Policy Advocacy

Championing the role of eco-inclusive entrepreneurship for green economies.

SEED side-event at UN High-Level Political Forum 2018

Published: 05 July 2018
During the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, SEED held a side event co-organised by the governments of South Africa and Germany, in partnership with UN Environment, UNDP, IUCN on 16th July 2018. Read more
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SEED promotes Climate Finance for SMEs at Innovate4Climate

Published: 20 June 2018
SEED represented the interests of small and medium climate-smart enterpirses at Innovate4Climate, held on May 22 and 24, 2018 at Kap Europa of Messe Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany. The conference brought together over 1200 stakeholders and over 280 speakers from policy-making, business, technology leaders, banking, finance and government to discuss multilateral strategies on accelerating climate-smart investments to tackle climate change. The dialogue centred on four key themes: the business case for climate investment, NDC implementation, innovation for climate resilience, and the climate market and metrics. Read more
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From Waste to Resource: Policy Pathways for Eco-Inclusive Waste Enterprises in South Africa

Published: 08 March 2018Authors: Christine Meyer, Janet Mkhabela, Maggie Sloan
This sectoral policy brief provides an short overview to policy-makers and practitioners of the common challenges faced by eco-inclusive enterprises in this strategic sector in South Africa. The brief is designed to guide policy-makers and practitioners in the prototyping and implementation of measures to ensure the success and scaling-up of eco-inclusive enterprises in South Africa. Read more
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South Africa celebrates inauguration of the first SEED office on the African continent

Published: 30 January 2018
In 2010 SEED established its first pilot country scheme in South Africa, which fell under a larger, substantially EU funded, focus of SEED on Africa. Read more
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The Governments of Flanders and Germany renew their partnership with SEED

Published: 18 December 2017
As 2017 comes to an end, SEED has the pleasure to announce a renewal of its partnership with the Government of Flanders and the Government of Germany. Read more
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SEED side-event at UN High-Level Political Forum 2017

Published: 10 August 2017Authors: Arab Hoballah
The HLPF 2017 SEED side event on Innovative and Eco-Inclusive Entrepreneurship showcased the role of SMEs in achieving SDGs and was held on 13 July 2017 at the UN Headquarters, New York. Read more
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Eco-inclusive enterprises lead the way to West Africa’s sustainable growth - 2017 SEED West Africa Symposium

Published: 28 July 2017
SEED West Africa Symposium 2017 was attended by more than 150 key stakeholders from government, enterprises, financial institutions, policy makers and accelerator programmes from Ghana and Burkina Faso. Read more
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South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs and SEED partner on Eco-inclusive Entrepreneurship

Published: 13 April 2017
The DEA of South Africa and SEED raise awareness for eco-incusive enterprises and incubate aspiring future entrepreneurs. Read more
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Driving conservation through sustainable tourism enterprises

Published: 15 December 2016Authors: Mariska van Gaalen
Along the coast of Kenya, just north of Mombasa, the Watamu National Marine Park and Reserves grace the coastline. In recent years, however, Watamu has struggled with increased solid waste pollution. Read more
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SEED Africa Symposium 2016: From Innovation to Imitation

Published: 08 November 2016
On 28-29 September 2016 the SEED Africa Symposium's topic was "From Innovation to Imitation" and brought together almost 450 enterprises, researchers, practitioners, investors, policy makers and representatives of the civil society who discussed how we can collaboratively utilize the replication of business models to successfully contribute to green growth and sustainable development in Africa. Read more
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SEED shares experiences at the SwitchMed Connect Conference on 19th and 20th October in Barcelona

Published: 08 November 2016
The SwitchMed Connect Conference is an annual gathering of stakeholders of the Mediterranean ecosystem to share stories, expertise and experience on eco-inclusive entrepreneurship. SEED was invited to contribute to the panel “Green Entrepreneurship Training and Support Programmes”. Read more
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Scaling Innovation at the Energy-Agriculture Nexus in East Africa

Published: 27 October 2016Authors: Christian Pirzer, Christine Meyer
With this year’s theme of the World Food Day on October 16th, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) chose a strong message that tackles key issues of our modern global society. Indeed, climate, energy and agriculture are all interconnected. Read more
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Training Business Development Service Providers to Boost Eco-Inclusive Innovations

