Scale-up Africa’s Community Hubs

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

How you perceive the problem you are solving

Cost versus investment framing

We contend that Community Hub operators – as with other actors within the continent, have often been framed in the past as charity-based organisations, reactively being given funds to solve problems and issues, where the funds provided are often seen as a cost, or gift, by those providing them. 

Recognition of value created

A major challenge African Community Hubs (ACH) face is one of recognition of the full value they create.

This is a common challenge for many organisations that create both commercial value (measured by money) and cultural value (measured by wellbeing). However, our capitalist-based systems traditionally account for (value) only tangible value, i.e. that measured by money. As a large part of what public or third or fourth sector organisation produce is cultural value, it is deemed as Intangible value – which is then not measured.

This non accounting for value is compounded by another major challenge faced by many sustainability organisations: that much of the purpose driven worth (cultural and commercial value) they create is projected into the future – to become Impact. And this worth and associated impact is often discounted down when assessing it as humans are not good at dealing with a future vision of more than a few years.

Recognition of the challenge of wicked complexity

Running a complex organisation with several sets of clients and users combining non-profit and profitable operations, whilst expected to act as:

·      Educators

·      Transformers

·      Integrators

·      Advocates

·      Champions

·      Providers

·      Change agents

…and while: 

·      using known and emerging tools, 

·      running projects and social media channels, 

·      expected to understand and master strategy and operations for both business and non-business areas

… all at once, is a challenge.

Community Hubs in Africa and other developing nations face a more complex challenge than those in other environments.

Your reasons for approaching it in the way that you have

Our Solution

We will build and run an MVP of a Community Hub Africa Accelerator / scale-up programme.

We have already taken our Impact Accelerator model from our existing F7 funded proposal for Impact Accelerator for Catalyst programme and recut it to as a Beta level MVP trial with WADA – a non funded trial that is presently ongoing. With WADA as our lead partners we will reframe this MVP to produce a viable MVP Community Hub scale-up programme that will then be run with selected Community Hubs on the continent.

Following that it is envisaged that the programme be rolled out through the other Community Hubs as appropriate.

Impact Accelerator / scale up programme overview

·     Our programme takes a founder/leader through a self-assessed audit of their organisation against our framework.

·     The results and findings are discussed during a series of coaching sessions, and a development plan for the organisation is developed and agreed upon.

·     A coach then works with the leadership team through the programme.

·     Our programme consists of an online self-assessment that is then discussed with a coach. A coach is assigned to each participant in the programme to help them to grow and maintain their independence.

·     Where specific skillsets or experience are required to deliver the agreed growth programme, these will be introduced from our business specialist network.

Skills required

The following skills are required to deliver our proposal.

• Capability to organise and run an Accelerator programme

• A platform to run an online programme

• An ability to attract appropriate people to the programme

• A method of measuring the success of the programme

• The ability to mentor, coach, consult and train participants in the programme

• The ability to adapt our existing programme into a Community Hub focused MVP programme

• The ability to construct and deliver a research report on the MVP programme

• The ability to engage with the Catalyst community to launch and leverage the programme

We have many of these skills within our current team and will welcome the contribution of others to further expand our collective capability.

Massive opportunity for Investment

Looked at from an investment perspective, these wicked challenges mean that there is the opportunity for developing solutions that will result in exponential gains for the organisations involved and the communities they serve. 

Community Hubs in Africa are also a critical nodal point, the channel for delivering massive potential for support and change at all levels and areas within the continent. The challenge is how to support that growth and development.

From our experience three things are needed:

1.     A model for valuing more than just commercial value and impact and the ability to use it.

2.     The understanding of how to drive both commercial and cultural outputs – the building of capabilities and income. Followed by how to build and undertake a programme that allows the community hubs to consistently focus on and spin up both commercial and cultural assets over time to reach the levels of community impact that they desire.

3.     Building a Social Impact Organisation – sometimes called fourth sector orgs, this is our definition of how to position and run a community hub as a proactive entity, one that defines its activities in its own terms  - undertaking charitable and revenue generating activities as it sees fit, not being bound by the definitions of centralised entities such as accountants and governments.

This is why we have proposed a high impact tailored accelerator / scaleup programme approach.

Describe the value that the solution will add

Solution Impact

This proposal will produce a blueprint that will integrate the business strategy and operations necessary to empower a Community Hub to become a social impact organisation (SIO), delivering both cultural return on intent, and commercial return on investment.

