Imagine an Earth Hour with Clean Energy for All
Published: 28 March 2015 Amélie Heuër, Carolin Ehrensperger
Today, on March 28th, thousands of cities around the world will turn off their lights during Earth Hour to draw attention to the urgent need to act on climate change. Even though the devastating impacts of climate change are becoming ever more visible, global carbon emissions – one of the main contributor to climate change – continue to rise at an alarming rate. Read more
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Green and social entrepreneurship; a pathway to sustainable water management?
Published: 22 March 2015 Amélie Heuër, Carolin Ehrensperger
This year, World Water Day* emphasises the crucial relationship between water and sustainable development. Indeed we all know that water is fundamental to our well-being and when we think of water, the first thoughts that often spring to mind are access to drinking water or water for food production. Read more
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Protecting wildlife by turning elephant dung into paper: A business case?
Published: 03 March 2015 Carolin Ehrensperger, Jona Liebl
It has long been acknowledged that the equilibrium between humans and wildlife is one that can hang in the delicate balance at the best of times, a devastating one-sided scaling at worst. Read more
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Creating inclusive value chains in plastic waste management is paramount for a green economy
Published: 11 February 2015 Amélie Heuër, Sophie van den Berg
For a long time, waste management and recycling were primarily discussed in the context of environmental preservation. However, with natural resources becoming scarcer and prices of raw materials increasing, it is no surprise that materials and energy recovered from recycling waste are gradually recognised as a valuable commodity, particularly by enterprises. Read more
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SEED Awards 2015 - Apply by 31 March 2015!
Published: 06 February 2015
In 2015 SEED will make available up to 31 SEED Awards, for which SEED has received support from the European Union, the Government of Flanders, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the international law firm Hogan Lovells. Additional support is provided by the Government of the Netherlands and other SEED Partners. Read more
Why the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs supported SEED since its inception in 2002
Published: 29 January 2015 Amélie Heuër, Christopher Whaley
The UK has been a strong supporter of SEED since it was established in 2002. It has been a real pleasure to see SEED grow from a small biennial awards scheme, with a modest research programme, to a much broader global initiative promoting social and environmental entrepreneurship. Read more
SDGs:
How to improve support to social and environmental enterprises in Mozambique?
Published: 16 January 2015 Rainer Agster
Since the end of the civil war in 1992 Mozambique has experienced impressive growth rates of 6-8 per cent; embodying the new optimism regarding Africa’s economic outlook. Read more
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Small meets big: How partnering with large corporations can scale impact of sustainable entrepreneurs
Published: 23 December 2014 Anais Mangin, Helen Marquard
Are locally-driven social and environmental enterprises too small to have an impact? We at SEED don’t think so, and Organic Africa demonstrates that. In 2007, when everyone was leaving Zimbabwe due to political and economic turmoil, Dominikus Collenberg started to train smallholders in the organic production of herbs, spices and oils. Read more
SDGs:
2014 - A truly exceptional year for SEED
Published: 18 December 2014
SEED’s achievements in 2014 are captured in the 2014 SEED Annual Report. Read more
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SEED Annual Report 2014
Published: 17 December 2014 Amélie Heuër, Anais Mangin, Helen Marquard, Jona Liebl, Mirko Zürker, Rainer Agster
2014 was truly exceptional; a year where SEED recognised over forty new SEED Winners - remarkable enterprises that generate grassroots eco-solutions at the grassroots. This and more great SEED achievements in our annual report. Read more
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SEED Africa Symposium 2014: Making Growth Sustainable. Co-creating Solutions
Published: 03 December 2014
On September 10th and 11th, the SEED Africa Symposium 2014 convened at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. 320 representatives from business, government, academia, support institutions and civil society from 30 different countries attended. 'Making Growth Sustainable: Co-creating Solutions through Social and Green Entrepreneurship' was the theme of the event. Participants were invited to Explore, Enable and Engage with each other to find ways of building effective ecosystems for green and social enterprises in Africa. Read more
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Championing women’s online learning through storytelling - Join the UN Women iLearn Center
Published: 03 December 2014
UN Women has now launched iLearn, a global mobile-learning platform for and by women entrepreneurs. Read more
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SEED South Africa Symposium 2014: Advancing the Green Economy
Published: 07 November 2014
At the SEED South Africa Symposium, held over 19 and 20 March 2014, over 150 participants from government, private sector, media, academia, development, and civil society organisations, and including around 40 entrepreneurs, gathered at the CSIR in Pretoria to exchange experience, knowledge and perspectives that could advance the growth of socio-environmental entrepreneurship in South Africa. Read more
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Social and Green Enterprises – How to Create Enabling Frameworks to Increase their Contribution to Sustainable Development?
