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About infoDev:
infoDev was a World Bank Group multi-donor program that supported entrepreneurs in developing economies. Founded in 1995 as an ICT-for-development research leader, infoDev transformed to become a global partnership that worked at the intersection of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship to create opportunities for inclusive growth. From 2012 through 2022, infoDev worked on accelerating the growth of agribusiness, climate technology, and digital startups and catalyze entrepreneurial ecosystems in developing countries. The program supported several fragile and low-income countries across South Asia, Africa, and Latin America to promote competitiveness, employment, sustainability, inclusive growth, and development within these sectors and regions. View impact stories >>
infoDev was comprised of three partnerships: the infoDev Multi-donor Trust Fund (MDTF), Climate Technology Program (CTP), and the Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC).
- infoDev MDTF: An eight-year, $25.5 million program managed by the World Bank Group and supported by Sweden, Norway, Italy, Finland, and Korea, the infoDev MDTF built enabling ecosystems for growth-oriented entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) within the digital and agro-processing sectors in focused regions. These efforts mobilized $3.4 billion in additional World Bank lending operations.
- Climate Technology Program: Supported by the World Bank and the governments of Australia, Denmark, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, and the UK, Climate Technology Program helped high-growth, clean-tech companies commercialize and scale the most innovative private sector solutions to climate change. Through its Climate Business Innovation Network, the program convened local and global institutions to promote the diffusion of innovative business models across borders, crowd in public and private financing into climate innovation, share market insights, and build and strengthen local clean-tech-supporting institutions, such as the Climate Innovation Centers.
- EPIC: The Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC) helped build a supportive ecosystem for high-growth and sustainable enterprises throughout the Caribbean. The seven-year, $20 million program was funded by the government of Canada and implemented by infoDev and the World Bank Group. Download program brochure (2015) | frequently asked questions (2016)
Selected Knowledge Products:
Flagship Report:
Climate Technology:
- Building Competitive Green Industries : The Climate and Clean Technology Opportunity for Developing Countries
- Connecting Green Technology Entrepreneurs : Implications for Public Program Design
- Innovations for Scaling Green Sectors
- Igniting Climate Entrepreneurship in Morocco
- Climate Innovation Centers: A New Way to Foster Climate Technologies in the Developing World
Digital Entrepreneurship:
- Internet of Things : The New Government-to-Business Platform
- Business Analytics Toolkit for Tech Hubs: Lessons Learned from infoDev's mLabs and mHubs
- Do mLabs Make a Difference? A Holistic Outcome Assessment of infoDev's Mobile Entrepreneurship Enablers
- The Business Models of mLabs and mHubs: An Evaluation of infoDev's Mobile Innovation Support Pilots
- Mobile at the Base of the Pyramid: Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zambia Summary Report
- Mobile Usage at the Base of the Pyramid: Research Findings from Kenya and South Africa
- Promoting Innovation in the Mobile Sector: A Step-By-Step Methodology to Implement a Mobile Innovation Roadshow
- Feasibility Assessment for Developing a Mobile Applications Sector in Afghanistan
- Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market: Learning from infoDev's Mobile Microwork Innovation Competition
- The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Postconflict Reconstruction
Agribusiness Entrepreneurship:
- Partnership for Growth: Linking Large Firms and Agro-Processing SMEs
- Growing Food, Products, and Businesses: Applying Business Incubation to Agribusiness SMEs
- The Agribusiness Innovation Center of Tanzania: Scaling Value-Adding, Post-Harvest Processing Agribusinesses
- The Agribusiness Innovation Center of Senegal: Scaling a Competitive Horticulture Sector through Value Adding Post-Harvest Processing
- The Agribusiness Innovation Center of Mozambique: Developing Value Adding Market-led Post-harvest Processing Enterprises in Mozambique
- The Satellite Agribusiness Innovation Center in Saint Louis, Senegal
- Building Competitiveness in Africa's Agriculture: A Guide to Value Chain Concepts and Applications
- Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook
- Growing Agribusiness SMEs in Tanzania: Lessons from an Action Learning Pilot
Access to Finance:
- Crowdfunding in Emerging Markets: Lessons from East African Startups
- Reaching Entrepreneurs through Alternate Models: Lessons from Virtual Incubation Pilots
- Creating Your Own Angel Investor Group: A Guide for Emerging and Frontier Markets
- Enhancing Access to Finance for Technology Entrepreneurs: Analysis of Highly Innovative, High Growth Start-Ups in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Nepal
- Enhancing Access to Finance for Technology Entrepreneurs in Southern Africa
Women's Entrepreneurship:
- Growing Women-led Enterprises in the Mekong: Testing a Methodology for Accelerating Growth
- Women, Business, and the Law 2014: Removing Restrictions to Enhance Gender Equality
Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC):
infoDev Annual Reports:
Climate Technology Program Steering Committee Meeting (SCM) Reports:
Contact:
For more information about infoDev, please contact cjet@worldbank.org