Winners of the SEED Awards 2014 presented at the SEED Africa Symposium in Kenya

The importance of social and environmental entrepreneurship for sustainable growth patterns in Africa has been the main focus of the first day of the SEED Africa Symposium 2014 in Nairobi. As part of this event, 41 innovative sustainable start-up enterprises were honoured with a SEED Award.

Some of the fastest growing economies worldwide are located in Africa. However, a large percentage of the population there remains excluded from the benefits of that growth and much of the growth is achieved at the expense of natural resources. Against this backdrop, the proliferation of social and green entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in making the shift towards sustainable development.

As hosting partner of the SEED Initiative, adelphi is organising the SEED Africa Symposium on 10-11 September 2014, an annual multi-stakeholder forum in Nairobi. During this event, successful sustainable business models are presented and possibilities are discussed for the promotion of an enabling environment for social and environmental entrepreneurship and inclusive business models in the region.

SEED Initiative honours 41 start-up enterprises with SEED Awards

The Symposium started yesterday and will continue throughout today. The theme for this year’s event is “Making growth sustainable: co-creating solutions through social and green entrepreneurship”. More than 250 participants - among them representatives of the private sector, politics, civil society and service providers - will discuss what social and environmental enterprises can learn from big businesses today and how policy can create an enabling environment. Under the headings “Explore. Enable. Engage” the participants will jointly develop ideas on how to foster and promote social and environmental entrepreneurship in Africa.

At an International Awards Ceremony held at the first day of the symposium, an international jury presented the prestigious SEED Awards to 41 innovative start-up enterprises that offer particularly innovative, sustainable and scalable solutions to social and environmental challenges. In the course of the coming months, adelphi will support the Award winners through several workshops, which were especially developed for sustainability entrepreneurs.

More information on the symposium can be found on its website. Follow the Symposium live on Twitter using the hashtag #SEEDAS14.

Media Coverage:

TV report on SABC News