Accelerating Small and Growing Businesse

The objective of this course is to learn and apply practical approaches to leveraging business innovation to spur socially and environmentally sustainable development, based on an understanding of the role of enterprises—especially small and growing businesses (SBGs)—in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). Students will learn—from the course professors, as well as a group of guest lecturers specialized in a range of economic sectors, social or environmental priorities, and types of client—about the leading approaches to enterprise development and their foundations in systems thinking, political science, innovation theory, complexity science, and institutional, ecological, and business economics. Over the years, enterprise development has grown from implementing organizations directly providing services to businesses to the use of more systems-aware, facilitative approaches that include work with larger private sector companies, communities, local governments, and civil-society, and use tactics like business incubators and blended finance in ways that break away from a traditional grant-led donor paradigm and align commercial incentives with social and environmental priorities.

The ten-session course will begin with understanding market systems and their context in the surrounding socio-ecological system, then cover the financial systems, business enabling environment, and ‘knowledge’ systems of data and decision-making that make healthy market systems thrive. Students will learn fundamental market systems development concepts like facilitation and complexity-aware programming as well as concrete skills like market systems analysis, public-private partnership design, and incubator–accelerator tactics. Students will complete a semester-long project—including mid-term feedback from a simulated client—in market systems analysis and intervention design oriented to one of five types of client: traditional bilateral or multilateral institutions; impact investors; private philanthropy; multinational companies; and the governments of developing countries. Interventions will harness business growth to accelerate equitable economic development that achieves both social and environmental outcomes. A group of active professionals in the field will provide guidance on the semester-long projects to help demystify ‘development consulting’ and prepare students with the skills and mindsets to enter a rapidly evolving field. Fol