Climate change
Turning Climate Challenges Into Opportunities
The same problems destroying livelihoods are also creating the continent’s most exciting business models. Here’s a number that should stop you in your tracks: Africa…
Creating impact
Impact Risk Management
The Impact That Backfired The Rwanda community health project seemed perfect on paper. A European NGO would train local women as health workers, providing them…
Burnout
Managing Scaling Without Burnout
The Crisis That Almost Killed the Company At 2am on a Tuesday, Aisha sat in her Accra office staring at three messages: From her COO:…
Customer discovery
Designing Products for Low-Connectivity Markets
The App That Worked Perfectly (In Nairobi) Fatima’s agricultural extension app was beautiful. Clean interface. Real-time data sync. Rich multimedia content. Cloud-based analytics. Her demo…
Women-led business
Gender-Smart Business Models
Kwame’s Ghanaian agricultural input distribution company had a diversity problem, and he knew it. His leadership team was 100% male. His field agents were 95%…
Creating impact
Storytelling for Impact Brands
The Story That Backfired Grace had the perfect customer story for her Tanzanian solar energy company’s marketing campaign. Mama Halima, a rural vegetable seller, had…
Manufacturing
Local Manufacturing vs Importing In Africa
Amara and Tunde were co-founders of a Nigerian food processing company. They’d spent three years building a successful business importing and distributing packaged spices to…
Data
Using Data for Decision-Making
Kabelo’s agricultural input distribution company in Botswana was bleeding money. Every month for six months, costs exceeded revenue. He knew something was wrong but couldn’t…
Trust
Building Trust in Informal Markets
The Sale That Never Happened Chioma had the perfect product for Nigerian market traders. Her solar-powered refrigeration units would save them thousands of naira in…
Public Private Partnerships
Public–Private Partnerships for Social Impact
The Contract That Nearly Destroyed Everything Amara was celebrating. After 18 months of negotiations, her Nigerian agricultural training enterprise had finally signed a partnership with…