Business Partnership Facility – Enterprises for SDGs Program

Deadline: 11-Feb-21

The King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) has announced the Business Partnership Facility (BPF) – Enterprises for SDGs financed by the Belgian Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (DGD) to stimulate private sector involvement in achieving the SDGs in developing countries.

The Foundation is looking for viable, entrepreneurial business initiatives with a strong social impact.

Social impact, contributing to SDGs:

• Creation and maintenance of decent jobs;
• Improvement in average income for low-income families;
• Accessibility to affordable goods and services;
• Inclusion and economic development of women and young people;
• Positive impact on the environment through saving resources, reducing emissions and/or preserving biodiversity.

Economic viability:

Partnerships must clearly demonstrate the submitted initiatives are:

• Able to become self-sustainable;
• Scalable;
• Replicable.

Funding Information

• The BPF provides a non-refundable grant between €50,000 and €200,000 that represents maximum 50% of the total investment.

Eligibility Criteria

• Each applicant is preferably a partnership that brings together actors from the private sector, civil society, academia and/or the public sector. The partnership consists of a minimum of one business partner.
• Projects must take place in one of the developing countries, but partners can be Belgian, European or international legal entities, under public or private law.
• The project must be part of the ‘core business’ of the business partner involved.

Selection Criteria

• Effects the project will have on development: the expertise and financial means, contributed by the private sector as part of partnerships, bringing change that contributes to one or more Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
• Economic, environmental and social sustainability and good governance: partnerships must be linked as closely as possible with the core business of the actors involved and must be sustainable socially, environmentally and economically (according to international standards);
• Innovation, replicability and scalability: priority will be given to innovative projects. The innovative dimension will be evaluated both in terms of the product (characteristics, functions and performance of the products/services) as well as in terms of processes (the manner in which the products are made or delivered, e.g. manufacture, distribution and product or service support). Initiatives must be replicable and scalable;
• Additionality: the role of the BPF as a catalyst must be shown. The BPF supplies a limited grant in terms of time and money. This is additional to the capital mobilised and lowers the risk for the private investor. Moreover, the principle of the untying of aid, as set out in Belgian law relating to cooperation, will always be verified;
• Impact on the sector or market: subsidized projects must create a clear and sustainable change from the current operation. The actors involved will have increased their capacities (scaling-up) at the end of the subsidized phase, including to access external large financing if necessary;
• Experience and capacities of the beneficiary: the beneficiary must be able to show through a simplified business plan that it has sufficient resources (both human and financial) to implement the project;
• Degree of co-financing: the co-financing of the partnership must be at least equivalent to the amount of the subsidy requested and must be provided as a cash contribution. This is a qualifying criterion at the preselection phase;
• Efficiency: the ratio between overhead costs and the overall budget will be used to calculate the efficiency of the project. Projects with high overhead costs will not be retained;
• Inclusiveness: the project must show that it includes vulnerable people, particularly young people, women, those with a disability and those living in situations of risk;
• Synergy and complementarity with other actors: projects that show proof of complementarity and synergy with other existing projects and/or with actors and partners of the Belgian development cooperation will be favoured.

For more information, visit https://www.kbs-frb.be/en/Activities/Calls/2021/20181211_MG_001