Enhancing Production During a Pandemic: Designing a Fit-For-Purpose Accelerator

Authors: Chime Asonye - Innovation Manager, COVIDaction; Patrick Ashu - Programmes Manager, AfriLabs; Lydia Ezenwa - Programmes and Francophone Engagement Associate, AfriLabs

COVIDaction LPLS and AfriLabs, the largest network of technology and innovation hubs in Africa, partnered to provide an online Accelerator to address cross-cutting challenges faced by local innovators producing critical materials and resources in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. By prioritising their needs, we created a new curricular experience that offers insights on strengthening local production enterprises in the future.

COVIDaction is amplifying social entrepreneurs' efforts to take immediate steps to address key supply constraints for personal protective equipment (PPE) and other unavailable goods, thus helping stave off some of the pandemic’s worst impacts. Open calls and offline scouting were launched to surface how organisations and grassroots innovators across Africa and South Asia have pivoted in local production and novel approaches to meet community needs. What became clear during the review of submissions was that the support needed was not just financial, but would involve enhancing other areas of business operations. A number of overlapping themes were identified across the enterprises that ranged from product development to marketing challenges.

To address these issues, COVIDaction partnered with AfriLabs, the largest network of technology and innovation hubs in Africa, to strengthen their initiatives. AfriLabs have experience working to enhance innovators on the continent and other low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings. They understand innovators’ diverse and locally situated needs from conducting several needs assessments across Africa, and they often created unique learning facilities for innovators in the past. One of its most recent was developing and implementing an intensive virtual acceleration training for participants of the Democracy and Governance, Youth Innovation Challenge, an initiative by the African Union African Governance Architecture.

Mapped challenges

We worked with AfriLabs to map the needs of entrepreneurs we’re working with. We did this in four ways: a needs assessment of submitted proposals, one-on-one discussions with innovators during the development of their work plans, a tailored survey, and extracting insights from our community-building activities. Some of the common trends from the assessments highlighted the following commercial gaps:

• technical capacity to manufacture standard and market-competitive products;
• access to reliable sources of raw materials;
• business development skills;
• connections to diverse markets, and
• funding to scale up and commercialise innovations.

From the findings of the needs assessment, an accelerator training was designed to tackle the issues highlighted and build the capacity of the innovators. We wanted to be consultative and empowering, finding out what these communities really wanted and letting them make the decisions about the things that affect their lives. Addressing the patterns of needs that arose, our goal was to use LPLS innovators’ insights to build a unique experience that would:

• nurture circular economy relationships between businesses that would lead to more resource efficiency and less waste;
• build the innovators’ social currency when engaging partners and soliciting opportunities;
• support the entrepreneurs on navigating COVID-19 challenges, and
• create a lasting cohort experience to facilitate sustainability and continuous knowledge sharing.

Bespoke Accelerator

The accelerator included educational resources to enhance learning and practice, including quizzes, case studies, videos, and activities.

A tailored curriculum and delivery mechanism were developed based on feedback and priority needs, which included four modules to address critical identified gaps holistically:

1. Local Production, Local Solution
2. Business in Unstable Times
3. Product Development
4. Business Development

The initiative also worked with local experts to create educational resources to enhance learning and practice, including videos explaining key subjects, case studies using real-world illustrations, quizzes to test understanding, and activities to apply what they had learned. To account for diverse schedules, self-paced, pre-recorded videos were used to account for innovators’ preferences for flexibility. Modules were also shared in PDF form on community platforms such as WhatsApp to make them more accessible and account for downloading challenges due to internet connectivity constraints.

“The Modules were well prepared and researched, and gave me insights into other parts of our processes i.e. production.” — Muzalema Mwanza, LPLS Innovator

Outside of the context-specific curriculum, the other major component of the Accelerator was mentorship. AfriLabs drew from its vast network to identify local experts who could help build on the modules and enrich them through real-world experience. The mentoring session paired the innovators with mentors who possessed insights and ability to inspire, motivate, and guide the innovators in COVID-19’s difficult environment; helped the facilitation of concrete learnings through review and assistance on assigned modules; provided feedback and corrections were necessary; tracked their progress; and sought to organise one-on-one or group sessions on issues of concern.

