SEED West Africa Symposium 2017
ACCRA: More than 150 key stakeholders from government, enterprises, financial institutions, the policy level and accelerator programmes from Ghana and Burkina Faso came together to discuss and develop innovative approaches and explore partnerships essential to the replication of business models in order to successfully contribute to inclusive green economy and sustainable development in West Africa.
Sustainable approaches to innovation and multi-stakeholder partnerships were established to support the promotion and replication of business models that can successfully contribute to inclusive green economy and sustainable development in West Africa.
Mr Fredua Agyeman, Director of Environment at Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) of Ghana, and Nestor Batio Bassiere, Minister of Environment of Burkina Faso inaugurated the event with highlights of their respective commitments by their local governments towards achieving green and inclusive economies. SEED was honoured to have Joe Tackie, Acting Chief Director, Ministry for Business Development of Ghana, Christine Evans-Klock, Resident Coordinator for UN in Ghana, as well as Benoist Bazin, Head of Operations, Infrastructure and Sustainable Development, Delegation of the European Union to Ghana as the Keynote speakers who present who brought great insights for the various stakeholders in the eco-inclusive space.
The event hosted a session on Reinventing? Replicating! – Maximizing Impacts Through The Transfer of Successful Eco-Inclusive Business Models in partnership with the British Council, where entrepreneurs from local tourism, waste, and manufacturing sectors convened to discuss replication approaches in these industries. Replicable approaches discussed include home and room sharing for tourism, a waste-for-cash system to reduce waste volumes, and out-grower schemes for the agro-processing and manufacturing sector.
In a parallel session, BDS Practitioners Dialogue hosted by IBA Hub Ghana and SEED saw business development service providers from West Africa get together to network in a peer-learning session. Various experiences from different industries were shared and participants discussed solutions to the challenges they face when providing BDS in Ghana and West Africa.
The Policy Prototyping session explored actions to close policy gaps and accelerate the transition to a green economy. Participants from policymakers, researchers, financial and development experts, and the private sector discussed how to create enabling conditions for sustainable consumption and production practices. Specific measures identified at the session include implementing a Renewable Energy Act, tax rebates, benchmark indicators, advocacy work and cross-industry networking amongst others.
As a highlight of the event, the closing SAG-SEED Award Ceremony celebrated the winners of the award and highlighted the innovative solutions and business cases from Ghana and Burkina Faso that significantly contribute to locally implementing the 2030 SDG Agenda.
These notable winners are:
- Coopérative Sahel Vert, Burkina Faso
- Lagazel, Burkina Faso
- TECO² Carre, Burkina Faso
- RECFRAM Pride Pads, Ghana
- WASHKing, Ghana
The event was also captured on Facebook and Twitter through the hashtag #SEEDWAS17.
The SEED West Africa Symposium 2017 Summary Report is available here.
2017 SEED West Africa Symposium was held in partnership with following organisations and the British Council.