Balloon Ventures
- LocationsKenya, Sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda
- SectorBusiness services
- Type of investmentGrant
- Project stagePilot
A social enterprise that runs development programs to give micro-enterprises the training, funding and support needed to grow, create jobs and build communities.
The development problem.
Globally, two billion people work in the informal sector. In East Africa, it’s around 75% of the population. Women and youth are disproportionately represented. Informal work is typically low paid, insecure and unsafe. The benefits of economic development are only unlocked through access to Good Jobs.
The innovation.
Balloon Ventures invests in small and growing businesses from poverty-reducing sectors that have the potential to create lots of Good Jobs. They partner with investees, embedding their team of experts to work side by side with entrepreneurs, driving growth and improving employee conditions.
GIF's investment.
$230,000 grant to refine and de-risk Balloon Venture’s model of delivering intensive, long-term, in situ management best practice support with high-fidelity in a cost-effective manner. In addition to creating sector-specific best practice tools, policies, approaches, case studies and insights, that Balloon Ventures and other organisations can use to support informal Small Growing Businesses (SGBs).
Investment objective(s).
To test market viability of a credit plus management support model for micro SMEs, document and share lessons learnt. Enable company to meet target no. of investments, expected return on investment and its business plan assumptions are borne out. The company’s service offering should contribute to productivity improvements for supported businesses.
Why we invested
The investment is fully aligned with GIF’s priorities to support SMEs to create productive jobs; and formalise informal markets.
The grant provides an opportunity for Balloon Ventures to test/add to the body of evidence that improvements in management practices can lead to a significant enhancement in the productivity of businesses.
Click here to read Balloon Ventures’ Impact Brief.
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