Joining forces for the SDGs
Combining decades of development work with entrepreneurial action to accelerate
innovation for the 2030 Agenda.
Welcome to Accelerate2030
Accelerate2030 is a global, multi-stakeholder program co-initiated by Impact Hub and UNDP Geneva. This page outlines the collaboration opportunities among UNDP and Impact Hubs, especially at the local level, and provides guidance, inspiration and best practices in building successful partnerships with an aim of advancing the SDGs through innovation and entrepreneurship.
Achieving a Common Goal.
Accelerate2030 provides a platform for UNDP Country Offices, Impact Hubs and other local partners to join forces and drive entrepreneurial action towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) locally and globally. We bring our complementary skills, networks, and expertise into this process:
As the lead UN development agency, UNDP is well-placed to help implement the Goals through their work in some 170 countries and territories, supporting countries in achieving the SDGs through integrated solutions.
Impact Hub is one of the world’s largest networks focused on building entrepreneurial communities for impact at scale, present in over 110 locations, across five continents and more than 60 countries.
About Accelerate2030
The Accelerate2030 program was co-initiated by UNDP Geneva and Impact Hub Geneva in 2016 in order to identify and support entrepreneurs from developing and emerging markets to scale their solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The scaling program has to date been run in 32 countries, attracting 3000+ applicants and supporting 470+ SDG-related entrepreneurs.
The program in a nutshell
Accelerate2030 identifies the most innovative businesses in emerging and developing countries tackling the SDGs, and supports them in scaling their solutions in a way that is sustainable for their teams and their businesses, driving the shift towards a more sustainable economy.
The National Scale-Readiness program runs for 4-6 months, and offers personalized guidance, workshops, mentoring, peer support, retreats and online course content, in 5 major pillars: Leadership & Resilience, Impact Measurement Scaling Strategy, Access to Finance, and Partnerships. You can learn more about the program and its support pillars here.
The Global Scaling program provides 6-months of tailored support to Accelerate2030 ventures with the highest potential for international scaling, kicking-off during the Building Bridges Week in Geneva, Switzerland.
Collaboration opportunties in 2021-22
In this 4th edition of the program, we aim to support more than 200 SDG-related entrepreneurs and engage numerous partners locally and globally. The overall theme of the 2021-22 edition is “Leave no one behind: Towards a Green and Inclusive Future” – identifying and supporting entrepreneurial solutions reaching the bottom of the pyramid while contributing to the shift towards a more sustainable economy.
Stories of collaboration
The collaboration is driven locally by Impact Hubs and UNDP Country Offices (COs). There are multiple ways to engage locally, spanning from program design, joint communications campaigns and outreach, UNDP bringing in content around the SDGs and business, engaging experts and mentors, and opening networks and strategic connections for the most promising entrepreneurs.
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Our Impact
Accelerate2030 connects a like-minded community of SDG-inspired entrepreneurs, large companies, development agencies, governments, UN agencies, investors and others, who want to contribute with their expertise, resources and networks towards a shared mission of building a better more sustainable economy and society.
Collaboration toolkit
This collaboration is driven by local Impact Hubs and UNDP country offices. We’ve compiled a simple toolkit to make it easier for you to initiate and grow this collaboration in your country as well. We hope the toolkit serves as a good source of inspiration and encourage you to build a partnership with Impact Hub that works best in your local context.
Below is an overview of the different phases of the program and concrete steps you can take to engage. This has been compiled using feedback from both UNDP Country Offices and Impact Hubs who took part in our program in the past years. The list acts as guidance to be tailored to each context’s needs and vision.
Setting Thematic
Priorities
Outreach and
Communication Camping
Scale-Readiness
Program
Selection process
& events
Our collaboration is growing
Participating Countries
Entrepreneurs Supported
International Partners
Million People Reached
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is leading the coordination and implementation of the program?
The lead organization of the program globally is Impact Hub Geneva, member of the global Impact Hub network. Impact Hub Geneva drives the global coordination of the program, supports local implementation partners to run the Accelerate2030 National Scale-Readiness phase of the program locally, and coordinates the Global Scaling phase of the program.
The implementation of the program locally is led by local implementation partners. In most cases, these are local Impact Hubs, however in some cases these are other organisations (e.g. the Accelerate2030 – North Macedonia is led by Seavus Accelerator and Business Impact Lab, in close collaboration with UNDP North Macedonia).
How does the global collaboration work between UNDP and Impact Hub?