Published: 04 November 2014 Amélie Heuër
Over the last four years, SEED has hosted a series of unique multi-stakeholder for a focussed on the Green Economy and Africa - the SEED Symposia - where each year innovative and promising start-up enterprises, that won a SEED Award for their remarkable efforts to address social and environmental challenges at the grassroots, are presented. Read more
SDGs:
Promoting entrepreneurship for sustainable development: why, and how?
Published: 23 October 2014 Helen Marquard
When UNEP, UNDP and IUCN decided to register the SEED Initiative as a Type II partnership at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, they clearly thought they were on to something – but possibly not quite what SEED is now. Read more
SDGs:
Harnessing the potential of Baobab to provide Mozambican women with new income opportunities
Published: 22 October 2014 Jona Liebl, Mirko Zürker
They are one of the most visually-enthralling trees on the planet. The ancient Baobab – endemic mostly to semi-arid regions of tropical Africa including Mozambique – can live for over 1000 years. Read more
SDGs:
Creating an enabling environment for social and environmental entrepreneurship in Malawi
Published: 29 September 2014 Mirko Zürker, Rainer Agster
As one of the poorest countries in the world, Malawi is characterised by a largely rural population; 84 per cent of Malawi’s population lives outside cities and depends on agriculture as their primary source of income. Read more
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Bringing mobility to Mozambique’s poorest
Published: 10 September 2014 Jona Liebl
‘Teach a man how to fish‘ or, as in this case, ‘ride a bike’, espouses the core aim of the founders of a social and green enterprise that is intent on improving the living standards of rural Mozambicans. Read more
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From Mobile Solar Computer Classrooms to Novel Baobab Products: Green Entrepreneurship is Thriving Across Africa and Beyond
Published: 10 September 2014
Nairobi plays host to one of the largest gatherings of start-up social and environmental enterprises ever, as 41 green entrepreneurs are celebrated at the 2014 SEED Awards Africa Symposium. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: L’s Solution Ltd.
Published: 05 September 2014
L’s Solution Ltd. is a social enterprise that provides rural communities in Northern Tanzania with efficient and clean solar and cooking technologies. The enterprise imports, markets, sells and installs power systems, pumps and industrial installations to households and larger local organisations. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Waste to Food
Published: 05 September 2014
Waste to Food (W2F) provides an alternative to the disposal of organic waste in landfills. A combination of two technologies offers a commercially profitable and scalable processing system for recycling food waste into high-quality compost. The franchise model fosters enterprise development. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Growing the Future
Published: 05 September 2014
Growing The Future is an entrepreneurial programme promoting organic, sustainable and innovative food production in South African households. The programme combats food insecurity, promotes dietary variety, reduces household poverty and supports economic opportunities for the unemployed. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Southwestern Women Bean Growers and Marketing Cooperative Union
Published: 05 September 2014
The enterprise works to rally together the existing smallholder sugar bean women farmers in South Western Uganda. Women joining the co-operative marketing union are empowered to increase production, value addition and sales through training, social support, and wide market access. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Botanica Natural Products
Published: 05 September 2014
Botanica Natural Products has developed a method of extracting the beneficial substances of the Bulbine Frutescens plant which are used in the cosmetic industry. The plant is cultivated and processed organically in its indigenous location in rural Limpopo. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Precious Life Foundation’s Outgrower Project
Published: 05 September 2014
Vulnerable women living at Precious Life Foundation’s farm centre are taught bio-intensive agricultural techniques like sack potato production in order to become self-sufficient. The women then provide training, support, and resources to their community to increase yields and thereby food security. Read more
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