Working towards a thriving Africafree from extreme poverty

Our Strategy

Vision

A thriving Africa free from extreme poverty.

Mission

Act with urgency and ambition to catalyse and scale income-generating opportunities for people living in extreme poverty in rural sub-Saharan Africa.

Goal

Collaborate with those creating the environment for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to succeed and deliver opportunity at scale.

In particular, work with intermediaries that increase availability of the finance, social and human capital, knowledge, technology and markets required for a thriving, commercially viable MSME ecosystem.

SUPPORTING THROUGH A SYSTEMS LENS

Our Role

At Small Foundation, we strive to better understand and engage with the complex conditions that shape whether rural-impacting MSMEs can thrive, recognising their critical role in reducing rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. 

We focus on a set of strategic areas – what we call ‘system entry points’ – where we believe we can support changes that strengthen the wider environment for MSMEs. These include shifts in capital flows, how knowledge is shared, and how actors coordinate. We concentrate our efforts where we and our partners bring experience and capabilities that can help build more inclusive and resilient economies. 

System Entry points

System Entry Point

Commercially viable, sustainable models serving rural MSMEs

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System Entry Point

Connected, transparent and learning ecosystems

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System Entry Point

Changing patterns of empowerment and agency in Africa

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Our theory of change(Keep scrolling to explore)

We Learn and collaborate to:

Understand the systems that
perpetuate rural poverty in Africa.

We focus our support on:

Improving the environment for rural
enterprises to thrive across Africa.

We work to change the system by...

Facilitating connection and coordination amongst diverse actors

Supporting interventions that shift capital flows to rural enterprises

Collaborating to generate and share learning

Assuming that:

  • Trust is built and consistently enables new action and mindset shifts
  • Successful models and approaches are identified that improve income-generating opportunities

If we are successful then:

Power dynamics and mindsets shift

More and better capital flows toward enterprises

Changes in the system emerge from deliberate collaboration

Assuming that:

  • Successful models and approaches are scaled or replicated, catalysing wider change

Over time this results in:

Thriving enterprises that drive income growth, quality jobs, increased productivity and commercial opportunities.

This means:

People in rural areas benefit from strong economic opportunities and increased resilience.

Assuming that:

  • Improvements in rural enterprises effectively translate to greater opportunity for individuals experiencing rural poverty.

Nature of our support

Finance

We provide catalytic capital to support our partners to achieve financial sustainability and greater social impact.

Non-financial support

We can tailor additional support to our partners such as enabling access to learning, leveraging our networks, and serving in governance roles.

Impact networks

We support impact networks that seek to drive systemic change by increasing effective connection and collaboration between multiple stakeholders.

 

Our Support Criteria

  1. Compatibility with our systems change strategy 
  2. Effectiveness of impact on extreme poverty 
  3. Sustainability of impact 
  4. Scalability of impact 
  5. High leverage point in ecosystem 
  6. Additionality of our support 
  7. Our capacity to support effectively
  8. Degree of local involvement