New Alliance Launched to Examine Global Accelerators

July 24, 2015

$2.3 million committed to improving the effectiveness of accelerator programs through research and analysis

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and Emory University’s Social Enterprise @ Goizueta will announce the launch of the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI)—a first-time comprehensive market assessment and analysis of accelerators—at the Sixth Annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES). The announcement will be made by Randall Kempner, executive director of ANDE, during a moderated session on entrepreneurship on Saturday, July 25.

The partnership was created by U.S. Global Development Lab at the U.S. Agency for International Development, Omidyar Network, The Lemelson Foundation, and the Argidius Foundation to analyze the efficacy of accelerator programs. Although there are hundreds of accelerators that have been launched around the world, little research exists to understand early-stage acceleration and its effect on the companies accelerated, especially for small and growing businesses in emerging markets.

GALI builds upon the work done thus far by The Entrepreneurship Database program at Emory University (EDp) which has collected information on more than 3,500 enterprises and partnered with more than 60 accelerator programs to date. This public-private partnership has committed $2.3 million over three years to scale the program by collecting data on more than 10,000 firms globally.

“We’re delighted leaders from the academic, international development, and philanthropy worlds are coming together to take action and further strengthen business communities by ensuring careful investigation of and innovation for accelerator programs worldwide,” said Randall Kempner, executive director of ANDE.

Key questions that the partnership seeks to address for the sector include:

• Do accelerators actually accelerate growth of early ventures, attracting greater investments and increasing revenue for companies?
• What types of programs offered by accelerators have the highest impact on entrepreneurial success?
• What can we learn about the entrepreneurs who participate in accelerator programs?

As a result of GALI’s work, accelerator programs will have statistical data and market insight to better inform their own decision-making as they train the entrepreneurs who create the goods and services that benefit all sectors of society. This data will also be made available to researchers and practitioners for their own analyses. GALI hopes that this body of knowledge will provide greater understanding to all involved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, from managers to policy makers.

For more information about GALI, please visit: www.andeglobal.org/accelerators.

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) is a global network of organizations that propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets. ANDE members provide critical financial, educational, and business support services to small and growing businesses (SGBs) based on the conviction that SGBs will create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth, and produce environmental and social benefits. Ultimately, ANDE believes that SGBs can help lift countries out of poverty. ANDE is part of the Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization. For more information please visit www.andeglobal.org.

Social Enterprise @ Goizueta (SE@G) is an Academic Center within Emory University’s Goizueta Business School that applies business acumen and market-based solutions to achieve meaningful and enduring societal impacts. SE@G is home to The Entrepreneurship Database program at Emory University (EDp). The program works with entrepreneurship accelerator programs from around the world to gather data from their application process and then re-surveys all applicants at six month intervals. www.socialenterprise.emory.edu

For more information about the work of our GALI partners, please refer to:
U.S. Agency for International Development (http://www.usaid.gov/globaldevlab) Omidyar Network (https://www.omidyar.com)
The Lemelson Foundation (http://www.lemelson.org)
Argidius Foundation (http://www.argidius.com/en/default.asp)