Winners of 2015 SEED Awards announced

The SEED Awards recognise innovative social and environmental start-up enterprises whose businesses help to meet sustainable development challenges. By helping them to scale-up their activities SEED aims to boost local economies and tackle poverty, while promoting the sustainable use of resources and ecosystems.

This year's awards have a special focus on Africa, with 25 awards given to enterprises in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. A further two SEED Gender Equality Awards went to women-led enterprises that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment as their core objectives.

Tailor-made support

In addition to a financial contribution, every SEED Award winner will receive technical assistance, free access to different supporting institutions, and tailor-made support to develop their business and skills. They will also join a network of more than 200 enterprises that have received the award so far.

From distributing solar energy solutions through women-led networks in Namibia to using mobile phones for remote eye diagnosis in Southern Africa, to building houses from bricks made of waste plastic - this year's winners have demonstrated how renewable energy and new technologies can drive community-led sustainable development.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the awards, and the 202 inspirational enterprises who have received it over the past decade, a special recognition was presented to one of the previous winners.

Chosen in an online vote by more than 5,500 people, Tambul Leaf Plates from India was honoured for producing and marketing biodegradable disposable dinnerware from the fallen sheath of the arecanut plant, reducing plastic waste pollution and creating a value chain on the basis on an abundant natural resource.