Interest groups aim to influence public policy and, therefore, interest groups representing business advocate improvements to the business enabling environment. Researchers claim that it is difficult to assess the extent to which interest groups influence public policy. Most research in this area focuses on the US and EU and little explores the factors that may determine whether business membership organisations (BMOs) are likely to be successful. This paper addresses those gaps. It explores the attempts by a BMO in Tanzania, the Tanzania Horticultural Association, to influence reform of public policy. It offers evidence that the association was successful, though mostly on issues that might be regarded as technical rather than contentious or political. The paper reviews the factors that have contributed to its success, which include providing good evidence, preparing persuasive argument, using champions amongst public officials and engaging in dialogue, without confrontation, across government and concludes that this approach makes a difference in whether BMOs are successful.

Interest groups seek to influence public policy. Business associations specifically seek to influence policy related to the environment in which their members operate, with the intention of making it easier for the members, and the wider private sector, to "do business". Scholars question whether interest groups are influential and, if so, the degree to which their activity influences public policy. Even if they do influence public policy at the margins, it is questionable how effective they are in influencing legislation. As a result, there is little exploration of the factors that may determine whether business membership organizations (BMOs) are likely to be successful. This paper explores the efforts of two BMOs in Kenya to influence legislation: In one case, the BMO persuaded the government to introduce legislation to regulate an activity that had previously not been subject to legislation; in the other, a BMO sought to persuade the government to amend its own proposals to replace existing legislation with new legislation. In both cases, we find evidence that the BMO was successful, though one BMO was significantly more successful than the other. We review the factors perceived by the BMOs to have led to their success. Neither was in a position to rely on economic or other power to strong-arm the government. Both followed a predominantly insider strategy though with occasional media back-up. Both were successful on the more technical issues. Key factors include the use of a champion, engaging across government, supplying information, and providing evidence and good argumentation.

This book chapter recounts the story of how the Kenya Chamber of Mines was able to persuade Parliament and government to accept more than 80 per cent of the proposals that they made to amend the draft text of the Mining Bill of 2014 as it wound its way through the parliamentary process to become the Mining Act of 2016. KCM was strategic in its approach; sat listening to parliamentary debates to seek insights; offered support to the parliamentary committee considering the bill; and was single-minded throughout the period from the bill being published to beconing law.

Governments create the political and economic environment in which their businesses operate, usually described as the "enabling environment" or "investment climate". In response, business associations seek to influence public policy to make it easier for their members to "do business". Scholars suggest that interest groups are able to form lasting relationships with governments based on a resource exchange mechanism. This paper suggests that, at least in developing countries, a more nuanced explanation is necessary. Business associations, in particular, need proactively to pursue a logic of "competence" as well as a logic of "positive relationships". This paper assesses the outcomes of advocacy projects undertaken by business associations in Kenya in the period 2008 to 2013, considers the degree to which the associations contributed to the decision to change policy and then analyses the factors perceived by business associations to have led to their success in influencing public policy. We find evidence to support the expectation that business associations must develop a wide range of competences whilst building relationships with multiple stakeholders. The findings will be relevant to practitioners as well as to researchers and donors.

Supporting business associations in developing countries to influence public policy is increasingly seen by development partners as an important contributor to improving the business enabling environment and, as a consequence, to improving the vibrancy of the private sector leading, in turn, to more job creation and greater poverty alleviation. This approach requires that business associations are supported to build their capacity and engage in dialogue and advocacy. Initiatives to do this are being funded, inter alia, in Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana. Evaluation of these programmes requires that there is a means of assessing both whether business association competence has improved and whether higher levels of competence are associated with business association ability to influence policy. This paper describes a diagnostic tool which is being used to assess the competence of business associations and explores whether they have become more successful as their competence has improved. Whilst it cannot offer a full picture - participation in training does not mean that organisations become expert and success in influencing public policy is dependent on more than competence - the evidence suggests that business associations do raise their competence and that raised competence does lead to greater success in influencing public policy.

It has been suggested that business leaders - in so far as they are able to exert influence over public policy - do so through their personal networks rather than acting through, or on behalf of, wider groups of business. The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which personal networks in Kenya give business leaders easy access to policy makers. The concern is that a few business leaders may be able to influence public policy, for good or ill, for public benefit or private gain, irrespective of the views of the majority of private business or, at least, the majority of businesses in their sector. This paper takes a novel approach mapping relationships in order to explore the extent to which business leaders are appointed to public bodies. It finds little evidence to support the thesis that an inner circle of business leaders have undue influence.

We considered (i) whether loan funds managed by Local Enterprise Agencies (LEAs) in England addressed the finance gap faced by new and small firms that are unable to raise investment capital from other sources, and (ii) whether LEA loan funds offered value-for-money and sustainability. Utilising realistic evaluation and data provided by LEAs, we found that funds had a high conversion rate of applications to loans, presumably because most referrals came from advisers and so propositions unlikely to be supported had already been weeded out, and due to high repayment rates. The level of demand suggested that knowledge of the availability of loans from these sources was still low, but that loans from LEAs were genuinely additional for small firms that would not otherwise have been able to raise the required finance from other sources, indeed in many cases leveraging commercially sourced funds. While LEA loan funds were becoming more efficient, they were not – and were unlikely to become – wholly sustainable. The high conversion rate (and low default rate) suggested that the real need for prospective entrepreneurs is effective advice and support to improve their ‘investment readiness’ and thus assist in unlocking the necessary financial support.

