Call for applications: launch of the second SAG-SEED Starter in Ghana & Uganda
Published: 24 January 2017
Time for the second cohorts: Switch Africa Green and SEED announce today a call for applications for the second rounds of the Starter Months in both Ghana and Uganda. Read more
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Call for Applications for the 2017 SAG-SEED Awards
Published: 10 January 2017
SEED has opened the call for applications for 15 SWITCH Africa Green (SAG) – SEED Awards for enterprises in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. Read more
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Driving conservation through sustainable tourism enterprises
Published: 15 December 2016 Mariska van Gaalen
Along the coast of Kenya, just north of Mombasa, the Watamu National Marine Park and Reserves grace the coastline. In recent years, however, Watamu has struggled with increased solid waste pollution. Read more
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Turning challenges in impact investing into prototype innovations
Published: 05 December 2016 Kay Eunkyung Kang, Rainer Agster
Kenya, where our first Impact Financing Lab took place, is one of the global centres of impact investing! But even there, many challenges for deal flow exist… Read more
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Two ways to turn waste into money: Meet the 2016 SEED Award Winners in India
Published: 25 November 2016
The two winning eco-inclusive enterprises of the 2016 SEED Awards in India are Green the Map and Waste Ventures India! Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Waste Ventures India
Published: 24 November 2016
Toter - the enterprise’s “Uber for trash” mobile app and website - brings the convenient collection of recyclables to the doorstep of Indian homes and businesses. Waste Ventures India (WVI) makes this possible by partnering with waste pickers and scrap dealers. Read more
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Spurring the replication of eco-inclusive enterprises – towards a collaborative integrative support approach
Published: 16 November 2016 Lina Frank, Mirko Zürker
At the 2016 SEED Africa Symposium in Nairobi Ligia Noronha, Director of the UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, underlined that “Replication is a key theme to foster green growth and sustainable development”. But replication demands targeted support at every stage, which calls for collaboration between diverse support providers and a strong ecosystem. Read more
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Scaling Innovation at the Energy-Agriculture Nexus in East Africa
Published: 27 October 2016 Christian Pirzer, Christine Meyer
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. Read more
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Why All Women Recycling considers replication as a new pathway to scale impact
Published: 10 October 2016 Lynn Worsley
“Be creative, be unafraid, and take that step off the mountain. I assure you it’s worth it.” This advice from Lynn Worsley, the founder of the successful eco-inclusive enterprise and 2014 SEED South Africa Award Winner All Women Recycling, encourages women who are considering founding their own social enterprise to go for it. Read more
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From innovative off-grid mobile solar power stations to the polymerised bitumen roads from recycled plastic - Meet the 2016 SEED Award Winners
Published: 28 September 2016
At SEED's largest annual international forum, the SEED Africa Symposium, SEED announced the 20 winners of the 2016 SEED Awards, today. These 20 outstanding eco-inclusive enterprises will be honoured during the international SEED Award Ceremony this evening. Read more
SDGs:
Training Business Development Service Providers to Boost Eco-Inclusive Innovations
Published: 14 September 2016 Rainer Agster
Working with more than 220 enterprises in 38 countries, we soon realized that although each enterprise is unique, topics are reoccurring. Instead of re-inventing the wheel each time, we put time and effort into ‘toolifying’ our support. Read more
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Case Study: All Women Recycling
Published: 07 September 2016
All Women Recycling (AWR) is a small business, based in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, that has created a unique product to address local social and environmental challenges. Read more
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Case Study: Waste to Food
Published: 07 September 2016
Waste to Food has developed a combination of technologies to overcome the widespread disposal of organic waste to landfills in South Africa, while at the same time contributing to employment and food security. Read more
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Replicating successful business models - Moving from lighthouses to a network of street lamps
Published: 05 September 2016 Christine Meyer
It is a challenge to transition to a low carbon economy while improving the well-being of the world’s nine billion people. By replicating proven solutions, positive impact from eco-inclusive enterprises can spread, and facilitate the transition to a low carbon economy while also improving social conditions as set in the SDGs. Read more
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Waste to Food, a SEED Story from South Africa
Published: 30 August 2016
Waste to Food recycles food waste into high quality organic products. Commercial food waste is processed using industrial composting technology, the partially stabilised organics are then converted into high-quality earthworm compost. Read more
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All Women Recycling, a SEED Story from South Africa
Published: 29 August 2016
All Women Recycling turns discarded plastic bottles into unique gift boxes, called kliketyklikboxes, which are sold internationally. In the production of the gift boxes the enterprise employs young women, primarily previously unemployed single mothers. All Women Recycling also contributes to cleaner townships by strengthening environmental awareness, particularly in schools which as a result set up collection points for the plastic bottles. The enterprise has won a SEED South Africa Award in 2014. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Green the Map
Published: 21 August 2016
Green the Map (GTM) recycles waste and provides a retail network for upcycled products, generating livelihoods for disadvantaged people and spreading environmental consciousness. By partnering with waste collectors, producers, NGOs and government, the enterprise contributes to tackling urban waste problems. Read more
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From workshop to market in seven weeks
Published: 22 July 2016
The first steps as a startup are the hardest, especially for eco-inclusive startups in emerging markets. It all comes down to the right spirit and lion-hearted attitude. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Belle Verte Ltée
Published: 05 July 2016
Belle Verte aims to create a national closed-loop waste management system and raises awareness on the need to reuse and recycle waste through creative workshops. Within a collaborative process, diverse stakeholders collect, sort and upcycle all types of waste products. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: City Waste Recycling
Published: 05 July 2016
City Waste Recycling Ltd offers responsible waste processing for a wide range of waste types from problematic e-waste and batteries to sawdust and plastic. It provides formal employment lifting waste collectors out of the informal sector. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Dagoretti Market Biogas Latrine
Published: 05 July 2016
Dagoretti Market Biogas Latrine is a female-run, community-based initiative that uses renewable energy options (biogas and solar) to address multiple community needs in sanitation and energy under one roof. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Eco-Shoes
Published: 05 July 2016
Eco-Shoes hires and trains physically disabled artisans to manufacture durable and versatile footwear made from upcycled tires and fabric waste, thereby empowering the disabled and lifting them out of poverty, while at the same time reducing waste. Read more
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Enterprise Brief: Green Road
Published: 05 July 2016
Green Road Ltd is piloting the construction of polymerised bitumen roads from recycled plastic and asphalt. They provide marginalised groups with employment in plastic collection and reduce the amount of plastic waste that would have otherwise ended up in landfills or be incinerated. Read more
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A perspective from India
Published: 10 May 2016 Allison Robertshaw
This past month, it was India’s turn, as SEED hosted an event around investment in the low-carbon, green SME sector. Whilst it’s fair to say that every region and country has its own challenges, it remains surprising how similar the discussion is and how clearly certain interventions are necessary in order to make the green SME space both more resilient and scalable. Read more
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From trash to cash: How to turn waste back into a valuable resource
Published: 09 March 2016 Carolin Ehrensperger
Worldwide heaps of waste are expected to double by 2015 according to the World Bank. The majority of it is burned, dumped into landfills or ends up in our oceans. The small minority of the waste we are producing is taken for what it really is: an important resource. Read more
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