Enterprise Brief: RECAPO CBO
Published: 06 July 2015
RECAPO CBO offers clean, renewable and affordable energy to residents in rural Malawi, where over 90% of the population has no access to grid electricity. Its affordable Pay-As-You-Go model allows low-income households to exchange expensive and polluting lighting and electrical systems for solar solutions. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Peacock Seeds
Published: 06 July 2015
Peacock Seeds supplies farmers across Malawi with certified maize and legume seeds that can adapt to climate change. The seeds support food security and empower smallholder farmers by increasing their income in the long run. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Loja de Energias
Published: 06 July 2015
Loja de Energias supplies households in rural Mozambique with clean and renewable energy sources. Its energy shops are managed by women who work with community leaders in order to stimulate the purchase of renewable energy systems. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Kidogo Early Childhood Centres
Published: 06 July 2015
Kidogo Early Childhood Centres establish affordable and safe childcare options in East Africa’s informal settlements (slums), allowing mothers and caregivers to work and attend school. Kidogo uses a micro-franchising model supporting local women to start self-sustaining childcare centres. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Hortinet
Published: 06 July 2015
Hortinet specializes in sourcing and supplying urban markets in Malawi with various organic horticultural produce grown in the enterprise’s land and in outsourced smallholder farms. The enterprise maintains production contracts with local farmers and provides them with training and extension services. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: East Africa Fruit Farm and Company
Published: 06 July 2015
East Africa Fruit Farm and Company trades and markets fresh fruit and vegetables, significantly reducing post-harvest losses by cold storage and powering all activities with renewable energy. Smallholder farmers in the supply chain are supported with fair prices and readily prepared land. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: STM Solar Technologies Manufacturing
Published: 06 July 2015
STM Solar Technologies Manufacturing is the first company in Ethiopia to offer solar power solutions for electricity and lighting. The enterprise also provides families with micro-finance credit to acquire such systems, as well as training and repair services. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Village Energy
Published: 06 July 2015
Village Energy is building a rural renewable energy technician network to service and sell solar systems. It recruits and trains technicians as franchisee entrepreneurs directly at the village level, providing vocational training, business set-up support, branded marketing, and spare part and product inventory. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: COMSOL Cooperative for Environmental Solutions
Published: 06 July 2015
“COMSOL Cooperative for Environmental Solutions” is a women-led initiative that collects, buys, separates, cleans and resells recyclable solid waste to companies in Maputo. The initiative benefits individuals in vulnerable conditions in neighbouring areas by involving them in the collection process. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Botanic Treasures
Published: 06 July 2015
Botanic Treasures Ltd is a social enterprise empowering over 500 smallholder farmers to grow Moringa oleifera, a highly nutritious edible plant. Improving the livelihoods of farmers with additional income, the enterprise produces nutritional supplements and fortified foods that combat malnutrition and degenerative diseases, and support food security. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: RISE
Published: 06 July 2015
RISE sells solar products to smallholder farmers in rural Tanzania by leveraging innovative consumer financing and utilising existing distribution networks by its partners. RISE’s purpose is to make renewable energy services available and affordable to consumers in Tanzania’s most rural regions. Read more
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What role for eco-entrepreneurship in the Post-2015 agenda?
Published: 19 June 2015 Anais Mangin, Helen Marquard
The Millennium Development Goals have shaped development cooperation in the last 15 years, and there has been progress towards eliminating poverty worldwide. Nevertheless, much remains to be done. Read more
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Breaking the taboo: how managing menstruation in a hygienic and environment-friendly way can empower thousands of girls and women while reducing waste in developing countries
Published: 02 June 2015 Amélie Heuër, Anais Mangin
While it may have gone unnoticed to many, the 28th of May was the International Menstrual Hygiene Day; a day initiated by WASH United to create awareness around the right of women and girls to hygienically manage their menstruation – in privacy, safety and with dignity – where ever they are. Read more
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Meet the SEED Accelerator recipients and VOTE NOW for the SEED Special Recognition Award!
