Impact Ecosystem

New narrative to position Africa as an ideal impact investment frontier

Climate Journal reporting — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 14:55:04 +0000

New narrative to position Africa as an ideal impact investment frontier

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Impact investing

Impact Ecosystem

Africa

communication

SDGs

Social Innovation

Topic

Impact Investing

The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) launched a new communication channel, The Africa Advantage digital magazine, to smash assumptions and showcase the continent as a globally competitive destination for impact capital.

As an ecosystem builder and a network of social investors collaborating to mobilise and deploy impact investments in Africa, AVPA hopes that with this new format, they can better present market potential, innovation, human capital and a wealth of untapped opportunities.

“Africa's complex and unique social challenges have often been viewed as an embarrassment, but instead, we see them as exciting impact investing opportunities for social transformation”, says Dr Frank Aswani, CEO of AVPA and the Editor-in-Chief of The Africa Advantage magazine.

The first edition of the publication features a collection of sector or opportunity-specific articles written by African experts, highlighting the unique opportunities not just for Africa but the world at large.

Topics include Africa`s impact investing landscape, interviews with leading changemakers, impact entrepreneurs and policymakers such as Ojoma Ochai, Managing Partner of The Creative Economy Practice at CC Hub, which aims to stimulate innovation and technology application to catalyse African Creative Economy growth.

Dr Frank Aswani, CEO of AVPA and the Editor-in-Chief of The Africa Advantage magazine.

Dr Aswani adds:

“We intend to connect a diverse network of social investors, ecosystem enablers, innovators, policymakers and knowledge actors, not just within Africa, but also with those from Asia, Europe, North and Latin America.”

AVPA believes that while Africa faces socio-environmental challenges similar to those of other developing regions, it contains unique features that, when fully exploited, can potentially bring innovative sustainable solutions to regional and global challenges.

The organisation emphasised that unique opportunities could arise from a continent characterised by its young and diverse population, rich natural resources and various social challenges, providing unparalleled opportunities for testing innovative and globally scalable solutions.

They see these factors as enablers, making Africa the ideal sandbox for innovations with positive societal and environmental impact while testing new markets, products, services, new finance structures and impact business models.

The scope of The Africa Advantage magazine is to go beyond information dissemination and build a foundation to catalyse discussions and ultimately stimulate incremental impact capital deployment to and on the continent.

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How to get your impact story featured in media?

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2023 11:14:40 +0000

How to get your impact story featured in media?

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Annual plans and New Year`s resolutions are probably behind you by now, but that shouldn`t hold you from exploring some untapped potential in boosting your impact.

Why not make 2023 the year when you get your stories in the spotlight to raise awareness and engage with your audience?

Writing a press release that catches attention, having a practical media toolkit that helps you spread news or delivering an engaging interview could give your message an extra boost, helping you to achieve your goals.

Why social innovators are not covered more in media?

The answer might be plainer than you`d expect.

Besides handling the everyday challenges and neverending to-do lists, one of the most typical reasons is the lack of confidence and knowledge of using media relations and tools correctly.

In addition, nervousness naturally kicks in when it comes to public speaking, giving an interview or even writing content.

However, with some learning and practising, you could make the leap and use the power of communication to advance your agenda.

Learning opportunities to boost your message

Using media communication tools can give you a headstart in raising your profile, reaching and activating a wider audience while increasing your impact.

Here are a couple of simple steps you can take:

Do media training for impact innovators, where you learn how to handle situations like speaking at a podcast, giving an interview, engaging with media at events or making the most out of press releases. Getting the hang of media communication is like learning ice skating - you start out a bit wobbly, but after practising, you start gliding and smiling.

Learning media and Impact Writing skills could significantly amplify your message.

Change your approach to writing and publishing your impact report, as it has so much communication potential that you don't want to miss it. Haven`t you published one yet? Maybe the time has come to start advancing your agenda by start sharing your impact in a professional manner.

Make it easy to find and use information about your work, campaign, or else about your mission. It might sound very basic, but in reality, this is the most typically missed step to unlock potential in media communication. The best way to do that is to prepare and start actively using a professional media toolkit.

It is easier than you might think to utilise opportunities in PR and other forms of media communication, including public appearances, which can be nerve-wracking.

There are various learning options, such as attending programs and sessions held by the Impact Writing Institute, where you can harvest the benefits of working with expert trainers whether you are joining as an individual or have tailor-made training at your organisation.

This is not about you getting famous but shining a light on issues that need to be addressed and enabling people to get involved.

What really matters is to get confident about speaking up and be ready to share your story in a way that engages and mobilises your audience.

Giving yourself a chance to learn and expand your horizon using media communication should definitely be on your radar for boosting your impact in 2023 and beyond.

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How do trailblazer social innovators shape the Blue Economy?

Business Spirit News reporting — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 08:30:04 +0000

How do trailblazer social innovators shape the Blue Economy?

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Social Innovation

Social Entrepreneurship

Impact Ecosystem

Topic

Blue Economy

Social Enterprise

Impact Hub corner

Stories of visionary entrepreneurs making inclusive and sustainable innovation happen at scale with the support of the global Impact Hub community.

Seafood alternative

Overfishing is putting enormous pressure on ocean ecosystems, but how can delicious and healthy sashimi help?

Bluana Foods startup is connected to Impact Hub Bucharest, Romania, has designed a tasty alternative solution to decrease the need for fresh fish.

The enterprise is creating a plant-based healthy seafood alternative product for tuna and salmon sashimi, using only natural ingredients.

Bluana Foods uses algae extracts with a molecular gastronomy approach to obtain a product such as fish meat.

The startup is entering the growing plant-based market, estimated to reach 15 billion Euros.

