, DC 20002 USA
+1 . 202 . 729 . 7600
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