Vision: African expertise and capital is leveraged and the needs and potential of local MSMEs are acknowledged and prioritised.

We believe that local expertise must be valued and integrated into decision making on how resources are allocated, particularly around investments and service provision. We are working towards a business ecosystem that prioritises the needs of MSMEs driving rural growth and development.

While the addition of this strategic focus in 2022 represented a new way of thinking about our systemic goals as a foundation, we recognised that many of our partners were already working to change patterns of empowerment and agency in business systems in Africa. Building on this we forged new partnerships enabling access for new voices in decision-making and fostering African ecosystem leadership. Through our peer learning network partners, we also continued seeking opportunities to support new dynamics of power and agency.

We are convinced of the value and power of strategic foresight as a critical tool for decisionmakers. Enabling access to foresight visioning and analysis is vital and the quality of this work is dependent on its quantitative and qualitative inputs.

In 2022 Small Foundation forged a multi-year partnership with School of International Futures (SOIF) to support its Next Generation Foresight Practitioners network in Africa (NGFP Africa). SOIF are ecosystem leaders – field builders in the sphere of futures and intergenerational fairness in policymaking. With 178 members across 24 African countries, NGFP Africa’s vision is to support the next generation of African leaders and changemakers to publish, link, build skills, and design futures as a critical capability to address Africa’s opportunities and challenges. This partnership is increasing the quantity, training and pan-African connection of foresight practitioners, while ensuring more intergenerational perspectives are brought into analyses and strategies for Africa’s future.

ALAN Lead Dimakatso Nono Sekhoto visiting network members at University Aboma Calavi in Benin.

In working towards this impact goal, we have provided core financial support to initiatives investing in African local expertise, particularly through peer learning. Through our partnership with the African Leadership Academy we support the AL for Agribusiness Network (ALAN) to connect and accelerate its alumni as they work to revitalise African agriculture and adjacent sectors to attract young African talent for careers to innovate, achieve, and create change.

“As our young people grow into leadership positions across Africa, they understand the value that young people bring having experienced being valued themselves in their interactions with our partners and through our network. They will understand the importance of interacting with the ideas, skills and talents of a younger generation, and can continue to engage through our network, completing the circle of opportunity and creating the right conditions for success.”

– ALAN Lead Dimakatso Nono Sekhoto

We have a longstanding learning partnership with network experts Converge, with whom we have developed our network practice. Emerging from Converge’s Network Leadership Series, we provided financial support for Converge to coordinate ‘graduates’ from the leadership series who are interested in continuing their peer learning journey. We are delighted that the lead coordinator for this work is also the coordinator of ALAN, making further and richer cross-learning possible.

Contributing to changing patterns of empowerment and agency is a highly ambitious and long-term impact goal for Small Foundation. Our partners bring together African changemakers – both established and emerging – to share ideas and access new opportunities. We believe in supporting new ways of working and in cultivating the promise of young leaders, who bring powerful vision and dynamism to understanding challenges and creating solutions. Over time, it is their ideas, experience and perspectives that will inform decision-making across the continent.