Six business projects in developing countries get support from the Business Partnership Facility ‘Enterprises for SDGs’

[07.01.2020] Six business projects in developing countries, which are making a contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals, have been chosen for the Business Partnership Facility support programme of the Belgian Development Cooperation and the King Baudouin Foundation. A total of one million euros has been awarded for this new selection of projects.

The Business Partnership Facility ‘Enterprises for SDGs’ programme provides support for innovative enterprises that share at least one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 17 objectives set out by the United Nations with the aim of eliminating poverty and making our world more sustainable between now and 2030. The selection process pays particular attention to the creation of jobs, women’s empowerment, (lower) ecological impact, as well, of course, as the project’s contribution to sustainable economic impact and growth opportunities and the spread of the business model. Cooperation with other partners is also a criterion of choice in the selection of projects.

Following a first selection in June 2019, in which 11 projects were awarded a total of 1.75 million euros in support, an independent selection committee made a new selection of six business projects to be supported. One of these is in Nepal and five are in Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique and Rwanda. The businesses involve the production of honey, sustainable coffee and chocolate, ethical diamonds, bricks that are less harmful to the environment and the treatment of waste products and compost:

• Build up Nepal – Scale up of innovative micro-enterprise model and eco-friendly brick technology across Nepal that provides long-term local jobs and safe, affordable housing for low-income families, women and youth (Nepal)
• Cap Source – Development of a responsible supply chain of ethical diamonds or artisanal origin from Guinea to Belgium (Guinea)
• Galler – People, Planet & Cocoa. Une cacaoculture durable pour les producteurs de la coopérative Yeyasso (Côte d’Ivoire)
• Terra Nova – Augmenter le recyclage des déchets urbains en compost par Terra Nova au profit des ménages vulnérables et des petits paysans de Beir (Mozambique)
• Tropic Coffee Company – Young entrepreneurs’ partnership for enhancing Fair Trade and organic coffee value chains with small farmers (3Coffee 4Export) (Rwanda)
• World of Bees – Accelerating inclusive apiculture businesses in Uganda for people and planet (Uganda)

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and International Development, Alexander De Croo, has released a total of 12 million euros for the 2019-2024 period and signed an agreement with the King Baudouin Foundation for the management of the Business Partnership Facility. At the end of 2018, the Foundation launched the ‘Enterprises for SDGs’ call for projects together with the Belgian Development Cooperation (BDC). Support for any one project ranges from 50,000 to 200,000 euros, but this cannot exceed the financial involvement of the project’s own partners. The aim of the financial support provided is to jointly cover the risk period and, long term, to succeed in developing a commercially viable enterprise.