The United Nations General Assembly has designated June 27 as "Micro-, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises Day" to highlight their role in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
MSMEs contribute to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
MSMEs help reduce levels of poverty through job creation and economic growth, they are key drivers of employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship for women, youth and groups in vulnerable situations.
e-Health MSMEs in Africa
E-health includes a range of products and services that integrate technology to deliver healthcare and are lucrative for MSMEs. Emerging technology products include wearable patches that can diagnose heart conditions, sensors that monitor asthma medication intake and detect poor air quality, and glucose monitors that send diabetics’ data straight to smartphones. In 2017, e-health represented one third of African start-ups. Some e-health MSME examples are:
Helium Health is a small company that originated from Nigeria, which has developed a software system for health records and hospital management. It supports hospitals and clinics in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, with a user-friendly electronic health record and hospital management system that helps client hospitals to streamline their practices, reduce waste and increase their standards of care.
Peek Vision is a Kenyan company that saw a market opportunity in the bulky, fragile and expensive equipment used for eye examinations. The firm’s mobile application and US $5 clip allows anyone with a smartphone to turn their handset into a diagnostic tool with the ophthalmological accuracy of a US $25,000 camera, able to spot conditions from cataracts to glaucoma.
Kasha is an online store that provides healthcare products to women in Africa. They include hard-to-get products, such as emergency contraceptives and condoms with a guaranteed traceability.
MSMEs deliver clean energy
Simpa Networks. Simpa Networks provides a basic, portable solar home system in an off-grid utilities model to base of the pyramid customers in India.79 The system includes a low-cost meter connected to a cloud-based software that enables Simpa to track customer usage. Customers purchase the system with an initial down payment and then select how much energy credit to purchase. A portion of this payment covers the repayment cost of the system, while the rest goes to Simpa as profit and to cover operational costs. Once fully paid (typically within two to three years), the system unlocks permanently and continues to produce electricity for the customer for free. Simpa has installed over 15,000 solar home systems in India and is rapidly growing.
MSMEs driving innovation, business examples from the UNDP SDG Accelerator Programme for MSMEs
The following highlights some of the innovative SDG solutions developed with support of the UNDP programme, SDG Accelerator for MSMEs.
Palsgaard has developed a durable anti-fog coating for industrial food packaging, which keeps food fresh for a longer time, thus helping to reduce food waste. Through its global presence, Palsgaard will market the product worldwide with a particular focus on the major packaging manufacturers in Asia and the United States.
RGS Nordic is developing a digital platform that enables carriers to optimise the use of the many trucks visiting the company’s more than 35 receiving and handling facilities in Scandinavia every day. The solution will significantly reduce the number of empty trucks and, consequently, CO2 and particle emissions. In the long term, the solution will be a best practice example of how sharing of transport data and cooperation between different industry actors can significantly reduce freight on European roads for the good of businesses, the environment and for people.
E.ON is developing a model for replacing fossil fuels in local heat production with eco-friendly and cheaper heat pumps in housing blocks, townhouses and schools. Heat production in many Danish housing associations is still based on fossil fuels like oil and gas. Moreover, a large number of the plants are outdated and not maintained after many years of wear. This results in high energy losses and unnecessary operating costs.
