Nairobi, 2 February 2015 - Enterprises that incorporate social and environmental benefits in their business model can apply from today for the 2015 SEED Awards.
Winners receive a monetary award of US $5000 at a high-level International Awards Ceremony, in addition to capacity building support and opportunities to link to other eco-enterprises and the SEED Partners and network.
The 2015 Awards will focus on start-up enterprises working at the grassroots level. The Awards also encourage enterprises that are led or owned by women to submit their applications.
The independent SEED International Jury of experts will be looking in particular for enterprises that have developed innovative products or services, and intend to become financially sustainable.
For the 2015 SEED Awards cycle, SEED has received support from the European Union; the Government of Flanders; the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women and the international law firm Hogan Lovells. Additional support is provided by the government of the Netherlands and other SEED partners.
SEED this year will make available up to:
- 23 Africa Awards to enterprises in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda;
- 6 South Africa Awards to enterprises in South Africa, with up to three of them to enterprises in the provinces of Free State, Limpopo or KwaZulu-Natal;
- 2 Gender Equality Awards to enterprises in countries that are not OECD or EU Member countries; one of them to an enterprise in Kenya.
The deadline for applications is 31 March 2015, 23:59 Central European Time (CET).
Applications can be filled-in online at the SEED website www.seed.uno.
Alternatively, the application form can be downloaded and sent to seedawards2015@seed.uno. Applicants may also contact SEED by email or phone (+49 30 89 00 068 99) should they not be able to submit their application electronically.
Additional Information:
You may follow SEED on the following social media channels:www.facebook.com/SEED.unowww.twitter.com/SEED_SustDev
Winners of the 2014 SEED Awards included, among others, an enterprise that produces premium outdoor furniture out of recycled plastic and organic waste materials in Colombia, a women's farming cooperative that improves food security in Nepal, an enterprise that markets solar electricity kiosks in rural off-grid areas of Malawi and an enterprise that promotes bikes as subsidised moving billboards for the rural poor in Mozambique. Details about these and other SEED Winners are at: www.seed.uno.
2015 SEED Award winners will be honoured at an International Awards Ceremony taking place at the 2015 SEED Africa Symposium in Nairobi, Kenya, in September 2015. The Ceremony will be combined with an Expo for the 2015 Winners to display their goods and services to a large audience.
A two-day workshop will give winners the opportunity to share experiences and lessons learnt. The report of the 2014 SEED Africa Symposium is available here www.seed.uno/publications/symposium-reports/1492.html
About SEED:
SEED is a global partnership for action on sustainable development and the green economy. Founded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, SEED supports innovative small scale and locally driven enterprises around the globe which integrate social and environmental benefits into their business model.
SEED is hosted by Adelphi Research gGmbH, based in Berlin, Germany. Adelphi Research (AR) is a leading think tank for policy analysis and strategy consulting. The institution offers creative solutions and services regarding global environment and development challenges for policy, business, and civil society communities. Partners in SEED, in addition to the Founding Partners, are the governments of Flanders, Germany, India, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States of America; Conservation International; the European Union; Hogan Lovells; UNIDO; UN Women; and SEED's Corporate Partner, Hisense