Their collective experience represented technology hubs and makerspaces across the African continent, such as Kijenzi, focused on distributed manufacturing in Kenya; innovation centres GoDo Hub and NorthEast Humanitarian Innovation Hub in Nigeria; education and digital skills focused Dream Factory Foundation; and fabrication outfit Zopah Uganda. They brought understanding in multiple areas such as growing businesses in humanitarian challenges and other crises that the pandemic represented; best practices in local production in ecologically regenerative ways; knowledge of computer and machine manufacturing using CNC and 3D printing tools; and perspectives around management, social innovation, research, development, and finance to decrease inefficiencies through process improvement.

Grace Oluchi (top left) of Go Do Hub leading an Accelerator mentorship session on business development with the accounting and finance team of LPLS’ Taka Taka Solutions.

The execution of the mentorship programme also differed in an important respect from traditional accelerators. Instead of mentors being assigned to a couple of businesses and mentoring those throughout the programme, each mentor coached all the businesses across an assigned module. This allowed them to highlight connections, trends, and circular economy relationships between businesses connected to areas of their unique expertise. Privileging circularity between companies and highlighting those links would reinforce economic models where cycles of local production, rather than linear global supply, dominate. Helping enhance sustainable resilience in LMICs and promoting restorative approaches where waste is kept to a minimum, resources are reused as long as possible within domestic value chains, and products are designed with local communities in mind.

“Diversification in curriculum — perfectly planned for booming entrepreneurs. Mentors were very cooperative and kind to provide real feedback and suggestions. I learned a lot in a very short time.” — Ram Chandra Thapa, LPLS Innovator

Here’s what we learned

Nine diverse enterprises participated in the Accelerator representing small businesses to larger, more established corporations. Regardless of their size and scope, during the course of the Accelerator, here is what we learned about best supporting the scale and growth of these businesses:

