Extending Business Development Services Beyond Metro Cities - Training the Trainers
Published: 01 November 2019 Amar Munnolimath, Camilla Shearman
SEED’s two-pronged approach to supporting enterprises through direct support and ecosystem building activities is founded on the belief that enterprises rely on both internal and external success factors to grow their solutions. Read more
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Three policy recommendations for building robust climate change adaptation markets in South Africa
Published: 28 October 2019 Camilla Shearman, Christine Meyer, Sonya Ong
With lessons drawn from an 8-month policy prototyping labs cycle in South Africa and over fifteen years of enterprise support, this policy brief presents three recommendations for policymakers to improve SMME access and contribution to climate change adaptation markets. These recommendations include (1) increasing availability of and access to market information, (2) creating support pipelines between public and private stakeholders, and (3) leveraging intermediaries as key contributors to the implementation and evaluation of market access policies. Read more
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The SEED Awards 2019 highlight the contribution of green and social enterprises to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals
Published: 24 October 2019
Lilongwe, Malawi, Berlin, Germany, 24 October 2019 - Tackling poverty and climate change, generating employment opportunities and contributing to economic development, this year’s 14 SEED Award winners were selected from over 900 applicants and were recognised for solutions to major local and global challenges. Read more
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BDS+ Special Focus 3: BDS Providers & Challenges in the eco-system
Published: 27 September 2019 Linde Wolters, Sonya Ong
BDS providers provide crucial help eco-inclusive, micro, small, and medium enterprises to overcome day to day challenges around fundraising, direction or finding talent. Are you a BDS provider? Read on to find out if you share similar challenges with others. Read more
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BDS+ Special Focus 1: SEED Tools & Enterprises’ Triple Bottom Line
Published: 13 September 2019 Linde Wolters
Are you a business coach or do you work for an incubator or business support organisation in Asia or Africa? Here are three reasons to focus on the social and environmental impact of the start-ups you work with. Read more
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SEED & Climate Smart Enterprises
Published: 11 August 2019
At SEED, the enterprises that we support pioneer business models based on environmental sustainability and the creation of responsible products, services and value chains. Read more
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From waste to wealth: the story of alternative fuel enterprise BioAfriq
Published: 20 June 2019 Linde Wolters, Sonya Ong
We caught up with BioAfriq founders and SEED Starter alumni Doreen Achieng Ochieng-Ivisu and James Nyamai, the husband and wife who recently were selected to join the Kenya Acceleration Programme 2019 by CIC Kenya. Their story started when they realised the damage charcoal was doing to their country, where tree cover is at only 3%. In this catch-up, they talk about separating their private from their business life, the difficulty of changing farmer mindsets and why BioAfriq is here to stay. Read more
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Designing policy instruments to benefit green and social enterprises in Southern Africa
Published: 07 June 2019 Camilla Shearman
Last month we launched our SEED Policy Prototyping Programme, a series of Policy Labs in South Africa and Malawi. Bringing together policymakers and enterprise support organisations, we explored the policy challenges facing local social & green enterprises. Using hands-on SEED 'prototyping' tools, we then develop the first concrete solutions to these challenges. Read more
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SANEDI & SolarTurtle develop next generation of green enterprises for grassroots communities
SolarTurtle Source: SA Innovation Summit
The South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) has partnered with the Department of Science and Technologies (DST), and SolarTurtle to development the next generation SolarTurtle solar energy kiosks – The BabyTurtle. Read more
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Policy pathways for eco-inclusive enterprise support in South Africa | Policy Landscape Paper
Published: 01 April 2019 Camilla Shearman, Christine Meyer, Maggie Sloan
The transition to a green, inclusive, and climate-smart South Africa requires collaborative efforts from the public sector, civil society, and private sector. As small and growing enterprises are an essential driver of growth, particularly in emerging economies, cross-sector partnerships to co-create an enabling environment for enterprises with inclusive and climate-smart business models are critical.
