Access to Capital for Rural Enterprises (ACRE)’s investment-readiness support to rural SMEs worldwide
EVALUATIONS
Access to Capital for Rural Enterprises (ACRE) was a consortium of INGOs including Christian Aid, Challenges Worldwide, Practical Action, Traidcraft and Twin, which aimed to overcome time and cost barriers to impact-first investing in inclusive enterprises in developing markets by supporting enterprises from the INGOs’ network and footprint; strengthening the business capacity of rural enterprises; supporting them in accessing investment, and facilitating investments by providing a consortium of investors with pre-screened and well-presented opportunities.
Target enterprises were those seeking $100k - $1M in financing. The revenue of participants in the year prior to participating ranged from €10k to €6M. By 2018, 32 enterprises had been supported at a cost of €46k per enterprise. One raised investment through the syndicate, and two raised investment elsewhere, to bring the total investment to $10.1million. In 2018 an evaluation was commissioned to capture lessons from the programme.