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0 NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, Roger A. Agana, https://www.newsghana.com.gh/unilever-uk-and-ey-release-africa-impact-partnership-playbook/Unilever, the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and EY have published a practical guide to designing effective public-private partnerships, drawing on more than a decade of experience from an impact accelerator that reached over 20 million people across Africa and Asia.
The playbook, titled How to Collaborate for Impact, marks the conclusion of TRANSFORM, an initiative established in 2015 that supported more than 160 enterprise and research projects across 19 countries. The programme is closing in 2026 as planned, having exceeded its original targets by a third.
The resource is published as an open guide for policymakers, businesses and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) navigating constrained budgets and rising demand for development solutions. It covers partnership design, enterprise support, supply chain integration and the role of local leadership in selecting and backing impact businesses.
One of the playbook’s most significant findings concerns how enterprises are selected. When TRANSFORM used local panels to identify and choose companies for support, 88 percent of those selected had at least one local founder. That figure fell to 53 percent when global selection processes were used, suggesting that locally rooted decision-making consistently produces more embedded and sustainable outcomes.
“TRANSFORM shows what becomes possible when we combine public and private sector strengths,” said Gillian Hinde, EY Global Corporate Responsibility Leader.
The playbook also identifies three conditions that most reliably help impact enterprises scale. Flexible grant funding combined with tailored business support moves companies faster than capital alone. Supply chain integration works best when programmes invest time in enterprise readiness and allow for proof-of-concept testing before pushing for large contracts. And strong partnerships are built earliest when partners align on a shared purpose and establish governance that balances accountability with flexibility.
Concrete results from the programme illustrate the scale of what was achieved. In Africa, TRANSFORM supported Kasha, a confidential e-commerce platform for essential goods and health products, to reach over 97,000 customers and build a network of more than 3,000 agents, 57 percent of whom are women. In India, Atypical Advantage trained over 1,200 candidates with disabilities, placing 418 into employment across fast-moving consumer goods, automotive and semiconductor sectors.
David Woolnough, Deputy Director Research, Tech and Innovation at the FCDO, said the programme demonstrated that long-term cross-sector collaboration can change millions of lives in ways no single partner could achieve alone. The playbook was launched at the FCDO Global Partnership Conference held on May 19 and 20, through a side event on local leadership. The full resource is available at transform.global.
NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, Roger A. Agana, https://www.newsghana.com.gh/unilever-uk-and-ey-release-africa-impact-partnership-playbook/