These social impact hubs will deliver channelled, local resources, targeted to support the Catalyst Ecosystem in proposing and running challenge proposals

Primary Impact 

This proposal will also produce a blueprint that will describe a series of nested solutions that operate at the country, community, individual and the Cardano Catalyst levels.

At the country level

The blueprint will describe:

·     How to support Cardano’s mission in building self-sustaining community hubs within nations

·     By enabling these hubs to be profitable organisations

·     That act as local channels for Catalyst supported products and capabilities

·     That they can offer to engage with their local stakeholders and resources.

At the community hub level

The blueprint will describe:

·     How to support community hubs in building revenue-generating enterprises as part of their Social Impact Organisation’s development,

·     By helping them to build and deliver the products and channels they need to support them growing local knowledge-based business capabilities, processes, and structures

·     Including SPO Incubation, business accelerator services, word of mouth marketing capabilities, TECH DEV training, CA support for catalyst, and developing outsourced high-end professional support.

·     To give community hubs and their staff a higher demand for engagement from their target community

This will enable the community hubs to begin the transformation into paid professional service outsourcing suppliers.

At an Individual level

The blueprint will describe:

·     How individuals will have access to a wide range of educational material and training courses

As Community Hubs become more SIO capable and focused on building income generating services, individuals will begin to be offered opportunities such as the catalyst support services for proposers initiative mentioned above.

These individuals will have the opportunity to engage with their local Community Hub as a qualified contributor, gaining both revenue and experience from working on outsourced hub projects.

At a Cardano and Catalyst level

The blueprint will describe:

·     How the Community Hub Impact Accelerator programme is designed to become self-supporting and self-replicating both at an individual hub level and at a hub Ecosystem level.

It follows the ‘watch on, do one, train one’ ethos. As each generation of community hubs progress to being SIO’s they join the alumni that coach the next generation. In this way the network becomes self-sustaining, one that focuses on delivering both cultural return on intent, and, commercial return on investment.

We see this as being supported at Nation level by organisations such as our partners WADA, who will be part of this blueprint and MVP.

Describe the scalability of the solution

Our solution is scalable because: 

·      It offers a modular programme that can be replicated at different levels of an org and in different locations. It is hoped also to translate the content into different languages as required.

·      It is envisaged that further down the roadmap it will be offered as a train the trainer programme – similar to our F8 funded ‘SPO train the trainer Africa’ programme.

Describe the sustainability of the solution

Sustainability

Our view of sustainability is using resources better to grow long-term asset value, which is the intent of  this proposal.

Business sustainability

We will support the delivery the long-term business survivability of Community Hubs in Africa by having the right resources in the right place at the right time to be able to make a long-term sustainable impact.

Environmental sustainability and impact

This will provide a clear understanding of purpose and impact, and by working with environmental sustainability goals will deliver commercial and cultural impact.

Who your project will engage, or who its stakeholders are

Our project will have multiple stakeholders:

Community hubs and their leadership teams who wil be educated on how to run a blended commercial cultural organisation and grow it to scale. 

Wada who will act as primary partners and learn how to replicate the programme across teh CH in Africa.     

Edify CoLabs who will provide the full value framework and develop the scope of work for templating

The wider community in each CH area in particular Impact entities dependent on Catalyst funding will develop a pathway to sustainability

How your project will be implemented; 

The project will be implemented in phases.

As described in our referenced miro board

What you will produce 

We will produce and deliver in collaboration with out partners WADA an MVP of targeted accelerator/scaleup programme for Community Hubs in Africa.

What will happen as a result of your work 

This programme will can then be productised and rolled out by our partners WADA, ourselves and other appropriate WADA partners across the Continent.

Explain what's unique about your solution, and what value it brings to the Cardano ecosystem.

The Edify CoLabs full value Impact framework and organisational journey programmes are the result of decades worth of experience in the off-chain business world. Translating it into a programme that can support Community Hubs in flourishing will increase the value of the companies that are operating in the Cardano ecosystem that will reflect in the overall value of the ecosystem itself.

Explain who will benefit. 

The beneficiaries of the project will be: 

1.     Community Wada, Catalyst & Cardano – will be the initial direct beneficiaries of the project as a proper valuation will enable Wada to continue to expand the Cardano Community in Africa but in a self-sustaining way with eventually less dependence on Catalyst funding

2.     Cardashift - Greater variety of organizations with tangible investable properties will benefit and validate Cardashift’s business model.

