Advancing Knowledge & Innovation
engages in research to build understanding of how business ownership connects to and addresses key elements of economic opportunity. We also use our research and evaluation expertise to help microenterprise and small business development practitioners understand and improve their own practice. Business ownership is a means for individuals and families to generate income, build wealth, and support the economy and health of their communities. As such, it connects to some of our nation’s critical challenges: a large and growing racial wealth gap; the loss of businesses, jobs, and opportunity in communities affected by economic change; the changing nature of work; and the barriers to economic opportunity faced by women, people of color, individuals with disabilities, those who have been involved with the justice system, and others. Building effective programs and policies requires an understanding of what works best and how changing labor market, financial market, and demographic patterns affect opportunities for business ownership. BOI’s research illuminates these issues for practitioners, funders, and policymakers.
Initiative for Inclusive Entrepreneurship
The Initiative for Inclusive Entrepreneurship is a national initiative working to increase the flow of capital to entrepreneurs of color.
Microlending Accelerator Program
Microlending is key to meeting the capital needs of BIPOC-owned firms. MAP supports CDFIs in building a high-volume microloan program.
Entrepreneur Backed Assets Fund
The Entrepreneur Backed Assets (EBA) Fund will strengthen the capacity of community-based financial institutions to lend to small businesses in low-income communities and those owned by people of color.
Business Ownership and the Racial Wealth Gap
BOI researches the connection among business ownership, wealth creation, and the racial wealth gap, providing strategies to advance business ownership as an economic opportunity strategy.
Micro and Small Business Job Quality
In today’s economy, improving job quality is as important as creating new jobs. BOI and its colleagues are working to learn more about strategies for raising job quality.
Platforms and Networks for the Micro Industry
This report series explores how the microenterprise industry can leverage shared platforms technology for greater impact.
MicroTracker
BOI’s MicroTracker program provides data and tools that enable microenterprise development organizations (MDOs) and their funders to track and assess performance.
Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights
This document outlines six fundamental financing rights for small businesses and a set of practices required of lenders and brokers to foster transparency and accountability.
Asset Building through Credit
Many microentrepreneurs have “thin file” or slightly impaired credit histories that make it challenging for them to access business loans. The Asset Building through Credit (ABC) Pilot Program examined how a secured credit card, teamed with credit education, can help entrepreneurs build their credit and business.
Informal Economy
BOI explored the link between the informal economy and microenterprise development programs to improve knowledge of how informal entrepreneurs operate and identify implications for practice and policy.
Business Development Services
BOI researches the elements that comprise the most effective microenterprise business development strategies, including skill development, networking, and technological advancement.
Access to Markets
BOI evaluated this Charles Stewart Mott Foundation project, which sought to identify and expand innovative strategies that enabled microentrepreneurs to access more lucrative markets.
Welfare to Work
BOI conducted a multifaceted evaluation of this Charles Stewart Mott Foundation demonstration, which examined circumstances where self-employment could be a route to self-sufficiency for TANF recipients.
Rural Entrepreneurship
This research examined rural entrepreneurship related to the US informal economy to deepen understanding of, and develop best practices for, successful models of rural entrepreneurship activity.
Women’s Enterprise
BOI conducted a learning evaluation of the Ms. Foundation’s Collaborative Fund for Women’s Economic Development, enabling it to collect longitudinal data on client outcomes.
Self-Employment Learning Project
The first cross-program evaluation of microenterprise development in the US, SELP worked with seven microenterprise organizations to study long-term outcomes for low-income individuals.
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