Update on Technical Assistance Initiative - December 2014

To all of you who make the TA Initiative possible – thank you! I wanted to reach out to share the highlights of the year as well as plans for 2015.

When we launched the TA Initiative in 2013, it was an experiment co-created by Dow Chemical and Acumen. We wanted to test new models to accelerate the growth of social enterprises and discover partnership opportunities between corporations and these enterprises. Since then, we have been joined by TA Initiative Partners Unilever, and Barclays, and have been supported by sponsors including Apollo Insurance, Coca-Cola and Standard Chartered. Over 20 of our portfolio companies have attended our Summits.

In addition to the two TA Summits, we have awarded thirteen technical assistance grants, engaged the Dow Sustainability Corps in three direct engagements with our portfolio companies, and helped to facilitate new relationships between our portfolio companies in East and West and our corporate partners.

Most importantly we have learned a tremendous amount about the technical assistance needs of our enterprises. We have also seen the potential for targeted grants to have a real impact on enterprise growth, and as a result, people’s lives. As we look ahead, we are excited to enter the third year of the 5-year TA Initiative and are counting on each of you to continue shaping our work together. We are in the early planning stages for the third TA Summit May 5-7 2015, and will be in touch with you to seek your input on the agenda.

The Impact of the Initiative

Grants - The following grants have been awarded since 2013 with support from the TA Initiative.

Company Country Year Objective Status Virtual City Kenya 2013 Building sales capacity Completed Sanergy Kenya 2013 Fertilizer branding Completed Western Seed Kenya 2013 Hybrid seed R&D Underway Developing short code for seed Sproxil Global 2013 industry; staff professional Underway development Operations, sales, and Mekelle Farms 2014 Underway marketing Developing mobile Juhudi Kilimo Kenya 2014 Underway disbursement of loans Miliki Afya Kenya 2014 Marketing Underway Sanergy Kenya 2014 Training distribution partners Underway Marketing partnership with Not yet d.light Global 2014 Unilever disbursed MIS and Premium Share Not yet KZ Noir 2014 Program disbursed Financial and operational Not yet Mekelle Farms Ethiopia 2014 controls with EY disbursed Monetizing data with external Not yet Sproxil Global 2014 consultant disbursed

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Support from the Dow Sustainability Corps

The Dow Sustainability Corps secondments have allowed for deep engagement, partnership and value creation for both Dow as well as the enterprises. Projects include:

d.Light Design Dow assembled a team of supply chain experts to project costs and offer recommendations for d.light’s expansion into East and West Africa. Sanergy Dow has provided a team of process engineers to help optimize and improve Sanergy’s new fertilizer production process. Sproxil A team of Dow HR experts will be working with Sproxil in the development of an overall HR strategy roadmap, inclusive of a compensation structure design, as well as a sales incentive plan.

Corporate Engagement

In addition, several partnerships formed between enterprises and corporates as a result of the connections made through the Summits, including:

 EY will be providing professional services to Mekelle Farms, with support from the TA Initiative  Unilever is piloting a sanitation initiative with Sanergy in Kenya

Learning from the TA Initiative

To ensure that we capture lessons throughout the Initiative, we are working with Business Fights Poverty to develop a report we will share in 2015. Through interviews with participants and examples of impact from the TA Summit, grants, and engagements between corporate participants and social enterprises, we have already learned a great deal, which has helped us in shaping our third Summit and ongoing Initiative work. Thanks to all who have participated in the interviews to date.

One of the most significant lessons we have learned is that technical assistance focused on helping to scale social enterprises (SE) is just one of the models of engagement between corporations and SEs that can deliver mutual value. We have helped facilitate a variety of new forms of partnership, and have developed a deeper understanding of the need to further expand models of partnership towards shared business and social goals. We are now in the process of looking more deeply at partnerships within our portfolio and among our peers that seem to have the greatest potential to drive large-scale social impact by making the most of the complementary strengths of social enterprises and their corporate counterparts.

We will seek input from our partners as the report takes shape, and will share the final report with our peers through networks like ANDE and the Global Impact Forum in Zurich.

Evolving our Approach to TA Grants

This year Acumen brought on a new manager to lead our efforts to scale portfolio companies with post-investment support. Justus Kilian joined us after spending a year with one of our agriculture

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enterprises in Uganda, and has stepped in to support the TA Initiative by managing TA grants and helping further refine our approach to allocating these critical resources.

In the past two years, Acumen has realized that the TA grants add significant value for companies that are more mature, have the ability to self-diagnose and have built the capacity to utilize external resources effectively. We have also identified a new subset of companies that can benefit from TA grants but do not usually apply and lack the ability to articulate exactly where assistance would be most impactful. . These companies require support with diagnosing and prioritizing their challenges, as well as on-the-ground support managing an external resource.

In response to this need, Acumen will evaluate the needs of high priority companies on an annual basis, and will work with the enterprises to develop a set of interventions that address their targeted needs. Grants will be allocated as needed, alongside expertise and capacity from Partners, Fellows and Advisors, and the impact of each intervention will be measured. This approach to providing TA grants and support will ensure that we are addressing the most important operational issues that our investees face.

2015 Plans

In 2015, we plan to expand the TA Initiative, both within Africa and in , where we have piloted a TA project with Dow Chemical. We are also in early discussions with a few additional funding partners for the TA Initiative in East & West Africa, and are exploring an array of local and global partners for expansion of the TA Initiative into India. We are committed to hosting the third TA Initiative in Nairobi on May 5-7, 2015, and to providing an additional 4-6 TA grants. We plan to schedule a call with TA Initiative partners in January to discuss the details of the Summit and request input on agenda, format and additional partners.

Preview of the TA Summit 2015

Our first two TA Summits in 2013 and 2014 aimed to bring together corporate partners and social enterprises to explore ways that they could collaborate to help scale social impact. This was a compelling agenda, but in its execution, we learned we needed an even more targeted approach to ensure both corporate participants and enterprises got the greatest possible value from the Summit.

We propose that the third Summit be designed to address the diverse objectives of the participating social enterprises and corporations through two distinct tracks. The first track will be designed by Acumen’s Post-Investment team and will focus on operations and leadership challenges specific to growing businesses. Selected corporate partners and subject matter experts will facilitate discussions and provide coaching, frameworks and tools to help implement change. The second track will be designed by Acumen’s Strategic Partnerships team and will focus on the ways that corporate participants and social enterprises can collaborate on shared goals.

Next Steps

We are eager to work with each of you to refine the agenda for the third TA Summit, and to make the Summit a catalyst to identify specific opportunities for you to engage more closely with our portfolio companies on ambitious shared goals. As next steps, we request:

1. Immediate feedback on TA Summit dates – May 5-7 2015 2. Interest in joining a meeting to discuss the Summit format and agenda 3. One-on-one calls to discuss existing engagements with Acumen investees and ways to accelerate these opportunities in 2015 and beyond.

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