Social Innovation in Africa ─ A Practical Guide for Scaling Impact

Rapid population growth across Africa poses major challenges for the provision of food, housing, education, healthcare, energy, transportation, water and sanitation. These challenges are being met by a group of social innovators and entrepreneurs in Africa – individuals who are developing and deploying new solutions to tackle serious social problems, where the value created accrues primarily to society. This book enables innovators to confront the key issues, particularly those of scaling-up small enterprises and projects in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

The book shows that efforts at scaling are limited by a number of factors, including unsuitable business models, access to patient and creative capital, a poor enabling environment and weak infrastructure, dearth of human capacity with the requisite skills to drive growth without sacrificing quality and impact, and institutional barriers to cross sector collaborations. The author presents practical strategies for scaling, with a focus on priority sectors such as agriculture, education, health and energy. The book outlines key steps for stakeholders to accelerate the scaling of high-impact innovations in the African context. It provides inspiration for those who seek to become innovators or to be employed by them, empowering them to scale their initiatives to meet the needs of Africa’s growing population.

Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli is a social entrepreneur based in Nigeria, founder of LEAP Africa, co-founder of AACE Foods, and partner at Sahel Capital. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government, Harvard Kennedy School, USA. She has a MBA from Harvard Business School and started her career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, working in their Chicago, New York and Johannesburg Offices. Ndidi was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and received a National Honor – Member of the Federal Republic from the Nigerian Government. In 2011, she was listed as one of the 20 Youngest Power African Women by Forbes. In 2013, she was honored by the Global Fund for Women during their 25th Anniversary Celebration in San Francisco. She serves on numerous international and local boards including Nestle Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries, Cornerstone Insurance and USAID's Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid.