9. Acceleration in Emerging Markets

If it is important to accelerate impact-oriented ventures in places where economies are developed and per capita incomes are high, then it is doubly important to do so in emerging markets. However, the increased need for positive entrepreneurial outcomes in emerging markets is met with amplified shortcomings in these local ecosystems. A large number of the programs identified in Chap. 3 attempt to meet these needs by accelerating early-stage ventures that operate in countries across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. However, it is not yet clear whether the accelerator model, which originated in well-developed entrepreneurial ecosystems, also works in less-developed economies. After using the World Bank classification to organize the EDP ventures into those operating in high-income countries versus emerging markets, the first analysis shows that this latter group actually comprises two sub-groups: those seeking acceleration services in their home countries and those applying to programs run in other countries. The next observations show how these two groups of emerging-market ventures and entrepreneurs differ from their high-income-country counterparts. The chapter closes by showing that the effects of acceleration are still evident, but are somewhat muted, among the two groups of emerging-market ventures.