Partner With Us
Leveraging resources and increasing impact through joint programme activities, research and knowledge-sharing.
At Gatsby Africa, we are always looking for like-minded organisations to learn from and with. By working together, we believe we can achieve greater impact across the sectors and communities we work within.
Ways of partnering with us
RESEARCH
Learn how to more effectively catalyse sector transformation by partnering with us on joint research initiatives, pulling lessons from global best practice as well as from GA’s portfolio of sector programmes.
KNOWLEDGE SHARING
We are keen to facilitate debate around best practices in transforming sectors.
Join us in establishing learning platforms and mechanisms, such as field visits, workshops, joint training and sector events, as we engage with learnings from our six sector programmes and across the globe.
PROGRAMME ACTIVITIES
Co-fund initiatives with Gatsby as we seek to drive competitive, inclusive and resilient growth across East Africa.
Together, we can leverage our capabilities and financial resources to increase impact, learn what works and enhance value for money.
What we bring
We have an empowering mandate from David Sainsbury to take a long-term approach, innovate, share learning and partner with others to achieve our ambitious vision.
Political and business networks
We have high-level networks and strong relationships across East Africa after 30+ years operating in the region; being a private foundation we can take an independent, neutral position.
Implementing experience and innovation
We learn by doing and test new solutions to stubborn problems; we have invested heavily in our teams and their capabilities in the region.
Research and sharing knowledge
We invest in research and learning across our portfolio and internationally. We also partner with leading thinkers and learning institutes.
Funding
We fund our own programmes and seek co-finance from partners to scale our programmatic work.
Learning
Learning is central to what we do – bringing in global experiences and examples to our sector programmes, gathering robust evidence and data on what is working and adapting our activities in light of this evidence. We are continuously seeking to improve our approach and to share what we are learning with others.
Flexibility
As a private foundation, we have the freedom and flexibility to move quickly and partner in a number of ways.
- We can work on short-term initiatives, or longer-term multi-year initiatives at organisational, sector or intervention levels.
- We can partner on initiatives that have direct impact, such as through training and capacity building for SMEs. We can also partner on initiatives that have indirect and longer-term impacts on growth, working on policy with governments and strengthening industry associations and research agencies.
- We can collaborate on investments into pioneer firms, helping to establish dynamic businesses which drive growth.
Current and Past Partnerships
Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
Research on sector transformation and inclusive growth
Working in partnership, Gatsby and the ODI researched sector transformation and its ability to catalyse inclusive growth, focusing on the role governments can play.
We have produced multiple papers, drawing insights from success stories, closely examining where transformation has been limited, exploring the conditions necessary for large-scale change and identifying sound economic opportunities. We examined the importance of a deep understanding of the political economy, the right mix of government support and the necessary incentives to encourage private sector investment.
Fundación Chile (FCh)
Peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and learning
Founded in 1976, FCh is a public-private organisation that has been instrumental in building competitive aquaculture and renewable sectors in Chile. Gatsby aims to replicate elements of FCh’s approach in East Africa, seeking to drive the transformation of key economic sectors by working closely with public and private sectors.
Over the years, Gatsby and FCh have shared knowledge, including spending a ‘learning week’ in London in 2019 to share experiences from our sector work in East Africa and Chile respectively.
The Wood Foundation
Investing in inclusive business models in the tea sector
Gatsby Africa and The Wood Foundation have been working in the Rwandan and Tanzanian tea sectors for over ten years. Leading operational activities on the ground, The Wood Foundation initially focused on sector wide initiatives to drive growth, later turning their focus towards venture philanthropy in the sector.
In 2012, we jointly purchased two underperforming tea factories in Rwanda. We aimed to leverage our teams experience and drive performance, eventually transferring factory ownership to the smallholder farmers that supply them. Both factories are now profitable, and one has already been transitioned to farmer ownership, with farmers receiving a share of factory profits. Profit sharing, burgeoning yields and higher prices have made them some of the most profitable farmers in Rwanda.
Working with smallholder farmers we have also established three farmer service companies, developing new tea plantations to grow green leaf for new tea factories which will be built by our factory partners Luxmi and Ekaterra. These long-term investments require patient capital, but in time, they will transform the livelihoods of thousands of farmers.
We expect our investments in the tea sector to directly impact over 30,000 smallholder farmers.
GIZ
Modernising the livestock sector through improved processing skills and technologies
Gatsby’s livestock programme (implemented by KMT prior to 1 April 2022) is working in partnership with GIZ’s Business Scouts for Development programme to modernise Kenya’s livestock sector. From October 2021 to December 2022, this joint initiative has introduced twenty Kenyan meat processors to new skills, practices and technologies, improving efficiency and value addition. Two processors were also taken on exposure visits to Germany.
246 staff across the processors have been trained on meat handling and value addition, resulting in reduced losses (by 10%) and increased revenues (by 23%). These improvements have encouraged four Kenyan firms to invest $320,000 USD, upgrading processing technologies and skills, improving profitability and increasing investment in the sector. In addition, two firms now produce KEBS (Kenya Bureau Of Standards) certified products, and two additional firms are pursuing international food safety accreditation (HAACP).
*The Business Scouts for Development (BSfD) programme is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Open Society Foundations (OSF)
Inclusive business models in the aquaculture sector
OSF has worked with Gatsby’s aquaculture programme since November 2020 to test new inclusive business models, such as supporting a lake/land-based out-grower scheme with a large fish farm. Designed to provide improved employment opportunities for smallholder fish farmers in the local community, this is expected to create 160 jobs, generating $310,000 USD worth of income. Building on this, we have helped a mid-sized fish farm implement a shared-ownership business model, providing training on sustainable fish farming practices and increased market access for smallholder fish farmers through a network of market hubs and mini outlets. We have also tested a viable model for land-based smallholder aquaculture farming.
We see a potential for much broader indirect and systemic impacts if and when these models prove commercially viable and can be effectively scaled.
For more information, contact us:
partnerships@gatsbyafrica.org.uk
Please note that as a funder-implementer, Gatsby Africa is unable to accommodate requests for direct funding or grants, however we are open to co-funding initiatives in our sectors.