The World Bank Doing Business results are widely used to promote reform—but they are based entirely on rankings that imply an equal spread between consecutive ranks and effectively ignores shortcomings in the research methodology. Rankings can mislead countries that have made an effort to reform can fall in the rankings even when they have improved if others have done even better. A scorecard based on ratings would provide a better overall picture of which countries are doing well and less well and enable countries to set more realistic targets for reform because they could then entirely focus on improving their rating.

The purpose of this paper is to review approaches to providing support to entrepreneurs adopted by four business support organisations, originally created with similar objectives, in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Cameroon, to examine entrepreneurial heterogeneity in Africa and the hypothesis that local solutions are required to support entrepreneurs effectively

The purpose of this paper is to use univariate statistical analysis to investigate barriers to raising bank finance faced by UK small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), specifically the impact of personal characteristics (ethnicity, gender and education).

A conceptual model was developed and the results of a telephone survey of 400 SMEs conducted (before the “credit crunch”) by the Barclays Bank small business research team were analysed. The survey was based on a large stratified random sample drawn from the Bank's entire SME population.

It was found that education made little difference to sources of finance, except that those educated to A‐level more frequently used friends and family and remortgaged their homes. However, graduates had the least difficulties raising finance. Though statistically insignificant, women respondents found it easier to raise finance than men. The survey confirmed that – and this finding was statistically significant – ethnic minority businesses, particularly black owner‐managers, had the greatest problem raising finance and hence relied upon “bootstrapping” as a financing strategy.

The study makes an important contribution to filling a research gap, given the critical need of policy‐makers to understand differentials between different types of owner‐managers. It brings new insights into its field – access to finance – and with respect, especially, to marginalised groups.

The paper adopts a different approach than many prior studies, with a large sample and robust analysis, to explore a critical need‐to‐know area in a new way – both for policy‐makers and academics in the field of SME finance.

Interest groups seek to influence public policy. Business associations We investigate the influence of gender, ethnicity, and education in the use of external advice and finance by UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A conceptual model of ‘discouraged advisees’ was developed as a framework for analysis of the results of a telephone survey of 400 SMEs. We found an association between the use of external advice and the ability to raise bank finance. Furthermore, both men and black and minority ethnic (BME) participants were more likely to use family and friends for advice, whilst women were twice as likely as men to use Business Link. BME business owners were discouraged from using less ‘trusted’ sources, such as Business Link, possibly believing them insufficiently tailored or that they would provide inappropriate advice. Therefore, the findings provide support for our conceptual model of discouraged advisees and have implications for the provision of advice for business owners from BME communities.

I wrote this guide for Ashden Trust and it was then published by GVEP International as part of a series of guidance notes intended to advise small-scale energy projects in developing countries on different aspects of finance. This guide provides an introduction to assist sustainable energy enterprises or NGOs that are seeking investment to start or expand their activities. It covers the financial needs of a business and why investment is necessary; types of investment finance including debt, equity and quasi-equity; the steps required to raise investment finance and provides tips on writing a business plan, including dealing with carbon finance, and explains where you can find further information and sources of finance

The Community Development Finance Association (CDFA) estimates that community development finance institutions (CDFIs) have a loan and investment portfolio of some £150m which levered a further £160m. This is dwarfed by bank lending to SMEs of some £45bn. The question then is what difference does micro-finance make in the UK? Is it really needed? Or would entrepreneurs find finance from other sources if micro-finance wasn’t available? The paper draws on original research amongst the CDFIs in the north east of England, first undertaken in 2004, and updated in 2005. This provides information on the supply side. This is supplemented by research amongst entrepreneurs – to provide insights on the demand side as well. The results show that micro-finance institutions do make a difference, but also show that they are unsustainable without grant support of some kind, and suggest that they are unlikely ever to become sustainable. We find that despite growth in bank lending, there is a gap between demand and supply of finance for small firms. To investigate further, we outline findings from the survey in the north east which suggests that MFIs are unable to earn enough income to be sustainable, in most cases even to the extent of covering their capital losses – at least without significantly increasing the interest rates that they charge. Arguably, however, MFIs provide a social benefit that justifies their need for public sector support. There is considerable variation in the running costs of MFIs, though it is not always clear what is the cost of ‘managing the loan portfolio’ and what are the additional costs of providing mentoring support; nevertheless, it would appear that there is scope for some MFIs to reduce their transaction costs. An interesting question to consider is whether MFIs are likely to become sustainable as they grow larger – though in reality sustainability is a function of the number of clients supported by each member of staff rather than absolute size – but this study did not look at the numbers of staff working for each fund. MFIs should be encouraged to report against common performance measures which would enable more effective benchmarking. More effort needs to be made to promote the availability of microfinance. Finally, it is likely that the real need for a prospective entrepreneur is effective advice and support which will assist in unlocking the necessary financial support so the most effective MFIs, measured by survival and growth of clients, are likely to be those that can provide effective advice and support alongside their loans.

Robert Kaplan and David Norton followed up their success with the Balanced Scorecard by developing the concept of strategy mapping, a powerful technique which links together the different strategic perspectives of any business. This paper explores the use of strategy mapping as a tool to develop strategy in a public sector agency and suggests a simplified version which can communicate that strategy effectively, both inside and outside the organisation.

Current government policy is to encourage more businesses to grow. Access to resources – financial, human and physical – are often cited as the principal barriers to the growth of small firms. The attitudes of owner‐managers, however, are equally important, with many owner‐managers deliberately avoiding growing their businesses beyond their capacity personally to manage the business. Attitudes change as businesses develop; a skilled consultant can act as catalyst to overcome cultural barriers and, consequently, to the growth of businesses. This paper examines the cultural barriers which might inhibit the growth and development of a new enterprise and offers a model to show how those barriers separate seven stages of entrepreneurial development. It highlights the role of the consultant in moving through the stages.