SEED Annual Report 2015
Published: 07 July 2016 Allison Robertshaw, Jona Liebl, Marion Müller vom Berge, Rainer Agster
2015 was also 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. This and more you will find in the Anual Report Read more
SDGs:
Enterprise Brief: Dagoretti Market Biogas Latrine
Published: 05 July 2016
Dagoretti Market Biogas Latrine is a female-run, community-based initiative that uses renewable energy options (biogas and solar) to address multiple community needs in sanitation and energy under one roof. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: SolarTurtle
Published: 05 July 2016
SolarTurtle converts shipping containers into mobile solar power stations and solar kiosks called “Turtles”. The company empowers women entrepreneurs to operate these secure fold-away power stations in order to sell clean and affordable energy to off-grid schools, clinics and individual community members. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Unique Quality Product Enterprise
Published: 05 July 2016
Unique Quality Product Enterprise represents the first business in Ghana that adds value to Fonio, a neglected, indigenous and nutritious cereal crop that grows well on unfertilised marginal land. The company mobilises and supports rural women to cultivate Fonio, processes and markets the products. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: YICE Uganda
Published: 05 July 2016
YICEUganda provides rural smallholder farmers in Uganda with flexible farm loans, inputs and training services to reduce hunger and poverty. With its network of local farm agents, YICEUganda facilitates farmers’ access to bundled agricultural services at various levels of the farming value chain. Read more
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A perspective from India
Published: 10 May 2016 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
SDGs:
Women-to-women energy networks: essential piece of the puzzle for SE4All
Published: 04 May 2016 Amélie Heuër
Over the last three days, I’ve had the pleasure of attending the 2016 International Tech4Dev Conference, which focussed on innovation to achieve social impact. Read more
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Launch of the SAG-SEED Starter Months in South Africa
Published: 09 February 2016
The Switch Africa Green-SEED Starter Months invite entries from teams who develop green and inclusive business solutions to one of the key social and environmental challenges in South Africa. Read more
SDGs:
Changing the paradigm of childcare and income generation in Nairobi’s slums
Published: 04 February 2016 Marion Müller vom Berge
Every child in the world has the right to access high-quality early childhood care and education, and every woman deserves the opportunity to participate in the workforce and generate income, free of concern that their child may not be cared for properly. Read more
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SEED Awards 2016 - Apply by 31 March 2016!
Published: 26 January 2016
SEED has opened the Call for Applications for the 2016 Switch Africa Green-SEED Awards, SEED Africa Awards and SEED Gender Equality Awards. Read more
Tools, Tools, Tools – the SEED Training of Trainers (TOT) in South Africa created a sound support base for green, inclusive SMEs
Published: 18 December 2015 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
SDGs:
The climate negotiations in Paris - What does it mean for the green SME community?
Published: 25 November 2015 Allison Robertshaw
In just five days, politicians, policy makers, NGOs, businesses, entrepreneurs and activists will head to Paris, for the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP), to see whether the world can hammer together an agreement to move the world away from catastrophic climate change before time runs out. Will they be successful? Read more
SDGs:
Has our obsession with scale blinded us as to the real way to have impact?
Published: 18 November 2015 Allison Robertshaw
When I was in Nairobi a few weeks ago, our team at SEED brought together more than 500 people at our 2015 SEED Africa Symposium to discuss the latest developments in social and environmental entrepreneurship. Read more
SDGs:
BanaPads, a SEED Story from Uganda
Published: 04 November 2015
BanaPads Social Enterprise produces comfortable sanitary pads from natural agricultural waste materials. They are low-cost, 100% biodegradable, safe and hygienic, and made locally, following international standards. The objective of this enterprise is to reduce absenteeism of schoolgirls in rural and poor communities while creating a women’s entrepreneur network through which the pads are distributed and sustainable independent micro-businesses are established. Read more
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Celebrating 10 Years of SEED Awards (2005-2015)
Published: 22 September 2015
Ten years ago, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in New York, 5 enterprises received the first SEED Awards. They were chosen, from a pool of over 260 entries from 66 countries, for their potential to advance sustainable development in their communities and contribute to the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Read more
Case Study: IMAI Farming Cooperative
Published: 07 September 2015
IMAI reduces food waste and creates income opportunities by producing and marketing vegetable atchar pickle made from surplus horticultural produce. Read more
SDGs:
Case Study: Solar Sister
Published: 07 September 2015
Solar Sister addresses energy poverty in rural Uganda, Nigeria And Tanzania by providing clean energy products to off-grid communities, while at the same time combatting climate change. Read more
SDGs:
Case Study: BanaPads
Published: 07 September 2015
BanaPads produces affordable, effective and hygienic sanitary pads for women in Uganda, made from the natural fibres of banana plant trunks that are an abundant organic waste in agriculture. Read more
SDGs:
Case Study: Provokame
Published: 07 September 2015
Provokame produces biodegradable plates out of natural fibre and seeds and recycles paper; this reduces pollution from polymer plates and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. Read more
SDGs:
Growing Green and Inclusive Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development in South Africa
Published: 01 September 2015 Amélie Heuër, Dr. Mira Slavova, Rainer Agster
SEED has worked closely with the Gordon Institute for Business Science in 2015 on a study that integrates for policy-makers the findings of five case studies in South Africa. As concerns with accomplishing SDG goals have become inextricably lodged within social and policy debates, scholars studying SMMEs have developed understandings of enterprises embedded within complex institutional environments. The current study has looked how SEED Winners in South Africa progress in achieving their triple bottom line objectives, taking into account challenges they encounter along the way, and success factors that have enabled them to move forward. Read more
SDGs:
Enterprise Brief: Black Gold Farm Manure
Published: 06 July 2015
Black Gold Farm Manure sells natural fertiliser produced from chicken manure and farm residues acquired from local smallholder farmers to households and farms in Malawi, providing training and employment to women and farmers from local communities. Read more
SDGs:
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
SDGs:
Enterprise Brief: Days for Girls Uganda
Published: 06 July 2015
Days for Girls Uganda empowers girls and women around menstrual hygiene. Partnering with local community groups, the enterprise provides training for women to produce and distribute washable menstrual hygiene kits and soaps, while supporting with business training, reproductive health education, and community awareness. Read more
SDGs:
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
SDGs:
Enterprise Brief: Lighting Up Women's Lives
Published: 06 July 2015
Lighting Up Women’s Lives has developed a model to support women entrepreneurship and facilitate affordable access to solar lights and chargers to rural villages of the Kavango region by creating synergies with the existing network and supply chain of established handicrafts companies. Read more
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