SEED Africa Symposium 2016

The SEED Africa Symposium is an annual international forum for sharing knowledge and experience, establishing partnerships, and developing solutions to stimulate the growth of social and eco-entrepreneurship across the African continent.

Under the theme From Innovation to Imitation, the SEED Africa Symposium 2016 will bring together around 500 enterprises, researchers, practitioners, investors, policy makers and representatives of the civil society to discuss how stakeholders can collaboratively utilize the replication of business models for successfully contributing to green growth and sustainable development across the African continent.

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Highlights of this year’s Symposium

Inspiring Panels and speeches providing insights on challenges and success stories when
replicating business models
Interactive Sessions providing a platform for controversial questions and ground-breaking solutions mutually developed by stakeholders from business, politics, academia and civil society
A new round of the established SEED Investor Dialogue fostering fruitful connections
between impact investors and entrepreneurs
The SEED Award Ceremony 2016 honoring outstanding social and environmental enterprises with the SAG-SEED Awards supported by the European Union, the SEED Africa Awards supported by the Government of Flanders and the SEED Gender Equality Award
The SEED South-South Exhibition showcasing innovative, locally-driven, entrepreneurial approaches to sustainable development challenges of social and eco enterprises from across the continent.

Find out more about the #SEEDAS16 programme

Discover outcomes of last year’s event here

For further information please contact: [email protected]

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the SEED Africa Symposium 2016

Application Deadline: 31st March 2016

SEED has opened the Call for Applications for the 2016 Switch Africa Green-SEED Awards, SEED Africa Awards and SEED Gender Equality Awards.

The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development is an annual awards scheme designed to find the most promising, innovative and locally-led start-up social and environmental enterprises in countries with developing and emerging economies. The independent SEED International Jury of experts selects enterprises which have the potential to make real improvements in poverty eradication and environmental sustainability while contributing to a greener economy.

SEED is a global partnership for action on sustainable development and the green economy that was founded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. –

Start-up enterprises that solve pressing local issues by integrating social and environmental benefits into their business models can apply for the 2016 SEED Awards, which opened for nominations today.

This year, the SEED Awards include up to:

15 Switch Africa Green-SEED Awards for enterprises in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa or Uganda. Supported by the SWITCH-Africa Green project, which is implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with the assistance of the European Union;
4 SEED Africa Awards for enterprises in Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia. Supported by the Government of Flanders;
1 SEED Gender Equality Award to an enterprise, run or owned by a woman or women, that prioritises women’s empowerment and is located in Kenya.

Eligibility Requirements:

SEED welcomes innovative ideas from any enterprise in a developing country or country in transition, which is working in partnership with others to generate economic, environmental and social benefits.
SEED Award Winners must:

a) demonstrate entrepreneurship and innovation

b) deliver economic, social and environmental benefits c) have the intention and potential to become financially sustainable d) be a partnership between different stakeholder groups e) be locally-driven or locally-led f) have potential for scale up or significant replication

g) be in the early stages of implementation

h) meet country-specific requirements

Benefits:

Winning enterprises will receive a tailor-made business support package. Over a period of 6 months, they will be offered expert advice on further developing their business plans, individual workshops targeted at their needs, high level profiling of their enterprises and access to an international network of businesses, governments and development institutions.
Selected by an independent jury of international experts, winners will receive their awards at the International Awards Ceremony during the SEED Africa Symposium to be held on 28 29 September 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Tools: self-help tools that help enterprises prioritise and address their most urgent needs, for instance by assisting with market analysis, developing a funding strategy, mapping stakeholder relationships, and developing Memoranda of Understanding with partners.
Capacity Building: one-on-one advisory service that offers Winners assistance with their business and financial plan, including a 3-day in-country workshop, webinars and remote advisory through the SEED and In-Country Advisors.
Profiling: SEED Winners are profiled nationally, regionally and internationally through a high-level SEED International Awards Ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya, with senior government and UN officials, development, support, and financial institutions as well as through marketing and promotional activities such as our website, blog and social media channels.
Network Building: SEED facilitates contacts between its winning start-ups and support organisations, funders, policy-makers, other enterprises such as SEED Alumni, and SEED Partners and Associates.

Application Procedure

Applications can be filled-in online at the SEED website www.seed.uno.

Alternatively, the application form can be downloaded and sent to [email protected]. Applicants may also contact SEED by email or phone (+49 30 89 00 068 99) should they not be able to submit their application electronically.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the 2016 SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development

SEED Africa Symposium 2016 -Nairobi, Kenya (28-29 September 2016)

2016 SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development for Social & Environmental Enterprises.

SEED Award Winners must: