Unleashing entrepreneurship, innovation for SDGs

September of last year marked four years since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by world leaders as an agenda to transform our world into the kind we want, leaving no one behind.

The 15-year target set to achieve this ambitious agenda is fast approaching, and a Decade of Action has recently been launched to spur greater action towards the achievement of the goals. While the scorecard indicates that some good progress has been made, we have a long way to go to achieve the collective aspiration enshrined in the 2030 Agenda.

In fact, a recent report by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network concludes that no country is on track to achieving the SDGs by the year 2030.

And a UNICEF report tracking the SDGs related to children shows that if current trends continue, some 650 million children are likely to miss out on the SDGs by 2030.

Action

We need immediate and accelerated action by all stakeholders at all levels to ensure that the rate of progress keeps pace with the level of ambition of the goals. World leaders cannot renege on their responsibilities because of the enormity of the task. We need to double, triple and, in some cases, quadruple efforts to have a fighting chance of achieving the goals.

The good news is that we have the knowledge, the technology and the resources needed to achieve the goals. What is required is greater political will, broader and deeper societal engagement and smarter actions to put the SDGs within reach.

The standard approaches will not get us there.

Innovation at every level for every issue – poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, climate change, sanitation, energy and unemployment – is required. Yes, policy choices matter. But the real keys to success are breakthrough innovation and unleashing entrepreneurship.

Their combined power will spur prospects for success.

Dynamism

Across the world, from Albania to Zimbabwe, entrepreneurial dynamism is birthing innovative solutions to the problems the world faces.

Evidence shows that the countries making the strongest gains toward sustainable development are those that encourage entrepreneurship and support it with the required investments.

Sweden, ranked by the European Union as the leading country in innovation, also tops the Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s SDGs Index and Dashboards Report.

It stands to reason that if we unleash and give support to Africa’s entrepreneurs at scale, we stand the greatest chance of realising the SDGs.

We need not only to support existing entrepreneurs but also we need to inspire a whole new generation of entrepreneurs across the continent. We need to inspire them, train them and encourage them to look at the continent’s most gripping challenges as the continent’s biggest entrepreneurial opportunities.

Initiative

This is why the Jack Ma Foundation created the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative. Over the next 10 years, the foundation will identify and support 100 African entrepreneurs with US$10 million in grants, mentorship and training.

Last November, Accra hosted the inaugural Africa Netpreneur Summit. Ten finalists had the chance to pitch their business in a televised event to win their share of USD1 million.

The summit also awarded the winners of the “Africa Innovates for the SDGs”, a competition launched by the President of Ghana, last year.

By making this a continent-wide media event, the foundation hopes to show millions of people across Africa and the world the power of African entrepreneurship.

We must start thinking about and treating our entrepreneurs as national assets. The Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative drew more than 10,000 applicants from nearly 50 countries in its first year. Deep pools of innovation and entrepreneurial skills reside in Africa.

Policymakers have an essential role to play in creating the enabling environment and providing incentive structures to support these entrepreneurs.

We have to address bottlenecks and red tape, reduce the costs of doing business and facilitate the development of hubs and accelerators.

And we must provide the foundation for investors, educators and all actors in the entrepreneur ecosystem to flourish.

Doing this will result in huge economic and social pay-offs and place the attainment of SDGs within reach.

Failure cannot be an option. Let us join hands to enable the continent’s entrepreneurs to drive the transformation needed to bring dignity to the lives of millions of people in Africa and indeed around the world.

The writers are the President of Ghana, who is a co-Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Eminent Group of Advocates for the 2030 SDGs & Jack Ma, the Founder of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma Foundation and also of the UN Secretary-General’s Eminent Group of Advocates for the 2030 SDGs

• First published by Africa Business