Welcome to
Ground_Up Project
We partner with local and international business networks and international organizations to source and inventory SMEs worldwide searching for investments under US $20M that contribute to national SDG roadmaps.
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We are piloting an innovative approach working with SDG leaders across governments, SMEs and sustainable investment organisations in developing countries, to access trustworthy information about top performing SMEs that work towards priority SDGs in their country. Our goal is to contribute to the growing SDG investment marketplace. Our first pilot in Ghana was developed under the Pipeline Builder Project incubated within the SDG Lab at the United Nations in Geneva.
Download a summary, including the latest pilot in Ghana here.
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Pipeline Builder at Building Bridges Week 2022
This practical, hands-on workshop brought together over 70 entrepreneurs, investors and government officials from two major African emerging markets - Ghana and Kenya - in an open discussion about the investment conditions in the country, the investment needs and the priority SDGs.
We believe that without the ability to secure finance, SMEs that deliver the sustainable products and services aligned with priority SDGs in developing countries will fail. At the same time, the logic that investors will always be able to find investments also falls down when we’re talking about non-conventional opportunities in emerging markets, as few investors are willing or able to take the risk or deploy the technical expertise that would make projects bankable.
The market needs a catalyst that enables access to SDG opportunities in emerging markets, such that investors can be more confident to allocate capital to sustainable entrepreneurs to successfully grow their businesses.
Ground_Up Project is positioned to play this catalyst role.
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Contact us to learn more about our work.