Sustainable Development Goals

Social and environmental entrepreneurship supports poverty eradication and sustainable economic development. Although significant progress towards UN Sustainable Development Goals has been made, further support is needed to enable these enterprises to more effectively and efficiently deliver their products and services for our joint achievement of SDGs by 2030.

Enterprise Brief: Amazóniko

Published: 04 July 2018
Amazóniko offers a collaborative recycling WebApp that incentivizes users to recycle through a door-to-door collection service and rewards scheme. The enterprise helps to formalize recyclables collection in association with waste worker groups and provides sustainable employment within the waste management sector. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Daily Dump

Published: 04 July 2018
Daily Dump is a brand, a service and a set of products and stories of new habits that enable urban households, communities, and businesses to segregate and compost their waste, and to become more conscious & responsible for resource consumption and disposal in a decentralised manner. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Corporación Acción Semilla

Published: 04 July 2018
Corporación Acción Semilla collects organic waste from its foodservice industry and landscaping services clients and converts this waste into a fertilizer for agricultural activities at local, smallholder farms. The enterprise charges clients a fee for its services and earns profits from the sale of crops and compost. Read more
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SEED National Dialogue Forum 2018 sparks scale-up in eco-inclusive enterprise support and financing in Uganda

Published: 27 June 2018
Realising green and low-carbon economies in Uganda: How can we support, finance and replicate successful eco-inclusive business models to trigger action? Read more
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Beating plastic pollution with business innovation on World Environment Day 2018

Published: 04 June 2018Authors: Maggie Sloan, Sonya Ong
At SEED, we celebrate and support innovative enterprises around the globe who integrate social and environmental objectives into their business models. On World Environment Day, we would like to give a shout out to enterprises who #BeatPlasticPollution everyday through their innovative products and eco-inclusive value chains. Read more
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Small and growing eco-inclusive solar enterprises fighting energy poverty on ground

Published: 21 March 2018Authors: Yasmin Waljee OBE
There are nearly 1.1 billion people without access to energy in the world. These are in communities that have no chance of getting access to national grids and even when they do: in low-income countries in remote rural communities, it is pretty unreliable. Read more
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SEED South Africa Symposium 2018

Published: 19 March 2018
180 participants gathered at the annual SEED South Africa Symposium this year held on March 13-14 in Pretoria. Read more
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Celebrating Female Entrepreneurship on International Women’s Day 2018

Published: 08 March 2018Authors: Amar Munnolimath, Zaina Batool
At SEED, we embrace the potential of female entrepreneurs and are committed to empowering women. We not only offer equal-opportunity employment and encourage flexible working arrangements to assist families, but also take data-driven action globally to support women entrepreneurs working towards a greener economy and to accelerate female empowerment, including through our past SEED Gender Equality Award scheme. Read more
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SEED Celebrates a Female-Led Enterprise on International Women’s Day

Published: 08 March 2018Authors: Maggie Sloan, Sonya Ong
As we celebrate the achievements of women today, we present the female-led Unique Quality Product Enterprise as part of our launch of the SEED Case Study Series 2018. The new case study series that emanated from the SWITCH Africa Green project "Promoting Eco-Entrepreneurship in Africa", implemented by SEED, showcases how innoative eco-inclusive start-up enterprises in Africa shape sustainable development on the ground. Read more
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SEED Award Winners attend the UN Environmental Assembly 2017 Sustainable Innovation Expo

Published: 07 December 2017
SEED Award Winners Muliru Farmers, City Waste Recycling, Dagoretti, and Ecopost attended the UN Environment Assembly on 4-6 December 2017. Read more
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Transform, Innovate, GoSustainable

Published: 28 November 2017Authors: Julia Rohe-Frydrych, Regina Treutwein
Coming up with new ideas is essential for the success of a business. Innovative enterprises are pro-active in solving problems, for instance, in reaching new customers or to refining their value proposition. An often unexplored opportunity for innovation is to integrate social and environmental dimensions into a company's business model.