3.     Other Cardano on and off-chain businesses – will experience a full valuation of their businesses, and will be able to more effectively use their assets for business growth 

4.     Edify EcoLabs – will gain reputational benefit as our systems underpin the growth in value of the ecosystem.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Our proposed solution will support Community hubs in becoming a proactive part of the foundation of the Cardano ecosystem within the African continent. Community Hubs can be a vital channel for both the local and regional communities in terms of employment, education and impact growth support. We believe that community hubs can do this by understanding how to manage and grow themselves from both a commercial and cultural perspective – becoming proactive, so becoming Impact focused Social Impact Organisations- in control of their own existence and destiny.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

We envisage the following risks:

Risk – To organise community hubs to effectively participate in the programmes

o  Mitigation – Engage with WADA to reach out to potential community hubs

Risk – the ability to translate our existing content to the local cultural norms, terminology and market environments

o  We will collaborate with WADA for the Africa rollout and hopefully work with them on supporting the phase two, nation rollout.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

details on our miro board:

Tasks and durations.

Project setup                 4 hrs

Build audit tool               4 hrs

Complete internal audit        6 hrs

Complete purpose audit        6 hrs

Complete market audit         6 hrs

Complete external valuation audit 6 hrs

Internal audit workshop        6 hrs

Purpose audit workshop        6 hrs

Market audit workshop         6 hrs

External valuation workshop     6 hrs

Vision and strategy            4 hrs

Development of business plan   4 hrs

Scenario planning exercise      4 hrs

Creation of investor deck       4 hrs

Investment plan               4 hrs

Project Roadmap: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOE42T9c=/?invite_link_id=488689803842

After voting takes place and funding is successfully secured:

1)  Project Management:

·     Develop detailed project plan, liaise with stakeholders and manage the programme elements throughout duration – 10 hours

2)  Develop the Pre-Programme phase and get it fit for purpose:

·     Meet with WADA / local community heads to discuss the project – 6 hours

·     Agree desired deliverables from training programme – 12 hours

·     Map the process – 4 hours

3)  Refine, run and manage the Programme delivery phase:

·     Deliver the MVP programme – 12 hours

·     Conduct mid-session reviews – 10 hours

·     Programme administration – 10 hours

4)  Refine, run and manage the Post-Programme phase:

·     Collate key metrics - 4 hours

·     Conduct feedback interviews – 10 hours

·     Report consolidation and delivery – 10 hours

Overall, the project will have a duration of 12 weeks dependent on the availability of participants.

This is based on up 10 to 15 participants

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Tasks and durations.

Project setup                 4 hrs

Build audit tool               4 hrs

Complete internal audit        6 hrs

Complete purpose audit        6 hrs

Complete market audit         6 hrs

Complete external valuation audit 6 hrs

Internal audit workshop        6 hrs

Purpose audit workshop        6 hrs

Market audit workshop         6 hrs

External valuation workshop     6 hrs

Vision and strategy            4 hrs

Development of business plan   4 hrs

Scenario planning exercise      4 hrs

Creation of investor deck       4 hrs

Investment plan               4 hrs

Project Roadmap: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOE42T9c=/?invite_link_id=488689803842

After voting takes place and funding is successfully secured: 

1)   Project Management:

·      Develop detailed project plan, liaise with stakeholders and manage the programme elements throughout duration – 10 hours

2)   Develop the Pre-Programme phase and get it fit for purpose:

·      Meet with WADA / local community heads to discuss the project – 6 hours

·      Agree desired deliverables from training programme – 12 hours

·      Map the process – 4 hours

3)   Refine, run and manage the Programme delivery phase:

·      Deliver the MVP programme – 12 hours

·      Conduct mid-session reviews – 10 hours

·      Programme administration – 10 hours

4)   Refine, run and manage the Post-Programme phase: 

·      Collate key metrics - 4 hours

·      Conduct feedback interviews – 10 hours

·      Report consolidation and delivery – 10 hours

Overall, the project will have a duration of 12 weeks dependent on the availability of participants.

This is based on up 10 to 15 participants

Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

The total cost of this proposal is US$19,800

The cost rates that we have estimated are:

·      Edify R&D & management team – US$200/hr

·      Edify workshop delivery team – US$500/hr

·      Freelance support (Admin, VA, Marketing etc.) – US$100/hr

1)   Project Management: - $2,000

·      Edify R&D & management team – 10 hours – $2,000

2)   Develop the Pre-Programme phase and get it fit for purpose: – $3,800

·      Edify R&D & management team – 16 hours – $3,200

·      Freelance support (Admin, VA, Marketing etc.) – 6 hours – $600

3)   Refine, run and manage the Programme delivery phase: - $9,200 

·      Edify R&D & management team – 12 hours - $2,400

·      Edify workshop delivery team – 12 hours - $6,000

·      Freelance support (Admin, VA, Marketing etc.) – 8 hours - $800

4)   Refine, run and manage the Post-Programme phase: - $4,800 

·      Edify R&D & management team – 24 hours - $4,800

Budget Split

this MVP programme will be built and delivered by the primary partners: EdifyColabs and WADA. On this basis, it is envisaged that once the programme support costs are paid, then the resulting funds allocated to programme design, engagement and delivery will be split on a 70/30 split with the wonderful WADA.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Harry Hellyer

- LinkedIn profile

NED, and chairman, executive and business coach specialising in full value-based impact innovation programmes for enterprises and organisations.