This policy landscape paper provides a snapshot of the ecosystem in which eco-inclusive, climate-smart small and growing enterprises operate. By identifying areas where further support is needed, this paper is connected to the SEED Policy Prototyping Programme, in which stakeholders across sectors collaborate to co-create policy instruments designed to build a more enabling ecosystem for eco-inclusive entrepreneurs. Read more
This policy landscape paper provides a snapshot of the ecosystem in which eco-inclusive, climate-smart small and growing enterprises operate. By identifying areas where further support is needed, this paper is connected to the SEED Policy Prototyping Programme, in which stakeholders across sectors collaborate to co-create policy instruments designed to build a more enabling ecosystem for eco-inclusive entrepreneurs. Read more
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Policy pathways for eco-inclusive enterprise support in Malawi | Policy Landscape Paper
Published: 01 April 2019 Benita Rose, Christine Meyer
The transition to a green, inclusive, and climate-smart Malawi requires collaborative efforts from the public sector, civil society, and the private sector. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are important drivers of growth in Malawi, particularly in emerging economies, andmaking cross-sector partnerships are critical to co-creatinge an enabling environment for enterprises with inclusive and climate-smart business models.
This input paper provides a snapshot of the ecosystem in which eco-inclusive small and growing enterprises operate. By identifying areas where further support is needed, this paper serves as an input to the SEED Policy Prototyping Programme, in which stakeholders across sectors collaborate to co-create policy instruments designed to build a more enabling ecosystem for eco-inclusive entrepreneurs. Read more
This input paper provides a snapshot of the ecosystem in which eco-inclusive small and growing enterprises operate. By identifying areas where further support is needed, this paper serves as an input to the SEED Policy Prototyping Programme, in which stakeholders across sectors collaborate to co-create policy instruments designed to build a more enabling ecosystem for eco-inclusive entrepreneurs. Read more
SDGs:
BioAfriq Energy Limited, SEED Starter Alumnus, wins TOTAL KENYA STARTUPPER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Source: Startupper of the Year
BioAfriq Energy Limited (SEED Starter participant) has been awarded the TOTAL KENYA STARTUPPER OF THE YEAR AWARD. The enterprise provides affordable dehydration services to small and medium farmers, cooperatives and agricultural processing plants most of which do not have adequate funds to purchase food dehydrators and so incur huge post-harvest losses. Read more
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Jardin Green Hope (Ngalée, De la terre à la terre), SEED Award Winner, is named top 15 in STARTUPPER OF THE YEAR AWARD in Burkina Faso
Source: Startupper of the Year
Jardin Green Hope (Ngalée, De la terre à la terre), SAG-SEED Award Winner in 2016, is named to top 15 finalists in the STARTUPPER OF THE YEAR AWARDS in Burkina Faso. The enterprise has installed the first industrial unit for organic fertiliser production and offers an innovative process capable of revitalising any type of organic waste. Read more
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KadAfrica showcased in inspired magazine of Brussels Airlines for empowering Ugandan women
Africa Business Digest Source: Africa Business Digest
KadAfrica (SEED Africa Award Winner 2014), and its founder Eric Kaduru, from Uganda was showcased in Brussels Airlines‘ inspired magazine for using farming to empower Ugandan women. The enterprise’s passion fruit farm runs a year-and-a-half programme for female employees to develop financial management, agriculture and life skills. Upon completion, workers are rewarded with a farm start-up kit with chemical inputs, tools, seedlings and access to a small plot of land. Read more
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A Year at SEED | 2018
Published: 31 January 2019
Our annual visual report (A Year at SEED | 2018) celebrates achievements across both our Direct Enterprise Support and Ecosystem Building programmes plus shares our involvement in key high-level dialogues and milestones in organisational development, while introducing you to this year's SEED Low Carbon Award Winners who offer innovative solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Read more
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SEED-supported enterprises applauded as green economy innovators at PAGE
Published: 15 January 2019
The 2019 PAGE Ministerial Conference drew attention to "Advancing Inclusive and Sustainable Economies" on 10 and 11 January 2019. By participating in the conference in Cape Town, South Africa, SEED highlighted the importance of supporting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to realising and strengthening inclusive and green economies. Read more
