SEPTEMBER 2015

FOCUS ON…

Collaboration for Innovation

Setting up the right partnerships is often cited as a key success factor for small businesses. The right partners help

businesses overcome multiple challenges, drive growth and innovation. But finding the right partner, deciding how to

collaborate and setting up a mutually beneficial relationship is not an easy process.

This month, the Hub is partnering with the newly launched DFID programme Connect to Grow, to explore the

opportunities available to inclusive businesses to collaborate for innovation. We explore the opportunities for south-

south innovation transfer, speak to businesses that are keen to collaborate, and highlight those that have already

done so successfully. We draw in perspectives from discussions at SEED Forum and from IFC and World Economic

Forum.

Connect to Grow: helping enterprises collaborate for innovation

Indian success story: Kissan Dharamvir’s agri-processing products sell across India,

East Africa & South Asia

Connect to Grow has been set up to help enterprises find

suitable partners that can help them expand and overcome the

many challenges they face working at the Base of the Pyramid.

In his blog, Connect Team Leader David Irwin explains how

Connect will link businesses in South Asia and Sub-Saharan

African looking for innovations, with businesses in India that

already have proven innovations and are looking for new

markets.

The need for appropriate innovations was identified by

enterprises as a key challenge to scale at Connect’s recent

launch event in Nairobi. As both Indian and African enterprises

presented their experiences, it became clear that there is huge

potential for collaboration. Daniel Idowu reports from Nairobi.

India has been applying the Gandhian philosophy of getting

more, from less, for more, for six decades now. Innovation

Alchemy’s Parvathi Menon presents the business case for

collaboration between Indian innovators and enterprises in

other developing countries.

What do the businesses themselves feel about cross-border

collaboration? We speak to Indian poultry business KEGG

Farms and low-cost health insurance provider SAS Poorna in

these video interviews.

In early 2015, the IFC and Intellecap released ‘Corridors for

Shared Prosperity’, a report that strongly advocates south-south

collaboration between Indian and African enterprises. IFC’s

Pallavi Shrivastava speaks to us here about the key drivers for

successful collaboration and the importance of a supportive

ecosystem.

Collaborative innovation is also the key focus of this month’s

Editor’s Choice. Caroline Ashley reviews a report from the World

Economic Forum that highlights different types of collaboration

between mature and young businesses and a 4-stage process for

effective partnerships.

German company Smart Hydro Power is partnering with

Colombian firm ENERA SAS, the German Energy Agency and

Colombia’s National Training Service to provide its sustainable

irrigation solutions to small-holder farmers. Inclusive Business

Accelerator find out more about the collaboration.

The Business innovation Facility is supporting a mentoring

scheme for inclusive businesses in tourism sector in Myanmar.

Tom Harrison discusses the mutual benefits of these schemes for

both mentor and mentee.

Partnerships often come in the most entertaining forms. PROOFs

has been workings with Mobile Movies to increase uptake of

nutrition and hygiene products in rural Bangladesh. Find out how

it works.

Collaboration across sectors can create something new and be

more than the sum of both parts. Graham Day discusses the need

for innovation in education in Latin America and argues for new

public-private sector partnerships.

Building Bridges for Impact was the main theme at the just

concluded SEED Symposium 2015, encouraging key inclusive

business stakeholders to work together to amplify impact.

How can investors & enterprises collaborate to grow? And what

has FOMO got to do with impact investing? Carolin Schramm

sums up some top tips offered at the SEED Symposium for

inclusive businesses looking to access impact investment.

At the session on designing inclusive value chains hosted

by the Inclusive Business Action Network (IBAN), the

importance of knowledge exchange and reflection between

companies was highlighted. IBAN’s Mareike Grytz gives us

an insider view. Bosch India which was part of the session,

speak to us about a new dairy innovation they’ve

developed.

Smart Hydro Power sustainable irrigation solutions for smallholder farmers

PROOFs and Mobile Movies partnering to increase uptake of nutrition and hygiene

products

A workshop bringing together investors and enterprises at SEED Africa Symposium 2015

Are you looking for a new and effective

way to grow your enterprise?

Register today on the Connect

partnerships marketplace.

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encourage them to sign up here for free

The Practitioner Hub is sponsored by Ashley Insight. We welcome feedback on our publications – please contact us at

enquiries@inclusivebusinesshub.org

Enterprise interview: SEED 2015 Award winner Vula Mobile is

helping to make fast, efficient, medical referrals through their smart

phone app. Will Mapham tells us how tech can change the way rural

communities’ access healthcare.

Enterprise interview: Libby Daghlian from SEED 2015 Award winner

Days for Girls explains how their Enterprise training programme is

creating jobs and changing girls lives in Uganda.

VIDEO: In the last ten years, SEED has supported more than 200

social and environmental enterprises enabling collaboration and

peer learning. Its Flagship Report traces the progress made in the

last decade by the organisation and its award winners. Lead Author

Mirko Zuerker summarises the key findings in this video interview.

Days for Girls’ enterprise training programme is

changing lives in Uganda

MORE NEWS ON THE HUB

The Inclusive Business Accelerator (IBA) recently organized a training

course on Inclusive Business Tools and Services in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Find out what they learned and how you can be involved.

EVENT: Business Call to Action's Sixth Annual Forum will take place

on September 24th in New York. Find out more about the event and

how to attend. Read about their new Impact Measurement Services.

EVENT: The BoP Sector Dialogue on Health will take place at the

Ecosystem Day of the 2nd Globalizer on Economic Inclusion in Latin

America on September 25th in Buenos Aires. Register today.

CHALLENGE: The IIX N-Peace Innovation Challenge seeks to redefine

the dominant narrative by catalysing a bottom-up approach to

building peace that is inclusive, sustainable and scalable. Supported

by the United Nations Development Programme the IIX N-Peace

Challenge will select six Impact Enterprises as winners.

Register to attend the BCTA Annual Forum today

IIX N-Peace Innovation Challenge

Why go it alone? Learn more about how

partnerships can help your inclusive

business with this Checklist from the

Business Innovation Facility