Founding partner of 50th Generation – one of the UK's first Social Business Generational Accelerators – 2014-2018

Credited for supporting the development of the NHS's first Sustainable Development Vision and Strategy programme.

Coached Fellows on the Cambridge University, Programme for Sustainable Development,

Coached Fellows and Lectured for the Cambridge University, Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning - Social Enterprise

VP and director of strategy, marketing strategy and business development for several global IT, media and telecoms companies.

Alan Casey

LinkedIn profile

Alan is a specialist in technology – business process integration. He will lead the investigation into the needs of the use cases, their interpretation in technical scopes of work and the drafting of the resultant whitepaper.

Manager of a sovereign national grid control centre during a period of technological and cultural change.

Founder and consultant in an organisational effectiveness measurement system deployed into a global advertising and marketing communications network.

Founder of a conversational AI company creating systems that evaluate and improve competence in key organisational skills.

Member of the Edify Community.

Fellow of the RSA.

Jude Ugwuegbulam

LinkedIn profile

Jude help’s Coaches & Consultants digitise their customer journey and turn strategic ideas into business assets. Resulting in more leads, more sales and automated support. Helps Professional Practices (HR, Legal and Dental) struggling to implement and manage their data protection/GDPR compliance to gain clarity, control and, accountability.

Mark Constable

LinkedIn profile

25 years+ working in small business as a Leader, Founder, consultant and coach - Supporting impact focused business leaders in building future fit organisations

Proven track record of helping clients in building high value, high performing organisations focused equally on both wealth and wellbeing.

Relevant Experience:

Development and delivery of high impact leadership programmes for fast growth businesses.

Launched a business line providing specialised business development training to bid management and sales teams globally.

Member of the Edify Community.

We are presenting multiple proposals in this fund as well as in previous funds here is an explanation of the workload management.

we are part of a catalyst entity called EdifyColabs. This is formed of other catalyst members where appropriate. And it. is backed by our off-chain business Edify Business Ltd - website link enclosed. As such we have a direct team of 5 staff - all of which are working to deliver our Catalyst proposals as appropriate. we currently have 5 funded proposals running across F7 and F8 all of which are weekly programmes in our core delivery space of consultancy coaching and use case design and delivery.

Primary Partners

WADA

Advisory Team

Paul Farmiloe – former client, business and blockchain experience, trainee stonemason, VP Formerly VP responsible for BT's blockchain development and DLT programme.

Dr Julie King – client, educationalist, Head of Centre for Academic English, Imperial College London.

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Yes, to continue the roll out of the programme

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

We will have a dedicated project manager. The project will have key metrics.

·      Number of applications received onto Accelerator programme

·      Number of successful applications

·      Number of participants starting the programme

·      Number of participants completing the programme

·      Number of Alumni from MVP engaged with new Cohort

·      Number of Tech, Busn, social dev's engaged with the hubs - following Community Hub Accelerator programme

These metrics will be measured on an ongoing basis throughout the project and will then be summarised in the end of project report, along with the end of project debriefs with participants.

Similarly, we will be running weekly project management meetings to assess progress against the milestone plan, alongside regular Catalyst meetings with coordinators to update on progress and where support might be necessary.

Public Update Channel: we will use our Twitter channel: @edifycolabs for updates on project progress

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

A tooled-up Community Hub focused on being a Social Impact Organisation. That is not afraid to become self-sufficient in both receiving and generating revenue - so that they can do their part in scaling down the need for support from Catalyst whilst also scaling up the ability to support their communities.

A hub that can support the catalyst network by actively growing both its membership and its members' capabilities - by acting as an innovation and education hub.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is a continuation of the F7 Accelerator and un-funded F7 WADA accelerator

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

SDG goals:

End poverty in all its forms everywhere

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Reduce inequality within and among countries

SDG subgoals:

Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

Universal Human Rights Index (UHRI):

#proposertoolsdg