Are you a green-preneur? SEED is looking to boost your business

Do you own a start-up looking to solve local problems? Has it integrated social and environmental benefits into its business model? Then here is an opportunity to establish and grow your enterprise.

Germany-based SEED, a global partnership for action on sustainable development and the green economy, is accepting applications for its SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development.

The SEED Awards seek to find the most promising social and environmental enterprises in developing and emerging economies.

Interested entrepreneurs have until March 21 to make their applications through the SEED website, www.seed.uno. Applicants can also download the application form, fill it and then email it to [email protected]. Those unable to make online submissions can contact the organisation on phone [phone]).

Once the call for applications closes, an independent jury of international experts will select 20 businesses that have the potential to help eradicate poverty in sustainable ways.

Business Support

The winners will receive tailor-made business support packages. Over a period of six months — July to December — entrepreneurs will be offered expert advice on how to further develop their business plans.

They will also get access to individual workshops targeted at their needs, high-level profiling of their enterprises, and an international network of businesses, governments and development institutions.

The winners will be recognised at an international awards ceremony at the SEED Africa Symposium to be held on 28-29 September in Nairobi.

This year, the SEED Awards include 15 Switch Africa Green-SEED Awards for enterprises in Kenya, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. The category is supported by the SWITCH-Africa Green project, which is implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) with the assistance of the European Union.

There are also four SEED Africa Awards for enterprises in Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia, a category supported by the Flemish government.

Lastly, a SEED Gender Equality Award will go to an enterprise run or owned by a woman or women, that prioritises women’s empowerment and is located in Kenya.

Last year’s winners of the awards include an enterprise in Ethiopia that manufactures solar products locally and makes them available to rural communities; a South African co-operative that collects and recycles waste in rural Limpopo; an enterprise that sells low-cost organic fertiliser to improve yields and food security in Malawi; and, an enterprise in Uganda that builds a network of solar technicians to repair, service and sell solar systems.