Oxfam Superstar Impact Business competition 2023

To be truly sustainable, impact-driven businesses want to ensure that throughout the supply chain, all business practices adhere to constant environmental, social and governance principles. The supply chain includes the full lifecycle of a product or process, including material sourcing, production, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal/recycling processes.

This can be challenging when your business is working:

• To include suppliers or distributors from vulnerable groups and/or minorities that have been disadvantaged or are difficult to reach;
• In supply chains where there is little collaboration or transparency;
• In contexts that suffer from climate change, environmental degradation, increasing economic volatility, inflation and unsupportive regulatory frameworks.

At the same time, introducing fair and sustainable business practices across the supply chain provides an enormous opportunity to accelerate impact throughout communities.

Therefore, through the competition, Oxfam seeks to support impact-driven businesses that have innovative ideas to introduce fair and sustainable business practices across their supply chain and are collaborating with suppliers, financial service providers, off-takers and/or logistic providers to implement these practices.

Fair and sustainable business practices include (but are not limited to):

Oxfam aims to get better insights into the needs of businesses in introducing fair and sustainable practices in their supply chains and inspire investors and policymakers in recognizing the importance and potential of supporting and investing in impact businesses.

To apply, your business needs to meet the following minimum requirements**:

• The project your business proposes focuses on implementing fair and sustainable business practices in the supply chain in collaboration with supply chain partners (for example, suppliers, financial service providers, off-takers and/or logistic providers).
• The applicant is a previous or current participant in either i) Oxfam’s SME Development project in Uganda, Kenya or Cambodia; ii) the Work in Progress! project for Egypt, Nigeria, or Somalia (Somaliland); iii) Oxfam’s Empresas que Cambian Vidas (ECV) program in Bolivia.
• The business is a registered commercial company in Somaliland, Egypt, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Cambodia, and Bolivia 
• The business meets the requirements of an ‘impact-driven business’: namely: i) the business has ‘impact’ as its mission or key driver; ii) the business resolves a societal issue, not through charity, but through its business model; iii) the entrepreneur has a ‘social heart’, clear motivation and vision on impact.
• The business is not in any way involved in activities such as arms, tobacco, alcohol, and gambling industries, registered in so-called tax-havens, or involved in environmental or human rights abuses or corruption.
• Grant funding should be matched with at least 50% of the applicant’s own contribution (cash and/or in-kind).
• The proposed project can be completed over four months and be finalized during Q4 2023. 

**Additional local requirements can be added per country. Please contact the Oxfam office or the local partner organization in your country for more information.

Step 1: Application

Candidates can apply by completing the application form. The application is only complete, in combination with a venture profile on VC4A. If you don’t have a venture profile yet, you will be asked to create this in the first step when clicking on the “Apply” button at the top of the page.

Please download the budget template here, as you will be asked to upload this in your application form. The deadline for applications differs in which country you are applying:

Step 2: Selection

A local jury scores all applications and invites the best-selected applicants to pitch their business and project proposals. Winners will be announced latest on the 1st of July, after which grant contracts will be processed.

Step 3: Implementation

Projects will be implemented until December 2023.

We encourage applicants to make use of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework to target, define, and assess the impact of their company and proposal. 

The following criteria will be taken in consideration when evaluating candidates:

1. Social / environmental impact (25%): The business has a clear vision and strategy for positive social and/or environmental impact.  It is important that the project has a positive social and environmental impact on the supply /value chains and on the company’s stakeholders (suppliers, clients, employees and communities). This impact is supported by numbers.  
2. Feasibility and relevance of proposal (25%): The proposed project is described clearly and is relevant in creating a fair and sustainable supply chain. It is clear how the business will collaborate with a supply chain partner to realize the project. It is viable and feasible to implement the project in a short time frame. The budget and own contribution are realistic.
3. Strength of team / entrepreneur (25%): The team has the qualifications and experience to manage and implement the project successfully. Motivation and ideas are clearly communicated. The team has unquestionable integrity. Having a significant number of women and youth in the team is a plus.
4. Growth potential and sustainability (25%): The impact business addresses a clear market need with a unique product or service. There is a clear business model and a realistic growth strategy. The financial figures (historic and projections) show good performance and/or potential. The proposed project demonstrates innovation and it is clear how it creates new opportunities and/or addresses a risk or problem for the business. It is clear how the business will sustain the implementation of the project and integrate it in their core operations.

The following activities are eligible for funding:

• Business support services (e.g. consultants/experts on scaling, sales, operations, investments, social impact);
• Investments (machines or equipment needed to scale up);
• Business development costs (e.g. test or launch new products, market study);
• Visibility costs (brand design, promotional materials, trade fairs);
• Scaling of impact (process redesign, sustainable production, fair trade certification).

The following activities are not eligible for funding:

• Purchasing and rent/leasing of land or buildings/facilities;
• Bank charges, cost of guarantees, and similar charges;
• Overhead costs such as office supplies, support staff, management;
• Value and registration costs of intellectual property rights.