  Read more
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SEED Burkina Faso Dialogue Forum 2017

Published: 04 October 2017
Organised by SEED, the eco-inclusive enterprise dialogue was held in Ouagadougou on 20th September 2017 and brought together about 50 stakeholders. Read more
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Three Great Insights for Building a Great Eco Enterprise: Lessons Learnt from UNLEASH LAB 2017, Denmark

Published: 04 October 2017Authors: Jackson Nyarko
Some participants from our SEED Starter and SEED Replicator Programmes joined the UNLEASH Innovation Lab 2017* in Denmark, where they had the opportunity to work on their business ideas in order to create scalable solutions to the Sustainable Development Goals. Read more
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The 4 types of people who can help you grow your business using the SEED Relationship Mapping tool

Published: 18 September 2017Authors: Kay Eunkyung Kang, Sonya Ong
Growing a business can be a tricky and intimidating process. Business owners are overwhelmed with different aspects to focus on. Should we invest in better customer experience, partnerships, staff wellbeing, or procuring more equipment? Read more
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SEED Mauritius Dialogue Forum 2017

Published: 06 September 2017
The Mauritius Dialogue Forum hosted by SEED and NELIS (Next Leaders Initiative for Sustainability) was held on August 8th in Port Louis. The event brought together around 50 stakeholders from enterprises, the policy level and key support organisations. Read more
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SEED side-event at UN High-Level Political Forum 2017

Published: 10 August 2017Authors: Arab Hoballah
The HLPF 2017 SEED side event on Innovative and Eco-Inclusive Entrepreneurship showcased the role of SMEs in achieving SDGs and was held on 13 July 2017 at the UN Headquarters, New York. Read more
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SEED Annual Report 2016

Published: 28 July 2017Authors: Arab Hoballah, Christine Meyer, Jona Liebl, Kay Eunkyung Kang, Marion Müller vom Berge, Sonya Ong
This Annual Report guides you through the innovative ways that SEED has advanced in 2016 to serve as an active thought leader in the realm of eco-inclusive entrepreneurship for sustainable development, while also introducing to you this year’s SEED Winners that are all individually driving sustainable development forward in their communities and in their countries. Read more
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Eco-inclusive enterprises lead the way to West Africa’s sustainable growth - 2017 SEED West Africa Symposium

Published: 28 July 2017
SEED West Africa Symposium 2017 was attended by more than 150 key stakeholders from government, enterprises, financial institutions, policy makers and accelerator programmes from Ghana and Burkina Faso. Read more
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No Overthinking—Replicate to multiply impacts of Clean Cookstove Enterprises

Published: 28 July 2017Authors: Ebenezer Kumi
At SEED, we have been working with a number of successful Clean Cookstove enterprises: Nishant Bioenergy, WANA Solutions, Awamu, 5 Star Stoves and Greenway Grameen Infra, to explore pathways in expanding their reach and impact beyond their locality, region or country. Read more
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SEED West Africa Symposium 2017

Published: 28 July 2017
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. Read more
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Toolification: My personal journey in shaping the way we do business support at SEED

Published: 24 July 2017Authors: Mirko Zürker
My journey with SEED and providing one-on-one business support for eco-inclusive enterprises started in 2009. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Brent Technologies

Published: 12 June 2017
Brent Technologies uses an innovative, low-cost technology (S-TECH) to transform waste motor oil into fresh motor oil, diesel fuel and roofing asphalt shingles. This overcomes shortages of motor oil and diesel fuel and increases transportation to areas that have limited access to basic necessities. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Coopérative Sahel Vert

Published: 12 June 2017
Coopérative Sahel Vert encourages the generation and use of clean biogas and organic fertiliser by constructing and
maintaining biodigesters in rural areas. Besides the various positive environmental impacts, the sale of surplus agricultural production and organic fertilisers offers households additional income opportunities. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Ekasi Energy

Published: 12 June 2017
Ekasi Energy produces biomass cooking fuel and clean cooking appliances for informal settlements with little or no grid power. The alternative clean energy solutions reduce health threats caused by burning wood, charcoal and paraffin fires usually used for cooking. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Gorilla Conservation Coffee

Published: 12 June 2017
GCCoffee is a for-profit social enterprise aiming to improve livelihoods of coffee farmers and protect mountain gorillas in the area. GCCoffee buys coffee at a premium, processes and sells it as a branded roasted coffee, whose purchase includes a donation to Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH). Read more
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