Click here to access the full report.

In September 2019 we held a global workshop to review Balloon’s work with small businesses, from our ability to define accurate investment theses to the effectiveness of our post-investment support. We conducted design thinking workshops with staff, beneficiaries and partners in Kenya and Uganda. We also observed growth meetings with businesses delivered in the field.

The aim was to uncover insights about the model that will inform evidence-based changes. This report synthesizes our findings (from the 1000s of post-it notes!) It is split over four sections: [1] What businesses value [2] The credit we offer [3] Our growth support [4] New approaches.

At the end of each section, we have also included a list of suggested proposals based on the insights uncovered. These proposals are under review and will eventually make up the core elements of a series of improvement projects, implemented at global- and branch-level.

We hope that the reflections will prove useful or at least interesting for other impact organisations supporting small and growing businesses.