Digital Innovation for Eco-Inclusive Enterprises

Published: 30 March 2020Authors: Khawla Rammali, Linde Wolters, Sonya Ong
Digital innovation is a great way to accelerate social, environmental and economic transformation, for enterprises to tackle challenges such as climate change, food security, gender equality, and scale-up solutions more quickly through technology. Read more
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Our COVID-19 Update: Share Your Stories or Get in Touch

Published: 27 March 2020
At SEED, we have been concerned and touched by the COVID-19 pandemic as well. As of last week, we have moved into remote working mode. Read more

Malawian Enterprises share their Fundraising Tips for Small Enterprises

Published: 27 March 2020Authors: Alina Weiss, Sonya Ong
Seven of our SEED Malawi eco-inclusive enterprises – Chonona, Green Impact Technologies, Green Ventures, Honey Products, Hortinet, InteWaste and Ziweto – were recently able to raise significant funds that will help them to scale-up and achieve their full impact potential. We asked them to share their fundraising journey and learnings with you. Read more

Promoting Zimbabwean entrepreneurship at Sankalp Africa Summit 2020

Published: 13 March 2020
As part of a panel at the Sankalp Africa summit 2020, four SEED representatives joined a panel on impact investing in Zimbabwe to do some myth busting and explain present investment opportunities in the country. Read more

BDS+ Special Focus Uganda: Three reasons to join a Training of Trainers in Uganda

Published: 10 March 2020Authors: Lina Gutierrez, Linde Wolters
SEED brings BDS advisors together to share experiences and increase mutual collaboration, allowing for the ecosystem and practitioner community to grow and mature. Read on to find out more about the opportunities SEED ToTs bring to BDS providers, and why we think our tools and training are a good fit for that market. Read more

Seed Award Winner Gorilla Conservation Wins the St Andrews Prize for the Environment 2020

Authors: Source: THE ST ANDREWS PRIZE
Celebrating its 22nd award in 2020, the Prize is an environmental initiative by the University of St Andrews in Scotland. The award recognises significant contributions to environmental issues and concerns with a focus on sustainability, conservation, biodiversity and community development. Read more
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SEED Congratulates Seven Malawi Enterprises on their Latest Success

Published: 28 February 2020
Seven of our SEED Malawi eco-inclusive enterprises - Chonona, Green Impact Technologies, Green Ventures, Honey Products, Hortinet, Inte Waste and Ziweto – were recently able to raise funds that will help them scale-up and achieve their full growth potential. Read more
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SEED Award Winner Fang Thai Factory Featured on International Climate Initiative (IKI)

Authors: Source: International Climate Initiative (IKI)
SEED Low Carbon Award Winner 2019 Fang Thai Factory featured as a creative solution to address the environmental issues caused by Thailand's packaging industry in terms of deforestation, carbon dioxide emissions and waste management by International Climate Initiative. Read more
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Bottom-up Solutions to the Climate Emergency: Three Innovative, Eco-Inclusive Enterprises Take a Local Approach

Authors: Linde Wolters / Marlena Kiefl / Khawla Rammali Source: Next Billion
The threat of climate change exacerbates already existing inequalities, and increases the urgency of the need for resilient communities. But building this resilience presents a complex challenge: How can the world’s most marginalized communities effectively pursue growth, work toward the Sustainable Development Goals and overcome climate-related crises – while involving the rural households, women and youth who are most affected by climate change? Read more
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SEED Low Carbon Award Winner Hustlenomics Featured on Sowetan Live

Authors: Karabo Ledwaba Source: Sowetan Live
Social entrepreneur Nhlanhla Ndlovu has fast become a star in the construction industry with his idea of replacing backyard shacks with decent housing. The 35-year-old founder of Hustlenomics recently won the SA leg of the Chivas Venture 2020 and will be representing the country in London and later Toronto in the international leg where $1m is up for grabs. Read more
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SEED Low Carbon Award Finalist SunnyCotton Featured on 'MGR Online'

Authors: Source: MGR online
Ms. Kesinee Jirawanidchakorn has created a sanitary napkin made from fabric, which can be washed and reused again. It enables females to save money and reduce the amount of waste that pollutes the environment. Read more
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SEED Award Winner Lifepack Featured as an Eco-Friendly Biodegradable Packaging Solution to Plastic Pollution

Authors: Dan Edel Source: Intelligent Living
SEED Gender Equality Award Winner 2013 Lifepack, based in Colombia, has developed an amazing, 100% compostable product that can germinate plants within 8 days and biodegrade within 3 weeks. Each plant that germinates from a Lifepack will help to filter up to 1 ton of CO2. Read more
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SEED Award Winner 2019 Fang Thai featured on Deutsche Welle (DW)

Authors: Source: Deutsche Welle
Fang Thai's creative solution of using rice straw as a substitute for plastic food packaging in Thailand is featured by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Read more
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SEED Low Carbon Award Finalist Ecozen Solutions Ranked as the 14th Fastest Growing Company in India.

