Ashley Insight has provided advisory services to a range of companies, challenge funds, impact investors, donor initiatives, multi-stakeholder initiatives.
The track record falls into three main areas:
1. Advisory services on business models that deliver commercial and social return
Show more details- Smallholder crop nutrition. Technical support to strengthen smallholder strategy of Yara International in coffee and other key crops in African smallholder markets (2014-2017).
- Implementation Partner, Connect to Grow. The Ashley Insight team provided business partnership facilitation and results tracking for this DFID India programme facilitating partnership and south-south innovation transfer between SMEs in agriculture and health (2014 – 2017).
- Review of Innovative Business Models. Ashley Insight and partner firm, Endeva, analysed 30 innovative business models in finance, health, education, WASH, energy, plus cross-cutting issues that drive scale in Base of Pyramid markets, for World Bank Social Enterprise Innovation team (2015).
- Tourism and poverty reduction. Analysis of the tourism value chain in Haiti to identify options for an Inter American Development Bank $34mn Investment Programme to expand opportunities for low-income (2014).
- Practitioner Hub for Inclusive Business. The Practitioner Hub was launched in 2010, and co-hosted by Business Innovation Facility and Innovations Against Poverty until 2014, with Caroline Ashley as Editor. When donor programmes and associated funding ended, the Hub was sponsored and managed by Ashley Insight, in support of the company’s mission to promote evidence-based uptake of inclusive business strategies. The site provided curated information and analysis for inclusive business practitioners, reaching 6,000 visitors a month, the majority from the private sector and majority from the global South. In December 2017 it was transferred to GIZ and has been relaunched on inclusivebusiness.net
2. Developing effective facilitation and support for inclusive business via impact investors and challenge funds
Show more details- Review of the landscape of technical assistance to impact enterprises and production of landmark assessment. Joint work with Endeva for USAID Innovation Team (2016-17).
- Technical support to Asian Development Bank’s Inclusive Business Forum, identifying how DFIs and businesses can better address commercial and social return and risk in Asia (2016).
- Support to Global Innovation Fund during set-up phase, developing deal processes, ESG and risk framework, due diligence and assessment of applicants (2015).
- Advisory input to design a DFID Challenge Fund focused on women’s economic empowerment (2013-14).
- Advisory input to design of the Malawi Innovation Challenge Fund (2014).
- Fund set-up, enterprise support, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge exchange functions of Innovations Against Poverty (Phase 1) – a fund established by Sida to provide grants to scale innovative social enterprises in Africa, Asia and Middle East. Phase 1 (investing €5.4 mn in 66 businsses across multiple sectors in 30 developing countries (2011-2014).
- Results management, Business Innovation Facility (BIF). DFID established this £6mn facility in 2010 to support 40+ inclusive businesses in Africa a and Asia, with subsidised technical assistance. As Results Director, Caroline was responsible for design and delivery of the results framework, delivery of knowledge outputs, support to businesses on KPIs, and guiding pipeline development and deal management from an impact perspective (2010-2014).
3. Assessing business impact and advising on results measurements frameworks for businesses and challenge funds
Show more details- Membership of Evaluation Advisory Committee of FMO (Dutch Development Bank) (2018 – ongoing)
- Review and improvement of Shell Foundation impact tracking systems for their growing energy sector investments (2016-17).
- Incorporation of the Sustainable Development Goals to the impact framework of the Private Investment Development Group (PIDG) (2016-17).
- Impact assessment of the first 5 years of technical assistance provided by the Technical Assistance Facility of the African Agricultural Fund (2016-17).
- Methodological advice and quality review for Omidyar’s first pioneering Social Impact Review of their investment and grant portfolio (2016-17).
- Business Performance Evaluation of investees of Spring Accelerator, a DFID-funded gender-focused accelerator (2015-16).
- Progress Review of 94 company initiatives in the Business Call to Action portfolio, and production of Flagship report (2014)
- Impact strategy and results tracking for DFID Impact Programme. Ashley Insight developed and implemented the results framework for this programme working with the DFID Impact Fund managed by CDC and wider market building of the impact investment field by the Global Impact Investment Network (GIIN) and others. The programme catalysed improve results management and reporting with CDC, Southern Fund managers, the Lean Data Initiative and the Impact Management Project (2013-2016).
- Design of a results framework for the Save the Children – GSK health partnership (2013).