SEED Newsletter - Issue 19

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SEED Newsletter

Nov 2016, Issue 19

In this edition of the SEED newsletter, we are excited to present to you the 20 outstanding SEED Award Winners of 2016. They were honoured at the 2016 SEED Africa Symposium (#SEEDAS16), our largest international annual forum, in Nairobi, Kenya on 28-29 September 2016 with the theme “From Innovation to Imitation - Replicating Successful Business Models for Green Growth and Sustainable Development”. Discover their innovative business ideas, from recycled plastic roads to locally made water filters, that benefit both people and the environment.

Following SEEDAS16, we will continue to work toward replication in 2017 and have therefore announced a call for applications for originators for the upcoming SEED Replicator workshops, which are supported by the European Union through SWITCH Africa Green and by the Government of Flanders. The deadline to apply is 2 December.

For us, replication also means shifting the focus from supporting a few lighthouses to fostering the creation and increasing the resilience of numerous lampposts. Let’s let the light reach as many as possible. Happy reading!

News at SEED
	Meet the 2016 SEED Award Winners! SEED announced the 20 2016 SEED Award Winners at the SEED Africa Symposium on 28 September 2016 in Nairobi. The SEED Awards recognise innovative eco-inclusive enterprises whose businesses help to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). From innovative off-grid mobile solar power stations to the polymerised bitumen roads from recycled plastic... Read the full article
	Do you want to replicate your eco-inclusive business? Apply now as an Originator for the SEED Replicator For our recently launched new support programme, the SEED Replicator, we are currently looking for eco-inclusive enterprises wishing to replicate their business model. Interested enterprises will be supported in the identification of replicable features of their business model as well as in their search for... Read the full article
	SEED shared experiences at the SwitchMed Connect Conference on 19 & 20 October in Barcelona The SwitchMed Connect Conference is an annual gathering of stakeholders of the Mediterranean ecosystem to share stories, expertise and experience on eco-inclusive entrepreneurship. Annually, start-ups and entrepreneurs, industry agents, change agents, policy and financial institutions working on... Read the full article
	SEED Africa Symposium 2016: Replicating Successful Business Models for Impact How can we promote the uptake of eco-entrepreneurship by replicating successful business models to more communities, regions and new markets? This key question was discussed by over 450 researchers, practitioners, investors, policymakers and civil society members at this year’s SEED Africa Symposium... Watch the Summary Video or Read the full article
	First SAG-SEED Replicator Workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya On 26 September, 40 individuals came together at the YMCA Nairobi for the first SWITCH-Africa Green-SEED Replicator Workshop to get inspired, expand their networks and develop their business idea by replicating proven business models. Read the full article

New SEED Publications
	Driving Conservation Through Sustainable Tourism Enterprises: A Sectoral Business Condition Brief To protect biodiversity, we need to create alternative economic opportunities for the people who depend on the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. Biodiversity is the foundation of human well-being and prosperity. At the same time, human activities are its greatest threat. In particular, biodiversity hotspots like savannahs, forests and coral reefs are under pressure due to unsustainable tourism development and the livelihood needs of low-income communities. Enterprises that successfully combine tourism with conservation solutions depend strongly on partnerships with low-income communities. Managing these partnerships is complex, as it often involves the coordination of multiple players. Therefore, NGOs and tourism associations are often required as intermediaries. Read the brief to discover how governments in Southern and East Africa can drive biodiversity conservation and advance sustainable tourism development by supporting enterprises and intermediaries. You can download this study here.
	Scaling Innovation at the Energy-Agriculture Nexus in East Africa: A Sectoral Business Condition Brief 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 global energy consumption. Read the brief to discover how policy makers can catalyse development of the sector through providing consistent policy strategy and coordinating sector activities, investing in research and development of appropriate technologies at the local level, incentivising the application of technologies at the nexus, and facilitating access to finance. You can download this study here.

New on the SEED Blog
	CURATED Kenyan entrepreneur sets off on long and plastic road \| By UNEP At the end of her story, one gets that sense that Jackline Lang’at’s social enterprise, making road material and paving blocks while solving the waste plastic problem, is on the verge of taking off— all it needs is opportunity. Read More
	GUEST Scaling Innovation at the Energy-Agriculture Nexus in East Africa \| By Christian Pirzer & Christine Meyer “The climate is changing. Food and agriculture must, too.” 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. We recently hit on this topic through the launch of our newest SWITCH Africa Green-SEED Sectoral Business Condition Brief... Read More
	CURATED Ugandan farmer hogs glory in grassroots award \| By UNEP YICEUganda (Youth Initiative for Community Empowerment Uganda) is the result of a lifetime of his dogged persistence and ingenuity. It has raised the incomes of 630 smallholder farmers by 20 per cent and boosted their food production by about 100 per cent since Ssempijja founded it in 2011. Read More
	SEED 5 key success factors for successful replication of eco-inclusive business models \| By Christine Meyer “There is no problem in Africa that nobody has thought about. Use those ideas!” said Ndubuisi Ekekwe from the African Institute of Technology two weeks ago at the SEED Africa Symposium in Nairobi. And, Jukka Uosukainen from the Climate Technology Centre and Network added: “Take the best innovations of the world and copy them. Let's start copying. I love it!” The topic of replication is no brand-new approach. But, the potential of replication of proven business... Read More
	CURATED The Lost Crop: 2016 SEED Award Winner Transforming Rural Women’s Lives \| By UNEP When asked why she does what she does—working with women from poor rural backgrounds to grow and sell a little-known West African cereal crop—Salma Abdulai begins to tear up and pauses to dab at her eyes. “The women come up to me and say they can now afford to pay their children’s school fees,” the petite lady says, hiding her tissue in the sleeve of her bright yellow patterned traditional Ghanaian dress. “There are many more stories, but those are the best.” Read More
	SEED Training Business Development Service Providers to Boost Eco-Inclusive Innovations \| By Rainer Agster Ten years ago, David founded the enterprise ‘Esam’s Best Chicken’ to reduce his country’s dependence on chicken imports and to provide a reliable source of income to smallholder farmers. Today, he and his team run a successful enterprise with a network of 210 smallholder farmers. Now they would like to widen their business model: contract new committed producers particularly from the base of the pyramid, add organic eggs to the product portfolio, and... Read More