Authors: Source: Economic Times
In any great story, a few memorable characters always stand out, and so it is too with India. The Economic Times and Statista are on the cusp of launching the inaugural edition of India’s Growth Champions 2020, an ambitious initiative that aims to highlight true accelerators of the Indian economy. Read more
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SEED India Hub Launch at the World Sustainable Development Summit 2020

Authors: TERI Source: TERI
Rainer Agster, Director of Operations at SEED, was present during WSDS 2020 to launch the SEED India hub and to introduce two eco-inclusive enterprises (Aikya Organics & Daily Dump) that are developing solutions for the challenges of climate change. Read more
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SEED Award Winner Green the Map featured on Global Ideas (DW)

Authors: Global Ideas Source: Deutsche Welle
SEED Award Winner 2016 Green the Map featured as a creative solution to tackle India's massive waste management problem by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Read more
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SEED Low Carbon Award 2019 finalist Stonesoup featured on 'the better India'

Authors: Charu Chowdhary Source: The better India
SEED Low Carbon Award 2019 finalist Stonesoup featured on 'the better India' to share their knowledge on terrace gardening. Stonesoupe provides home composting kits and other eco-friendly products that enable people to reduce their household waste and grow their own food. Read more
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SOLFIN: Affordable Lease-to-Own Financing for Solar System | Climate Finance, Ghana 2019

Published: 27 January 2020Authors: Kathrin Kirsch, Marlena Kiefl
SOLFIN is a climate finance product that targets SMEs in the solar energy sector and supports them to provide affordable solar systems through enabling a lease-to-own financing model. Thereby, SOLFIN addresses the lack of high upfront investments for solar technologies by enabling solar technology providers to offer solar systems complemented by the necessary finance product. In this way, reasonable interest rates and longer tenors can be offered to SMEs, end-users and households. Read more
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SEED Symposium Bangkok 2020

Published: 23 January 2020
The SEED Symposium Bangkok 2020 brought together 180+ enterprises, financial institutions, policy-makers, donors, business development service providers and others to develop innovative approaches and partnerships that promote social and environmental entrepreneurship in sustainable development and green economy agendas. Read more
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Beyond impact: Eco-inclusive enterprises advancing the SDGs

Published: 17 January 2020
Small and growing enterprises are key drivers of development and employment. They account for 50% of the jobs globally, and contribute well over 35% towards the GDP of emerging economies. SEED particularly supports eco-inclusive enterprises; small, micro and medium-sized enterprises operating at the community level. They offer innovative solutions to common social and environmental issues, but also strengthen local economies. But what exactly is their impact? Can we quantify it, and how do we stimulate it?

Have a look at our 2020 SEED Impact Snapshot, a snapshot of the impact of Asia an Africa based eco-inclusive enterprises on the SDGs. Read more
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Meet Mwinilunga District’s beekeeping ambassador

Authors: Source: Mining for Zambia
Sustainable beekeeping will help reduce poverty and protect forests for future generations, says Davies Ilunga Read more
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Pay2Pay: Mobile-Enabled Solution for Working Capital Pre-Financing for Smallholder Farmers | Climate Finance, Ghana 2019

Published: 14 January 2020Authors: Kathrin Kirsch, Marlena Kiefl
Pay2Pay offers a new way of obtaining financing and access to markets to smallholder farmers and small and growing agribusinesses. It is a platform payment system that serves as an intermediary, bringing together financial institutions, smallholder farmers and business development services such as climate-technology service providers. The payment system is set up as a platform with the use of a mobile phone application reaching out to rural areas. Earmarking of pay-outs is used to ensure the proper utilization of money. Read more
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Climate Finance Knowledge Hub: Sharing Technical Know-How on the Assessment, Appraisal & Financing of Climate-Smart Enterprise | Climate Finance, Ghana 2019

Published: 14 January 2020Authors: Kathrin Kirsch, Marlena Kiefl
The Climate Finance Knowledge Hub aims to address the knowledge gap of FIs on climate-smart SMEs by sharing technical know-how on the assessment, appraisal and financing of this target group. It enables FIs to identify and appraise climate-smart value chains to provide targeted financing for SMEs by providing the necessary knowledge, collecting relevant data and establishing a framework for the assessment of climate-smart enterprises and risk-indexing. The Hub will include enterprises throughout the platform and training to also increase their know-how on climate finance. Read more
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Microinsurance Without Borders Effective Delivery of Microinsurance for SMEs in the Agricultural Sector | Climate Finance, Ghana 2019

Published: 14 January 2020Authors: Kathrin Kirsch, Marlena Kiefl
Microinsurance without Borders aims to strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers towards external shocks, focusing on value chains that are strongly affected by climate change. It comprises a comprehensive solution that fits the needs of smallholder farmers by combining a mobile-enabled insurance with technical assistance for climate-resilient agriculture, as well as financial literacy training for smallholder farmers to foster a financially inclusive and climate-resilient agricultural sector in Ghana and fill the insurance gap for smallholder farmers Read more
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