A social impact accelerator for the entrepreneurs
Grindstone Impact is an accelerator that supports startups and companies that have a focus on social impact, ESG, SDG, gender, or any other purpose-driven initiative. Our programs vary in size and duration, depending on the specific requirements and sponsors. Our aim is to empower these organisations to make a positive impact on society.
Grindstone Impact is intended for promising social impact companies.
Grindstone Impact is tailored to promising social impact companies that:
- Focus on one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - a series of interconnected goals that aim to create a sustainable world.
- Consider their company's impact on its employees, customers, and the community they operate in, with Environmental, Social and Governance standards (ESGs).
- Have a primary focus on gender or inclusivity.
- Leverage technology to develop better solutions.
- Want to join a collaborative, supportive community of impact partners and investors.
The Grindstone Impact accelerator teaches impact startups and scaleups to develop sustainable business models. Through workshops, mentorships, access to markets, networks, and financing, we provide the tools and strategies for startups and scaleups to manage their social and environmental goals and amplify their reach.
We're proud that we create lasting impact through responsible investment, with a focus on social responsibility, care for the environment and ensuring sound governance for the future. By collectively empowering an ecosystem of entrepreneurs to reach their SDG, ESG, and impact goals, we can make a big difference.
Our first impact cohort, Grindstone X, focuses on promoting gender equality.
GrindstoneX is a social impact accelerator program that started in early 2023 to help female entrepreneurs in South Africa. It aims to create more job opportunities for women by choosing ten female-led startups each year to join Grindstone's 12-month growth engineering program. Naspers Labs, the youth development arm of Naspers, provides funding and support for the program. The program's interventions are tailored to make women-led startups more investible, scalable, and ready for exit. These interventions include assessments, analyses, and targeted support in areas such as business strategy, go-to-market planning, funding readiness, networking, and expert business coaching. The coaching is provided by Grindstone alumni companies who have successfully scaled or exited their businesses and includes mentorship and advice.
A closer look at Grindstone’s own Impact and ESG Goals:
IMPACT
We help entrepreneurs grow their businesses responsibly by providing capital and effective portfolio management. Our focus is on creating jobs to alleviate poverty, and our past Accelerator programs have resulted in 31 jobs on average and a 50% revenue increase for participating SMEs. We're proud to have increased the percentage of female founders in our cohorts to 50% and will launch our first 100% female-founded Grindstone X cohort in 2023.
GOVERNANCE
Our business, investments, and processes are governed using the collective experience of our ecosystem and partners, which are our main strengths. We provide governance training and skills transfer to investees and portfolio companies to prepare them for the next funding round. Our approach is based on conscious capitalism, responsible fund management, and sustainable business growth, which guide all our actions.
SOCIAL
Our values are inclusivity, compassion, and conscious capitalism, which motivate us to support the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. Giving back to the community is important to us, and we dedicate our resources, such as funding, time, networks, and expertise, to create an ecosystem that cultivates a fair, just, and equitable future for the continent. We aim to achieve this by helping one entrepreneur at a time.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Our goal is to bring on board startups that specialize in developing solutions for environmental challenges. We actively look for companies that have strong environmental initiatives that contribute towards benefiting the natural world.
GRINDSTONE STARTUP SUCCESS STORIES
Grindstone strives to support and empower startups in our network to make a lasting impact through our acceleration programmes. When entrepreneurs join our network, they become part of a supportive community and gain access to resources that can help them overcome obstacles and tackle complex challenges related to society, government, and the environment. We aim to build a sustainable and impactful entrepreneurial ecosystem that drives progress towards a brighter future for everyone.
