From strategy to implementation,
Hystra supports corporates,
social enterprises, donors
and impact investors
on their inclusive business journey

Five complementary service areas

 
 
1.Innovative+inclusive+ventures.jpg

Design and support innovative inclusive ventures

  • Design business models and market plans, including business case for investors

  • Build, benchmark, refine marketing and distribution strategies

  • Support the transition of NGO programs into social enterprises

  • Support implementation

Baobab+ | HERi | African Queen | Jumia

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Build inclusive strategies with corporates

  • Scope opportunities

  • Help find unique value proposition

  • Review partner engagement strategies

  • Review sustainability portfolio in light of business objectives

  • Provide strategic support

  • Design and support corporate impact funds

Awango by Total | LafargeHolcim | Sanofi Impact Fund | Unilever

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Support donors in private sector engagement

  • Build donors' private sector engagement strategy

  • Scope and design country programs

  • Select private partners and design partnership model

  • Steer and coordinate multi-partner program implementation

  • Provide technical assistance

Meriem Nutrition | SDC | Gates Foundation

 
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Set up funds and coalitions for impact

  • Support the design of innovative and efficient vehicles for impact (mission, activities, governance, legal structure, processes etc.)

  • Recruit and manage members, sponsors, funders

  • Build pipelines

  • Handle secretariats / run coalitions

Global Distributors Collective | African Cotton Foundation | B4IG incubator

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Share unique insights on global best practices

  • Identify innovative market-based solutions and sector trends (>2000 projects screened)

  • Gain an in-depth understanding of models through case studies (>200 case studies to date)

  • Benchmark comparable models on key indicators

  • Share insights on best practices, key success factors and barriers to scale

See our publications

 
 
 

 Case Studies

African Cotton Foundation
African Queen
Awango by Total
Baobab+
B4IG incubator
Global Distributors Collective
HERi
Jumia
LafargeHolcim
Meriem nutrition
Sanofi Impact Fund
SDC
Unilever
Gates Foundation

African Cotton Foundation

African Queen

Awango by Total

Baobab+

B4IG incubator

Global Distributors Collective

HERi

Jumia

LafargeHolcim

Meriem nutrition

Sanofi Impact Fund

SDC

Unilever

Gates Foundation
 

  Our latest publications

 
 
Our Insights
Lessons learned from inclusive e-commerce
Marketing and Last Mile Distribution, Digital Divide
Lessons learned from inclusive e-commerce
Marketing and Last Mile Distribution, Digital Divide

E-commerce is one of the fastest-growing sectors in Africa, projected to reach over 153 million users by 2029. The size of Africa’s e-commerce market is projected to increase by nearly 40% in the next four years…

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Marketing and Last Mile Distribution, Digital Divide
Webinar on the power of phytase for human nutrition
Nutrition
Webinar on the power of phytase for human nutrition
Nutrition

More than 3 billion people are affected by micronutrient deficiencies, and one-third of the world's population suffers from anemia and zinc deficiency, particularly in developing countries. Mineral absorption is crucial for nutrient uptake, preventing deficiencies, maintaining mineral balance, supporting growth and development, and enhancing overall health. Inadequate mineral intake and absorption can lead to deficiencies; for example, a lack of iron may cause iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia.

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Nutrition
Designing Impact Business Unicorns
Inclusive business
Designing Impact Business Unicorns
Inclusive business

Over the past 20 years, the world has witnessed a flourishing of business innovations addressing social and environmental issues, yet many initiatives have not reached the impact they and we would have hoped. However, there is much to learn from what they have achieved.

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Inclusive business
Large-scale food fortification: building the business case for the private sector
Nutrition
Large-scale food fortification: building the business case for the private sector
Nutrition

Large-scale food fortification (LSFF) can be one of the most cost-effective ways to address micronutrient deficiencies. However, while the case for society has been made clear, the business case for the private sector has not.

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Nutrition
Benchmarking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Last Mile Distributors (LMDs)
Marketing and Last Mile Distribution
Benchmarking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Last Mile Distributors (LMDs)
Marketing and Last Mile Distribution

Running a company without business data is like driving a car without a dashboard. In collaboration with the Global Distributors Collective (GDC)* and with support from FCDO, we have leveraged extensive data to create a benchmark of 23 key performance indicators (KPIs) for LMDs...

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Marketing and Last Mile Distribution
Five years of supporting Sahelian food businesses towards affordable nutritious products: key lessons learnt from Project Meriem
Nutrition
Five years of supporting Sahelian food businesses towards affordable nutritious products: key lessons learnt from Project Meriem
Nutrition

From 2018 to 2023, together with French NGO Gret and a consortium of partners, the Hystra team co-led the design and implementation of the Meriem project, a 5-year effort to develop commercial solutions to prevent malnutrition in urban areas of the Sahel region...

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Nutrition
Improving access and uptake of maternal nutrition products in Rural Pakistan
Nutrition
Improving access and uptake of maternal nutrition products in Rural Pakistan
Nutrition

Since 2020, Hystra has been supporting the Rural Support Network of Pakistan (RSPN) to launch and execute a market test in three rural districts of Pakistan, aiming to improve access and uptake of maternal nutrition products, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation…

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Nutrition
Workshop on R&D Innovations towards advancing biofertilizers - Reporting on outcomes
Smallholder Farmers
Workshop on R&D Innovations towards advancing biofertilizers - Reporting on outcomes
Smallholder Farmers

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation brought together expert representatives from academia, industry, national research partners and consultancies in a worskhop focused on R&D innovations to advance biofertilizers…

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Smallholder Farmers