Published: 14 September 2016Authors: Rainer Agster
Working with more than 220 enterprises in 38 countries, we soon realized that although each enterprise is unique, topics are reoccurring. Instead of re-inventing the wheel each time, we put time and effort into ‘toolifying’ our support. Read more
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Replicating successful business models - Moving from lighthouses to a network of street lamps

Published: 05 September 2016Authors: Christine Meyer
It is a challenge to transition to a low carbon economy while improving the well-being of the world’s nine billion people. By replicating proven solutions, positive impact from eco-inclusive enterprises can spread, and facilitate the transition to a low carbon economy while also improving social conditions as set in the SDGs. Read more
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Scaling Innovation at the Energy-Agriculture Nexus in East Africa: A Sectoral Business Condition Brief

Published: 01 September 2016Authors: Allison Robertshaw, Amélie Heuër, Christian Pirzer, Christine Meyer, Dr. Christina Tewes-Gradl, Jona Liebl
Energy and agriculture form a nexus. On one hand, energy can be generated by using crops, agricultural residues, and livestock waste. On the other hand, substantial amounts of energy are required along the agricultural and food processing value chain, accounting for around 30 % of the global energy consumption. Read more
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The SEED Annual Report 2015

Published: 19 July 2016
2015 was a special year for SEED, in which the partnership celebrated 10 Years of SEED Awards, and took the opportunity to take stock and publish a comprehensive Flagship Report that looked not only on the success of former SEED Winners and the lessons learnt over those 10 Years of SEED Awards, but also on opportunities that could help increase the impact of locally-driven social and environmental entrepreneurship in the years to come. Read more
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A perspective from India

Published: 10 May 2016Authors: Allison Robertshaw
This past month, it was India’s turn, as SEED hosted an event around investment in the low-carbon, green SME sector.  Whilst it’s fair to say that every region and country has its own challenges, it remains surprising how similar the discussion is and how clearly certain interventions are necessary in order to make the green SME space both more resilient and scalable. Read more
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SEED shares experience at the 2016 Tech4Dev Conference

Published: 05 May 2016
SEED is invited to participate in the panel discussion “Social Innovations for Energy Access: Organizing Sustainable Energy for All" at this year's International Tech4Dev Conference in Lausanne. Read more
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Unlocking capital, boosting support – building the ecosystem for eco-entrepreneurship in South Africa

Published: 14 April 2016Authors: Marion Müller vom Berge
This year’s South Africa Symposium brought together more than 200 entrepreneurs, practitioners, investors and policy makers to discuss how to grow and support social and eco-enterprises in South Africa. The event focused on two key challenges facing SMEs in South Africa. Read more
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SEED hosts Cleantech Investment Forum Asia

Published: 13 April 2016
SMEs will play a vital role in the development of the clean tech industry, and on April 22nd at the Lalit Hotel in Mumbai, SEED will host a full day of discussions surrounding how to encourage investment in this key area. Read more
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SEED South Africa Symposium 2016

Published: 21 March 2016
More than 200 entrepreneurs, practitioners, investors and policymakers made the SEED South Africa Symposium on March 15-16th 2016 a great success. Read more
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Social Enterprise in Latin America - A frontier market on the cusp of going mainstream

Published: 24 February 2016Authors: Allison Robertshaw
Last week I had the pleasure of attending New Ventures’ Foro Latinoamericano de Inversion Impacto in Merida, Mexico.  It was an inspiring few days unpicking the latest developments in social entrepreneurship in the region and proved an interesting opportunity to compare to recent developments in Africa where I attended SEED’s African Symposium just a few months ago.  Read more
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Tools, Tools, Tools – the SEED Training of Trainers (TOT) in South Africa created a sound support base for green, inclusive SMEs

Published: 18 December 2015Authors: Jana Rudnik, Magdalena Kloibhofer
As part of its extensive programme that has been built around an annual awards scheme promoting social and environmental entrepreneurship in developing countries, SEED developed a unique toolkit that addresses these key issues and lays out guidelines how to strategically integrate the imperatives of sustainability into businesses. Read more
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SEED discussed Green Climate Fund and SMEs at COP21 in Paris

Published: 14 December 2015
SEED hosted a working dinner about "The Green Climate Fund and SMEs: How to ensure public climate funding reaches the Bottom of the Pyramid" Read more
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