The Accelerate2030 program was co-initiated by UNDP Geneva and Impact Hub in 2016 in order to identify and support entrepreneurs from developing and emerging markets to scale their solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In 2017, UNDP Geneva invested in enhancing the program selection methodology. To date, the program has grown to be the largest program connecting entrepreneurship and the SDGs, and has been present in 24+ countries, supporting 200+ entrepreneurs and engaging 100+ partners from different sectors.
Since the beginning, our collaboration has been built on a decentralised model. UNDP Geneva supports the global Accelerate2030 team to connect the local UNDP CO’s and Impact Hubs with the aim to foster collaboration on Innovation and the SDGs in respective countries.
The global team provides this Toolkit to offer the general framework and guidance on how to best structure the collaboration based on best practices, but with the collaboration being decentralised and driven by the local UNDP COs and Impact Hubs, it is up to local teams to define the terms and agreements of their local collaboration within this framework. To support the development of collaboration at the country level this Collaboration Toolkit has been developed from the generous support of the Swiss Development Agency.
What is the best way to approach a local Impact Hub?
The program is running in the following countries in 2021:
Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Asia: China, Indonesia and Malaysia
Latin America: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela
Eastern Europe: Croatia, North Macedonia and Turkey
If you have not yet been connected and want to connect with a local Impact Hub team, please fill in the contact form below and we will put you in direct contact with the team.
How does the local collaboration between UNDP CO’s and Impact Hubs take place?
The implementation of the program locally is led by national implementation partners. In most cases, these are local Impact Hubs, however in some cases these are other organisations (e.g. the Accelerate2030 – North Macedonia is led by Seavus Accelerator and Business Impact Lab, in close collaboration with UNDP North Macedonia).
Impact Hubs and UNDP COs teams in each location are connected by the global Accelerate2030 team, so they can develop the local collaboration in order to strengthen the support offered to the entrepreneurs to scale their solutions.
Collaboration can take different forms, based on the capacity and expertise of country offices, but mainly includes: support in communications campaigns and outreach, UNDP bringing in content around the SDGs and business, engaging experts and mentors, and opening networks and strategic connections for the most promising entrepreneurs.
In some cases, UNDP COs and local Impact Hubs have created formal collaboration agreements or MOUs, in other cases the collaboration has been more informal. For example, the third edition of A2030 in Venezuela was a joint collaboration between Impact Hub Caracas, UNDP Venezuela and Total SE. For more information see here and here.
In Geneva, since 2016 the the collaboration between UNDP Geneva and Impact Hub Geneva has focused mainly around the SDG Finance Summit Geneva and formerly the Social Good Summit Geneva (see more examples here), where Accelerate2030 entrepreneurs have been given the stage and connected to investors and key players in the Geneva 2030 ecosystem.
For more examples of collaboration between UNDP COs and Impact Hubs, see here.
The Collaboration Toolkit section above also includes more information on opportunities to get involved.
Are there additional touch points between Accelerate2030 and UNDP?
The program has collaborated with the UNDP’s Business Call to Action team regarding the impact measurement element of the program. They have delivered workshops in a few pilot countries in the last editions and they contributed to an online course on impact measurement which we co-developed with the International Trade Centre. The current head of BCtA, Luciana Aguiar is a member of Accelerate2030’s Advisory Board.
Setting Thematic Priorities
The cases of most successful collaboration are those that start with an early engagement, joining forces to identify the key focus areas for your country, other partners to engage and aligning on timeline and joint activities.
Inspiration: Get some inspiration from the Co-creation experience among UNDP CO in Serbia and Impact Hub Belgrade, who co-developed a theme on circular economy in the program’s last edition (2019/20).
Step-by -step Guide
Organize a first design meeting to identify :
-
- Key focus areas important in your country
- Other partners you would like to engage
- Map communication channels and networks to be mobilized
- Align on program timeline and points for UNDP’s engagement
Please note: If you are not yet connected with a local UNDP CO or Impact Hub, please make sure to fill in the Connection form below and our team will make the connection.
Outreach and Communication Campaign (Apr – May 2021)
Accelerate2030 provided a unique opportunity to raise awareness and inform the entrepreneurial and startup community in your country on the role of entrepreneurship and business in the 2030 agenda. We run outreach and communication campaigns in over 20 locations, reaching millions of young people and next generation entrepreneurs.
The Accelerate2030 ventures serve as role models and ambassadors for the SDGs, and their testimonials are effective ways for inspiring the startup community to adopt an SDG framework in their business.
Inspiration:
Read the Story of Collaboration in Turkey to learn how UNDP Turkey and Istanbul mobilized wide engagement from the business community and partnerships across other sectors.
Also, you can see some of the video testimonials of Accelerate2030 entrepreneurs.
Step-by-step Guide
- The national Accelerate2030 team will provide you with communication kits including: social media, press release, newsletter content, videos.
