Local Entrepreneurship
Celebrated at the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development - New York, 12 May 2009 – The
winners of the 2009 SEED Awards
for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development
were announced today at a high level award
ceremony and reception. The international
award recognizes innovation in local, environmentally-responsible
and sustainable entrepreneurship.
Twenty local initiatives
from across the developing world received
this year's award. Together, the winners
cover a diverse range of promising business
models that will tackle poverty and environmental
stewardship in areas such as water and waste
management, sustainable energy, recycling,
and fish farming.
The SEED Award is the
flagship programme of the SEED Initiative,
a partnership founded by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), and International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The ceremony, which
was attended by high-level delegates from
government, civil society and the business
community, was held in conjunction with
the second week of this year's United Nations
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD).
Taking advantage of the concentration of
national delegations engaged in the CSD,
the reception hoped to direct the collective
attention of the conservation and development
community to the contributions local entrepreneurs
are making to attainment of international
sustainable development objectives.
"This is an inspiring
group of entrepreneurs who demonstrate that
environmental sustainability and business
can be synergistic goals," said Assistant
Administrator of UNDP, Olav Kjørven.
"It is this type of innovation and
responsible entrepreneurship that will create
jobs, provide for food security and save
the environment. It is our objective at
UNDP to promote these progressive business
ideas as they are the seeds of future economies
and are one of the key instruments that
will allow us to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. UNDP is proud to be a
SEED Initiative partner and I congratulate
the 2009 SEED Award Winners on their outstanding
achievements and leadership."
The SEED Awards are
distinctive in the growing field of environment
and development awards in that they identify,
profile and support promising, locally-driven,
start-up enterprises working in partnership
in developing countries to improve livelihoods,
tackle poverty, and manage natural resources
sustainably. Rather than the traditional
monetary prize, applicants compete for a
package of individually-tailored capacity
development– a suite of that will help the
winners to grow their business idea and
establish lasting partnerships across sectors.
In closing remarks,
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General
and Executive Director of UNEP said: "The
$3 trillion-worth of stimulus packages assembled
to revive the global economy can be spent
on keeping ailing industries, such as gas
guzzling car companies and polluting factories
on life support systems or can be invested
in a sustainable Green Economy for the 21st
century. The 2009 SEED Award winners are
shining examples of the kinds of low carbon,
innovation-led, recycling and green job
enterprises shooting up across the globe—enterprises
that echo to the multiple challenges of
here and now, enterprises that with just
a fraction of the bail-out billions and
trillions could be the new Microsoft, Siemens,
Tata, and Unilever – able to deliver tomorrow's
economy today."
About SEED: The SEED
Initiative identifies, profiles and supports
promising, locally-driven, start-up enterprises
working in partnership in developing countries
to improve livelihoods, tackle poverty and
marginalisation, and manage natural resources
sustainably. SEED develops learning resources
for the broad community of social and environmental
entrepreneurs, informs policy- and decision-makers,
and aims to inspire innovative, entrepreneurial
approaches to sustainable development.
SEED is a global network
founded in 2002 by UNEP, UNDP and IUCN to
contribute towards the goals in the UN's
Millennium Declaration and the commitments
made at the Johannesburg World Summit on
Sustainable Development.
SEED's Partners: The
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP);
the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP); IUCN (International Union for Conservation
of Nature); and the governments of Germany,
India, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa,
Spain, the United Kingdom and the United
States of America.
Competition for the
2009 SEED Awards was particularly fierce.
Winners were selected by an international
jury of sustainable development experts.
Julia Marton-Lefèvre,
Director General of IUCN who was also in
attendance said of the level of competition:
"This fourth round of SEED Awards demonstrates
resoundingly that there are a vast number
of innovative and practical ideas in the
world about how to make sustainable development
happen. These SEED winners were selected
from more than 1000 applications from close
to 100 countries worldwide, representing
the collaborative efforts of about 5000
organizations from the private sector, non-governmental
organizations, women's groups, labour organizations,
public authorities, international agencies
and academia. Our hope is that with SEED's
support, they will grow and inspire similar
initiatives elsewhere."
Beyond the annual SEED
Award, the SEED Initiative works to learn
from the experiences of the individual start-ups
to derive tools and guidance that can be
helpful for all entrepreneurs who are aiming
to deliver social and environmental benefits.
The latest tool, a major on line resource
developed by SEED in partnership with the
International Institute for Sustainable
Development and the Commission on Environmental
Cooperation, was launched at the reception.
Set up as a wiki, at
www.entrepreneurstoolkit.org,
this tool is designed so that social and
environmental entrepreneurs around the world
can write about their experience with setting
up and running their businesses.
The 2009 SEED Award
Winners:
- Bangladesh: "Solar
conversion of traditional kerosene hurricane
lamps". A national NGO in partnership
with a local NGO and a cooperative have
developed an innovative device called "SuryaHurricane",
a low-cost solar lantern made from recycled
parts of the conventional and much used
kerosene lantern.
- Bangladesh: "Generating
local economy through regenerating local
resources". A cooperation between a
national NGO, a research institution and
a small-sized business aims to avoid bio-diversity
losses and degradation of the agricultural
lands, by recycling waste from rice-growing
for the production of cement that will be
used in the production of low cost housing
materials.
- Brazil: "One
Million Cistern Program (P1MC)". Local
NGOs and local community associations have
joined forces with the national government
and international agencies to develop and
build one million home cisterns to collect
and store rain water in the semi-arid region,
bringing access to potable water for poor
rural families.
- Brazil: "The
sustainable use of Amazonian seeds".
Regional development in the Brazilian Amazon
is the aim of the partners, achieved by
encouraging the organization of the local
communities as a co-operative, and by transferring
technologies and training the community
in the production of oils made from Amazonian
seeds, resulting in increased incomes for
these communities.