1. Mainstreaming financial management enhances company sustainability: “Innovators get stuck in innovating and forget the business side of things,” remarked mentor Grace Oluchi. Given the nature of many of these entrepreneurs’ desires to drive impact, the focus was on production, but not creating the institutional foundations that would enhance their business operations or the novel product categories they were pivoting to. Sustainability and profitability was a major issue for 75% of the innovators that one mentor spoke to. Emphasising areas like financial management, accounting for manufacturing, and company business processes and ensuring that these are mainstreamed in all aspects of the business will help their longevity.
2. Reducing multifaceted problems to their step-by-step components aids resolution and instruction: Due to COVID-19’s chaotic environment and venturing into the complicated space of medical-related supplies, the challenges at times felt insurmountable. Enterprises need to take a step back, “breaking down challenges into small issues that are manageable and working” to address bottlenecks, emphasised mentor Ben Savonen. This method was employed not only as a principle to instil with the innovators but in our module construction. Issues were broken down and addressed progressively so that complex issues could be more easily understood.
3. Employing human-centred design and understanding customer segmentation improves product development and engagement: User-centred approaches apply a framework where the people you are trying to serve and other important stakeholders are centred in the products you are developing. For these innovators looking to aid the lives of vulnerable communities with vital products and services, ensuring their interests are accounted for needs to be prioritised. “All businesses had a thorough understanding of the problem they were solving, but nearly all of them would have benefitted from more customer definition,” shared one of the mentors. This lesson was resounding for LPLS innovator Ram Chandra Thapa. I will be “revisiting company internal control policies and procedures, implementing learnings from the accelerator — always prioritising customers first and doing good market research.”
4. Access to funding is a notable barrier for social enterprises and local producers: Finances remained a major challenge for local innovation to thrive. Due to fewer inflows of capital investment to often unconnected areas and the competitive nature of available funds, these innovators do not have a fair chance of receiving funding opportunities. To scale up grassroots innovations, relevant funding is needed to increase production capacity, human resources, and market size. Many mentors shared funding opportunities with innovators and emphasised peer collaborations to support financial strains.
5. Technology that employs data security controls are growing in popularity: 90% of innovators chose WhatsApp as the preferred engagement with Email following closely behind at 70% in an initial survey. There was, however, pronounced interest in Telegram, a messaging app where communications are heavily encrypted and can self-destruct, recognising the increased role and awareness around privacy, encryption, and data security even in LMICs.
6. Thematic mentorship can surface insights that strengthen ecosystem circularity: Employing a cross-sectional mentorship approach where mentors served across all enterprises proved effective versus assigning a couple of innovators to specific mentors for the duration of the Accelerator. First, the local nature of the mentors meant that they could develop bonds and give in-depth perspectives on thematic challenges innovators were facing. Second, there were important circular economy relationships highlighted. For instance, mentor Gonzaga Ntege helped a company revisit past product areas that are system constraints for regional local production. Ntege provided insight on resolving challenges to restarting a failed supply line for 3D printing filament, an important resource to enable 3D printing and often limited in Africa. Additionally, there were opportunities for partnerships across the LPLS business ecosystem value-chains from raw material suppliers (e.g. recycling, repurposing, or reusing ) to the inputs needed, such as plastic pellets for PPE production.
7. Crafting a narrative by focusing on branding supports growth: It is important to distinguish your businesses, but many innovators did not have branding guidelines, strategies, material, or appropriate messaging to help capture increased market share. Proper publicity that incorporates innovative taglines, better storytelling that shares a compelling narrative, and updating public-facing tools such as websites were emphasized. I am going to “implement some of the strategies into the business,” narrated LPLS Innovator Muzalema Mwanza, “ improve the branding of the company so that there is cohesion between the website and social media handles etc. and look at ways of building partnerships to improve our KPIs.”

“Having the mentors be invested in my project during the mentoring sessions despite them being short.” — Muzalema Mwanza, Mentor

“Co-creating solutions with them and being able to relate to their experiences.” — Grace Oluchi, Mentor

Selected LPLS innovators and mentors at the Accelerator closing ceremony

We have seen an impact

The Accelerator has already yielded some immediate results.

Experiencing the growth of COVID-19 cases with a third wave of infections and the more transmissible Delta variant circulating, social innovator Muzalema Muwaelea began stocking piling resources necessary for production in Zambia. A strategy recommended to create resilience for business ‘shocks,’ discussed in the Accelerator, which helped her company continue when the country recently entered lockdown. Although not in full production, they have been able to package 2,000 baby delivery kits, 10,000 face shields, and 500 3D printed face masks that are aiding vulnerable communities and pregnant mothers as the pandemic rages.

From enhancing resilience, the initiative also helped support design thinking in Kenya. After engaging in product development sessions, Silafrica understood that their merchandise should be focused on their customers' needs. They then went to get feedback from end-users including market vendors, medical practitioners, etc. to improve their medical gowns. The organization has now updated their gowns with utilities like double pockets for cards, phones, money, and other amenities. Additionally, created alternative gowns that are more ventilated and open for general pursue use outside of a medical context.

These learnings and stories of impact would not have been possible without the commitment of the innovators to share their needs and dedication to co-design a robust, bespoke Accelerator. Additionally, mentors whose local connections and aligned missions have meant sustainable relationships with innovators post-initiative as they continue to collaborate. AfriLabs incredible role in identifying experts and helping produce a dynamic curriculum to address the pandemic’s diverse challenges was indispensable.

With the COVIDaction LPLS Accelerator, we worked with innovators to provide them a structured setting to step back from COVID-19 chaos and participate in an intensive learning experience tackling key cross-cutting technical assistance needs. Along this journey, we learned that the Accelerator’s unique approach can serve as a model to aid social enterprises and support the flexible production of local ecosystems in the future.

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