“With the help of our team of Chefs, we have a bottom-up molecular gastronomy approach while using natural only ingredients.

Bluana Foods is working on plant-based seafood alternative products for tuna and salmon with a molecular gastronomy approach. Image: Bluana Foods

Currently, we have a founding team, an MVP, and more than 700 people giving positive feedback,” Florin Irimescu, Founder and CEO of Bluana Foods, explains their product development.

The team is working on their market strategy and participating in various high profile accelerator programs such as the Black Sea ClimAccelerator, organised with the support of EIT Climate-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Centre) and Proveg Incubator program in Berlin, the world’s leading incubator of plant-based and cultured food startups.

Zero impact aquafeed

By adopting Circular Economy principles, enterprise Ittinsect uses insects and agricultural by-products to replace traditional aquaculture and ornamental fish feeds containing fishmeal and fish oils.

As a member of the Impact Hub Siracusa community in Italy, this startup is dedicated to developing and producing innovative fish food with zero fish meal and oil content.

Ittinsect is developing innovative fish food with zero fish meal and oil content. Image: Pexels

“The product is based on a special recipe of enriched insect proteins with the same nutritional properties as fish meal, but with a higher biologic efficiency,”

says Alessandro Romano, CEO of Ittinsect.

They won the EIT Food “Challenge Lab” in 2020, and their concept also impressed the judges at the BlueInvest Awards 2021, as they became finalists in the "Sustainable Food and Feed from the Ocean" category.

The value proposition of Ittinsect is built on the three pillars of product characteristics, being flexible, sustainable and healthy.

By avoiding ocean resources, they contribute to sustainability and stop the chain of microplastics, mercury, fertilisers and other contaminants that generally accumulate in the organisms that are fed with traditional fishmeal.

The Dopper changemaker challenge

The ‘ocean saving bottle’ company, Dopper, organised the third edition of its Changemaker Challenge to find the most innovative student ideas for a plastic-free future with crystal-clear waters.

They teamed up with Impact Hub King’s Cross, UK, Impact Hub Amsterdam and Impact Hub Berlin to engage third-level students from various locations.

Applications poured in from the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Nepal for a chance to win a £5,000 research grant, promotional support and valuable contacts.

Dopper is a social enterprise based in the UK, widely recognised as an activist company encouraging people to see the whole picture about ocean protection and water usage.

The three best ideas from the UK included projects focusing on recycling ghost fishing nets, utilising sea kelps and replacing plastic food packaging with a sustainable alternative.

The Dopper Changemaker Challenge is organised in collaboration with several Impact Hubs to find innovative student ideas for a plastic-free future with crystal-clear waters. Image: Dopper

Lab of tomorrow

The Lab of Tomorrow is a business development program to solve specific challenges in emerging markets. It aims to inspire European and local businesses to jointly create new sustainable and profitable business models, products, and services in emerging markets.

It is an open innovation process based on adopting Design Thinking and Business Design methodologies with strong stakeholder engagement.

In 2022 they brought together European and Thai companies, startups, NGOs, policymakers and researchers to address the challenge of plastic waste reduction in Thailand.

The Lab of Tomorrow is a business development programme to solve specific challenges in emerging markets, such as plastic waste or renewable energy. Image: Pexels

More than half of land-based plastic waste leakage comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The challenge of reducing, reusing and replacing single-use plastic in Thailand thus goes far beyond the country’s borders.

The program is managed in collaboration with Impact Hub Berlin, and it runs in partnership with government organisations.

Participants are asked to answer questions like: How might we reduce, reuse or substitute single-use plastic to decrease plastic waste ending up in rivers and oceans in Thailand?

The big issue is divided into sub-challenges like promoting plastic-reduced products and services, increasing plastic and littering awareness of customers, and reducing plastic bottles or promoting the use of a zero-waste kit.

So far, 330 participants have joined seven previous Lab of Tomorrow innovation processes, and 47 promising business ideas have been developed, of which twelve business models are currently in the pilot phase.

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Dutch Impact Accelerator program open for applications

Business Spirit News reporting — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 12:51:22 +0000

Dutch Impact Accelerator program open for applications

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Start-ups who combine ‘doing good and doing business’ can join an intense hybrid program in The Netherlands that will enable them to grow faster.

Two key players, ImpactCity The Hague and Startupbootcamp launched a joint initiative focusing on increasing the growth of sustainable start-ups in The Netherlands and strengthening the position of The Hague as the leader in building the impact ecosystem in Europe.

The ImpactCity Accelerator program is open to impact innovators already based in or those planning to establish themselves in The Hague.

“The city invests in an attractive climate for start-ups and has acquired a recognizable economic profile with ImpactCity,” says Saskia Bruines, alderman at the Municipality of The Hague.

Ten selected start-ups will get the chance to work on de-risking their value proposition and find the best way to solve a problem while also focusing on their growth strategy to scale their model.

Introduction of the ImpactCity Accelerator

The intense hybrid program will take place mainly online but will also use the facilities of ImpactCity The Hague for in-person activities.

Mercedes de Miranda, Director of Business Development at Startupbootcamp see The Hague as an outstanding place ‘when it comes to the number of impact start-up entrepreneurs who work for a better world.”

She highlighted that they came on board as partners based on their overwhelmingly positive experience at the ImpactFest in 2021, the flagship event of ImpactCity and the largest event in Europe where sustainable, innovative parties come together.

Application is open until 11th March, and sessions will be held from April to the end of June.

Throughout the three months, entrepreneurs are matched with mentors and get the chance to access a worldwide network.

At the final Demo Day event, participants get to present their work to ImpactCity, investors, potential partners and other stakeholders.

Headline image: ImpactCity The Hague

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