Published: 28 May 2015
At the SEED South Africa Symposium 2015, SEED announced the Accelerator recipients. Read more
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The Observer features stories about five SEED Winners in a special on climate change
Published: 26 May 2015
How can local communities help to save the environment and better their lives? To answer this question the Observer Tech Monthly of the Guardian spoke with Helen Marquard, Executive Director of SEED. Read more
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Reel Gardening, a SEED Story from South Africa
Published: 26 May 2015
Claire Reid Reel Gardening provides consumers with a pre-fertilised seed strip that encases seeds at the correct depth and distance apart and offers planting instructions in seven languages. Implemented by a youth organisation with assistance from government and social development programmes, the initiative aims to create sustainable subsistence gardens throughout South Africa. Read more
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greenABLE, a SEED Story from South Africa
Published: 26 May 2015
greenABLE has found an innovative solution for recycling empty printer cartridges. The recycled plastic and metals are sold, generating a steady flow of income and employment opportunities for previously unemployed persons with disabilities. Jobs are being created in the enterprise’s recycling facility or as greenAGENTS who run their own home-based cartridge collection business and sell the collected cartridges back to the enterprise. Read more
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Botanica Natural Products, a SEED Story from South Africa
Published: 26 May 2015
Botanica Natural Products has developed a method of extracting beneficial substances from Bulbine frutescens, a traditional medicinal plant, for the cosmetic industry. The plant is cultivated and processed organically in its indigenous location in rural Limpopo, and its commercial use provides employment opportunities in the marginalised area. The local community further benefits through an Access and Benefit Sharing agreement. Read more
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Trees for Global Benefit, a SEED Story from Uganda
Published: 26 May 2015
Trees for Global Benefit is a cooperative carbon offsetting scheme linking small scale landholder farmers in Uganda to the voluntary carbon market, combining carbon sequestration with rural livelihood improvements through small-scale, farmer-led, agro-/forestry projects while reducing pressure on natural resources in national parks and forest reserves. Read more
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IMAI Farming Cooperative, a SEED Story from South Africa
Published: 26 May 2015
IMAI Farming Cooperative is a women’s cooperative which has partnered with non-government organisations and government institutions and is increasing and stabilising farmers’ incomes and reducing waste by processing surplus fresh vegetable produce into pickles. The cooperative also encourages organic farming. Read more
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Green Heat, a SEED Story from Uganda
Published: 26 May 2015
Green Heat is an enterprise installing and marketing biogas digesters that convert decaying organic material from latrines and agricultural waste into biogas fuel for cooking and heating. By using biogas digesters, urban and rural households, schools, prisons, hospitals and tourist lodges in Uganda reduce their dependence on firewood and charcoal, improve their waste management systems, and help reduce deforestation and greenhouse gas emission rates related to methane release. Read more
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Green Bio Energy, a SEED Story from Uganda
Published: 26 May 2015
Green Bio Energy is a social enterprise, which offers low-income Ugandan families access to cost-saving, eco-friendly and safe energy solutions. They produce and sell Briketi Charcoal Briquettes, as well as an own brand of energy-efficient stoves, Briketi Eco Stoves. The enterprise also provides individuals and organizations with trainings on micro-enterprise management or briquettes production, and sells equipments for small-scale briquettes production. Read more
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From telegraph to internet – How can entrepreneurship help bridge the digital divide?
Published: 17 May 2015 Jona Liebl
In the middle of the 19th century, the invention of the telegraph was transforming societies: instead of sending letters by horses or ships which could take weeks or even months, messages could now be delivered within minutes. Read more
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Ten years of SEED Awards (2005-2015): A rich experience in promoting entrepreneurship for sustainable development
Published: 20 April 2015 Anais Mangin, Helen Marquard
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How the business of bees contributes to sustainable development
Published: 10 April 2015 Amélie Heuër, Carolin Ehrensperger
Bees play a vital part in our natural ecosystems as they are responsible for the pollination of many fruit, nuts, vegetables and other species. Read more
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