- Share widely with your networks to raise awareness on SDGs and business and mobilize applications for the program. This includes but is not limited to; disseminating the call for applications through your entrepreneurs’ networks, publication of the information on your website and social media platforms and engaging with your local media.
Invisible
Scale-Readiness Program (June May – Oct 2021)
The National Scale Readiness Program spans over 4-6 months and is focused on delivering support to entrepreneurs through training, mentorship, expertise and connections, resulting in a robust scaling roadmap and a strengthened impact model, related to the SDGs.
More specifically, the program is structured around 5 key pillars of support:
1. Leadership & Resilience – Supporting entrepreneurs to align their inner purpose with their greater impact vision. The program focuses on enhancing leadership skills, and integrating practices for increased resilience and wellbeing.
2. Scaling Strategy – Providing support to formulate the most effective scaling strategy, summarized in a clear scaling roadmap with key performance indicators and key areas of support needed.
3. Access to Finance – Assisting entrepreneurs to mobilize the resources needed to scale, through investment readiness support and connections with relevant sources of funding.
4. Impact Measurement – Support entrepreneurs to measure, manage and communicate impact, including their Theory of Change, Key Performance Indicators, and aligning their impact metrics with the SDGs.
5. Access to Networks and Partners – Collaboration is essential for scaling impact. Accelerate2030 provides strategic connections, expert mentorship and networking opportunities with sector experts, investors, corporates, UN agencies and other relevant stakeholders.
For this purpose, your Office’s focal point experience in the area of entrepreneurship and innovation would be an asset.
Step-by-step Guide
Within this support delivery phase, UNDP COs can contribute by delivering localized content and expertise on SDGs and its relevance to business. This includes:
- The scaling journey is highly individual; identify together with the Accelerate2030 team the individual needs of the entrepreneurs
- Identify the key areas of expertise you can bring to the entrepreneurs and in which format your team best can support them, be that master classes, coaching, mentorship etc.
- Tap into trainings and programs already in place that may additionally benefit the Accelerate2030 entrepreneurs
- Impact doesn’t happen in isolation, it requires collective effort! Open up your networks and connect the entrepreneurs with you key partners for multiplied impact!
Inspiration: In 2019, Business Call to Action to provide impact management support to start-up ventures participating in the Accelerate2030 programmes across the world. BCtA delivered Impact Management workshops in Nigeria, Turkey, Colombia, Indonesia, and Armenia. Also, learn more about the UN Global Compact’s involvement in different phases of A2030 in IH Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Jury Process and Joint Events
A key element of engagement in the program is participating in the selection jury at the national-level to select the entrepreneurs that will be nominated to the Global Scaling Program. The jury process is sometimes connected to the organisation of national Accelerate2030 Demo Days and National Accelerate2030 events, where the ventures get to pitch their solutions for key actors in the startup ecosystem.
Step-by-step Guide
Identify the person within the UNDP CO with good knowledge of entrepreneurship and SDGs to act as a jury member.
Detailed criteria and guidance will be provided by the national team, with the core criteria being; Impact on the SDGs, Scalability, Growth Stage, Team and Inclusivity.
Accelerate2030 National and International Events
To date, Impact Hubs and UNDP have organised joint events across the world to bring together key partners, showcase Accelerate2030 ventures and together discuss the opportunities and challenges in fostering entrepreneurship for the SDGs across the world.
Inspiration
At the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in September 2018, UNDP Innovation Facility and Impact Hub organised a joint event “Accelerate2030: How to nurture innovation ecosystems and cultivate innovation for the SDGs”, in collaboration with the International Trade Centre, the Government of Finland, GIZ and the Swiss Development Agency. Click here to read Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, Special Advisor to the Administrator, UNDP’s opening speech for the event.
The cases of most successful collaboration are those that start with an early engagement, joining forces to identify the key focus areas for your country, other partners to engage and aligning on timeline and joint activities.
Inspiration: Get some inspiration from the Co-creation experience among UNDP CO in Serbia and Impact Hub Belgrade, who co-developed a theme on circular economy in the program’s last edition (2019/20).
Step-by -step Guide
-
- Organize a first design meeting to identify.
- Key focus areas important in your country.
- Other partners you would like to engage.
- Map communication. channels and networks to be mobilized.
- Align on program timeline and points for UNDP’s engagement.
¡Get in touch!
¡Get in touch!
Get in touch!
Do you want to be connected to an Impact Hub or UNDP Country Office? Please send us a message and we get back to you.
Get in touch!
Do you want to be connected to an Impact Hub or UNDP Country Office? Please send us a message and we get back to you.