A SEED Symposium recently held in Pretoria, South Africa celebrated outstanding grassroots, social and environmental businesses in Africa and other regions.

The SEED Initiative is a global network founded in 2002 by United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to contribute toward the Millennium Development Goals.

Today in many of the world's developed and developing regions it is small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) that constitute the economic engine, and social and environmental enterprises can make considerable contributions to their local economy and local communities. Their innovation, concern about pollution, food security, energy and greenhouse gases and interests in improving conditions at the local level potentially make them influential actors in mitigating carbon emissions, facilitating adaptation to climate change and moving toward sustainable business models.

Green economy

With the significance of the green economy globally, and its prominence in the June 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil,the role of the green economy in development and poverty alleviation was underlined by UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in South Africa Agostinho Zacarias, who said the United Nations continues to offer support to countries that want to strengthen national green economy efforts and to support them align these with poverty eradication efforts and other national priorities.

The symposium on March 29 provided a platform to explore how to further the contribution that SMMEs can make to the green economy. It also showcased the 2011 SEED Award Winners - small, medium and micro social and environmental enterprises that have played their part in delivering sustainable goods and services especially in Africa, in many cases against all odds.

Lacking expertise

But these positive examples nevertheless disguise the fact, as the discussions at the symposium revealed, that many of them struggle to gain access to know-how, expertise, financial opportunities and networks. Many start-up enterprises especially in developing countries have no national support networks to fall back on and struggle with non-conducive policy environments. All of this hinders them in becoming more effective, visible and recognized green economy drivers and in realizing their potential.

It is particularly difficult for female entrepreneurs who not only face barriers in setting up their business but also social and cultural barriers in gaining access to networks and social acceptance. As Nomcebo Manzini, Regional Program Director of UN Women, which sponsored the 2011 SEED Gender Equality Award,said the award is testimony to women's creative potential even in the midst of seeming insurmountable barriers. "It remains extremely important that rural poor men and women are empowered to create such opportunities and manage them effectively," said Manzini.

The symposium was coupled with an International Awards Ceremony to celebrate the 2011 SEED Award Winners as well as the establishment of SEED South Africa (SEED SA), which is hosted and whose program is managed by the Independent Development Trust (IDT). SEED SA will be officially launched in October 2012, during South Africa's premier development knowledge sharing platform, the Development Week, which is hosted by the IDT.

Innovative winners

Out of over 400 applications from 76 countries, 35 outstanding grassroots social and environmental businesses, mainly from Africa, were selected for their innovation, their potential to scale up and for helping to meet sustainable development challenges in a developing or emerging economy. With the help of the EU who largely supported SEED's focus on Africa, initiatives that received awards included the following:

A company in The Gambia that transforms groundnut shells into fuel briquettes, an enterprise in Burkina Faso that has developed solar ovens, an initiative in Ghana that with its business partners produces biomass-fuelled cooking stoves made from scrap metals, a partnership in Rwanda that pioneers the local production of mushroom spores through a laboratory run by a cooperative for HIV infected women and widows, a community based public private partnership that in South Africa manufactures and markets products from indigenous trees, and an aloe farming initiative in Kenya.

Hisense backing

Lucy Morassutti, National Sales Director for Hisense, South Africa, which is the SEED Awards' corporate sponsor on this occasion, said Hisense has a deep appreciation for small businesses and especially their development, having itself started off as a small radio factory in 1969. "Now we are a multibillion-dollar global conglomerate. But we have always remembered where we started," said Morassutti.

Hisense has welcomed the opportunities provided by the South African Government to enhance the lives of the unemployed and under-privileged.

Each SEED winner has received a package of individually-tailored support for their business that includes access to relevant expertise and technical assistance, building their networks, helping with developing business plans and identifying sources of finance.

For more information - www.seedinit.org