- Brazil: "Eco-Amazon
Piabas of Rio Negro". A national NGO,
a cooperative of small producers and public
authorities are working together to build
a niche market of specialty ornamental fishes
and to introduce a fair trade system through
socio-environmentally responsible fishing.
- Burkina Faso: "Nafore
& Afrisolar energy kiosks". A small
business and international NGOs are cooperating
to provide sustainable energy supply to
poor communities by expanding the use of
"Nafore", a PV-based telephone
charger, powered 100% on solar energy.
- Colombia: "Oro
Verde® - Facilitating market access
for artisan miners". A national NGO
and local community associations are engaged
in an initiative to reverse environmental
degradation and social exclusion produced
by illegal and uncontrolled mechanized mining.
A mining certification process and capacity
building program have been created created.
More than 1000 artisan mines are now following
social and environmental criteria.
- Colombia: "Camarones
Sostenibles del Golfo de Morrosquillo".
The partners of this project are a community-based
organization, a local NGO and a small business
which are aiming to establish a cooperative
enterprise that includes families of traditional
fishermen in the Morrosquillo Gulf, farming
shrimp in a way which produces zero emissions.
- Cook Islands: "Innovative
inland oyster aquafarming". A local
business in partnership with a national
NGO is farming oysters under controlled
conditions in an environmentally friendly
and wholly sustainable manner. Farming fish
provides relief from subsistence fishing
of the over-harvested lagoons in the region
as well as new food security and income
generation to communities involved.
- Kenya: "MakaaZingira"
produces FSC certified charcoal for conservation
and livelihood creation. A national NGO,
a community-based organisation and a small
business network aim to establish a sustainable
eco-charcoal production model, helping small
scale farmers to replace unsustainable practices
while also bringing social benefits.
- Kenya: "Integrated
plastics recovery and recycling flagship
project". A project carried out by
a large and a small business in partnership
with a national NGO, aiming to offer the
most viable option to recycling of dirty
polythenes into plastic poles. It works
to improve and strengthen livelihood assets
for poor and marginalised youth and women.
- Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania
and Zambia: "Sunny Money - solar micro-franchising".
International NGOs and
community-based organisations in Kenya,
Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia have created
a micro-franchise named Sunny Money, which
recruits, trains and supports a growing
network of solar entrepreneurs in East Africa,
especially deaf and disabled people, helping
them build and sell solar kits to power
lights, radios and mobile phones.
- Mozambique: "The
clean energy initiative". This project
aims to provide rural electrification using
sustainable energy, generating local employment
and promoting entrepreneurial skills, by
offering capacity building in the manufacture,
installation and maintenance of micro wind
turbines. The partners of this project are
local small businesses and an academic institution.
- Niger: "Almodo".
A partnership between a small business and
a research institution is developing a sustainable
self-financing solid waste management system
that contributes to improving living conditions
of the poorest population, in collaboration
with a women's group that collects solid
waste in poor urban areas of Niger's three
biggest cities.
- Panama: "Planting
Empowerment". An initiative involving
a small business in partnership with a community-based
organization and an international agency
is leveraging private capital to increase
conservation and provide sustainable livelihood
opportunities to the local population as
the same time as improving natural resource
conservation in fragile environmental areas.
- South Africa, Namibia
and Botswana: "Biocultural protocols
- community approaches to Access and Benefit
Sharing". Civil society organizations
have mobilized efforts to develop bio-cultural
protocols with different local indigenous
communities which will help to provide a
model whereby local communities can share
the benefits if local resources and expertise
are developed for market purposes.
- Sri Lanka: "Solar
energy, education & fishing". National
and international NGOs, with the cooperation
of public authorities, are working to expand
the use of an alternative lighting system
in rural villages, through the replacement
of kerosene lamps with solar panels.
- Tanzania: "KOLCAFE
- Smallholder coffee revenue enhancement".
This initiative, involving national NGOs
and a local research institution, aims to
empower coffee farmers and increase coffee
production by improving agronomic practices
and adding value through building product
processing infrastructure and selling products
directly to export markets.
- Thailand: "Carbon
bank and village development". This
innovative initiative of national NGOs and
an academic institution aims to encourage,
support and enhance community-based indigenous
forestry through carbon credit trading to
enable successful climate change adaptation
and socioeconomic development for local
communities and biodiversity conservation.
- Zimbabwe: "Bridge
to the World". A small business, a
research institution and an association
of small-scale women farmers together are
facing the challenge of improving rural
livelihoods and reversing severe land degradation
through innovative organic farming of essential
oils, made from the indigenous Tarchonanthus
camphoratus bush.
2009 SEED International
Jury:
The 2009 SEED Award
winners were selected by the independent
International Jury which very kindly dedicated
considerable time to choosing the most promising
of the applications. The members of the
jury are:
- Leila Akahloun: Integrator
for Africa Programs, Ashoka
- Nicole Haeusler: Managing Director of
?mas contour – Tourism Consulting &
Regional Planning'
- Paul Laird: Corporate Partnerships Manager,
Earthwatch, UK
- Juan Mayr Maldonado: former Minister of
the Environment, Colombia
- Brian Milder: Director of Strategy and
Innovation, Root Capital
- Jennifer Morris: Vice President, Verde
Ventures at Conservation International
- Kofi Nketsia-Tabiri: Regional Manager,
E + Co Africa
- Sarah Timpson: Senior Adviser on Community-based
Initiatives, UNDP
- George Varughese: President, Development
Alternatives Group, India
Helen Marquard, Executive Director, SEED
Initiative Secretariat
Nick Nuttall, UNEP