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Eco-inclusive enterprises get a stake in green economy agendas during GEC discussions
Published: 14 January 2019
SEED backed smaller eco-inclusive enterprises to #GetAStake in the Green Economy transition during action-oriented discussions at the Green Economy Coalition Global Meeting 2019. Read more
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SEED Starter Toolkit
Published: 10 January 2019
This SEED Starter Toolkit preview provides a glimpse into the variety of hands-on business planning tools and processes used by participants of the SEED Starter programme. Our SEED Starter programme guides participants from the early stages of ideation to the generation of a viable business plan used to launch an eco-inclusive enterprise. Participants join together in teams during Starter workshops to blueprint and refine their business plans with the support of peer-learning, expert guidance and the full SEED Starter Toolkit. Read more
Gold Standard Programme of Activities: Unlocking the carbon market for waste-management enterprises | Climate Finance, India 2018
Published: 20 December 2018 Kathrin Kirsch
The Gold Standard Programme of Activity (PoA) for Waste Management Start-Ups developed by VNV Advisory and GIZ is an umbrella programme that bundles several emissions reducing activities that can earn carbon credits. The PoA enables carbon revenue for SMEs including small-scale projects involved in waste management in key community-oriented areas such as households and commercial waste. Read more
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New Ventures: Portfolio Level Debt Facility for Clean Energy | Climate Finance, India 2018
Published: 20 December 2018 Kathrin Kirsch
The Portfolio Level Debt Facility for Clean Energy Enterprises is targeted towards closing the debt funding gap in the RE sector by creating a corpus for a portfolio of clean energy social enterprises. This aims to create enhanced impact and an overarching ecosystem development for RE off-grid enterprises, catalysing the
uptake of renewable energy in India and especially reaching last-mile communities. Read more
uptake of renewable energy in India and especially reaching last-mile communities. Read more
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TARA: Green SME Finance Tool | Climate Finance, India 2018
Published: 20 December 2018 Kathrin Kirsch
The Green MSME Finance Tool is a knowledge platform positioned as a one-stop source for organised financial information about green MSMEs, credit appraisal and rating systems for green technology solutions and potential monetisation of green solutions. It provides banks with data and frameworks to understand green technology-based enterprises and evaluate them for financing in order to bridge the information gap between banks and green enterprises and thereupon reducing otherwise high due diligence costs. Read more
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Smart-Irrigation-as-a-Service Financing Vehicle | Climate Finance, Thailand 2018
Published: 20 December 2018 Kathrin Kirsch
The Smart-Irrigation-as-a-Service Financing Vehicle directs deal flow for drip-irrigation systems to improve productivity and climate adaptation capacities to small and growing agri-enterprises. This financial instrument offers microfinancing solutions to lower investment risks in agricultural process improvements for both farmers and financial institutions. Read more
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Joining forces for eco-inclusive Climate Action at COP24
Published: 19 December 2018 Maggie Sloan
As global leaders joined together in Katowice to determine the future of our planet, our SEED team was present at COP24 to demand that Climate Action takes the lead of SEED-supported small and growing enterprises. Read more
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SEED exhibits innovation in Climate Action at COP24
Published: 19 December 2018
This year at COP24 in Katowice, SEED showcased the success stories of SEED-supported enterprises across sectors and urged stakeholders from private, public and social sectors to acknowledge and bolster the transformative role of entrepreneurship in combatting climate change and furthering sustainable development. Read more
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Plastic Upcycling: Replicator Workbook
Published: 18 December 2018
This Plastic Upcycling: Replicator Workbook preview provides insights and tools to entrepreneurs seeking to start-up an enterprise that converts solid plastic waste into valueable products. Our SEED Replicator Workbooks were developed to guide entrepreneurs through the process of transferring a proven successful business model to another geographic location using hands-on SEED tools and business model insights. Read more
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