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Bottom-up, Bottom-line: Development-Relevant Enterprises in East Africa and their Significance for Agricultural Innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Hall, Andy

    (UNU-MERIT, Research Into Use (RIU))

  • Clark, Norman

    (Research Into Use (RIU))

  • Frost, Andy

    (Research Into Use (RIU))

Abstract

Over the last 10 years much has been written about the role of the private sector as part of a more widely-conceived notion of agricultural sector capacity for innovation and development. This paper discusses the emergence of a new class of private enterprise in East Africa that would seem to have an important role in efforts to tackle poverty reduction and food security. These organisations appear to occupy a niche that sits between mainstream for-profit enterprises and the developmental activities of government programmes, NGOs and development projects. This type of enterprise activity is not corporate social responsibility, but an altogether new type of business model that is blending entrepreneurial skills and perspectives with mission statements that seek to both serve the needs of poor customers and address their welfare. The ethos is both "bottom-up" and "bottom-line". This paper classifies these organisations as Development-Relevant Enterprises (DevREs).The experience of the Research into Use (RIU) programme discussed in this paper suggests that supporting these types of entrepreneurial activity may form the basis of a new mode of development assistance aimed at using innovation for both social and economic purposes.

Suggested Citation

  • Hall, Andy & Clark, Norman & Frost, Andy, 2010. "Bottom-up, Bottom-line: Development-Relevant Enterprises in East Africa and their Significance for Agricultural Innovation," MERIT Working Papers 2010-042, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2010042
    as

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    File URL: https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2010/wp2010-042.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steglich, Mirjam & Keskin, Ekin & Hall, Andy & Dijkman, Jeroen, 2009. "Are International Market Demands Compatible with Serving Domestic Social Needs? Challenges in Strengthening Innovation Capacity in Kenya's Horticulture Industry," MERIT Working Papers 2009-009, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Hall, Andy, 2007. "Challenges to Strengthening Agricultural Innovation Systems: Where Do We Go From Here?," MERIT Working Papers 2007-038, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    3. Hall, Andy, 2007. "The origins and implications of using innovation systems perspectives in the design and implementation of agricultural research projects: Some personal observations," MERIT Working Papers 2007-013, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Zon, Adriaan van & Mupela, Evans, 2010. "Endogenous Economic Growth through Connectivity," MERIT Working Papers 2010-001, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. Ziesemer, Thomas H.W., 2010. "The impact of the credit crisis on poor developing countries: Growth, worker remittances, accumulation and migration," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1230-1245, September.
    6. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques & Mohnen, Pierre, 2010. "Measuring the Returns to R&D," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1033-1082, Elsevier.
    7. Hall, Andy, 2006. "Public private sector partnerships in an agricultural system of innovation: concepts and challenges," MERIT Working Papers 2006-002, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Laurens Klerkx & Andy Hall & Cees Leeuwis, 2009. "Strengthening agricultural innovation capacity: are innovation brokers the answer?," International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(5/6), pages 409-438.
    9. Santiago-Rodriguez, Fernando, 2010. "Human resource management and learning for innovation: pharmaceuticals in Mexico," MERIT Working Papers 2010-002, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    10. Kaplinsky, Raphael & Chataway, Joanna & Clark, Norman & Hanlin, Rebecca & Kale, Dinar & Muraguri, Lois & Papaioannou, Theo & Robbins, Peter & Wamae, Watu, 2010. "Below the Radar: What does Innovation in Emerging Economies have to offer other Low Income Economies?," MERIT Working Papers 2010-020, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. Arora, Saurabh & Romijn, Henny, 2009. "Innovation for the base of the pyramid: Critical perspectives from development studies on heterogeneity and participation," MERIT Working Papers 2009-036, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    12. Hall, Andy & Clark, Norman & Naik, Guru, 2007. "Technology Supply Chain or Innovation Capacity?: Contrasting Experiences of Promoting Small Scale Irrigation Technology in South Asia," MERIT Working Papers 2007-014, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    13. Hagedoorn, John & Wang, Ning, 2010. "Is there complementarity or substitutability between internal and external R&D strategies?," MERIT Working Papers 2010-005, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    14. Goedhuys, Micheline & Srholec, Martin, 2010. "Understanding multilevel interactions in economic development," MERIT Working Papers 2010-003, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    15. World Bank, 2006. "Enhancing Agricultural Innovation," World Bank Publications - Reports 24105, The World Bank Group.
    16. Biggs, Stephen D., 1990. "A multiple source of innovation model of agricultural research and technology promotion," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 18(11), pages 1481-1499, November.
    17. Clark, Norman & Hall, Andy & Sulaiman, Rasheed & Naik, Guru, 2003. "Research as Capacity Building: The Case of an NGO Facilitated Post-Harvest Innovation System for the Himalayan Hills," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(11), pages 1845-1863, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kingiri, Ann & Hall, Andy, 2011. "Dynamics of biosciences regulation and opportunities for biosciences innovation in Africa: Exploring regulatory policy brokering," MERIT Working Papers 2011-023, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Rasheed, Sulaiman V. & Hall, Andy & Reddy, T.S. Vamsidhar, 2011. "Missing the target: Lessons from enabling innovation in South Asia," MERIT Working Papers 2011-050, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    3. Reddy, Vamsidhar & Hall, Andy & Sulaiman, Rasheed, 2011. "The when and where of research in agricultural innovation trajectories: Evidence and implications from RIU's South Asia projects," MERIT Working Papers 2011-024, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Hall, Andy, 2011. "Putting agricultural research into use: Lessons from contested visions of innovation," MERIT Working Papers 2011-076, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. Kilelu, Catherine W. & Klerkx, Laurens & Leeuwis, Cees & Hall, Andy, 2011. "Beyond knowledge brokerage: An exploratory study of innovation intermediaries in an evolving smallholder agricultural system in Kenya," MERIT Working Papers 2011-022, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Hall, Andy & Dijkman, Jeroen & Sulaiman, Rasheed, 2010. "Research Into Use: Investigating the Relationship between Agricultural Research and Innovation," MERIT Working Papers 2010-044, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Development-Relevant Enterprises; Agricultural Research; Agricultural Innovation; East Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N5 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries
    • N57 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness
    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services

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