The meeting had representatives from 11 countries; Bolivia, Nicaragua, Egypt, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Denmark (B2B Secretariat) and South Africa.
The Danida B2B Programme supports the establishment of long-term, sustainable partnerships between Danish companies and companies in developing countries. The B2B Programme supports transfer of tecjnology and know-how to the local partner. By developing the private sector and using business linkages as an instrument for economic growth, the B2B Programme seeks to improve living conditions in Danida's Programme countries, Egypt and South Africa. At the coordinator’s meeting, many creative and context-specific ideas and proposals were shared in light of lessons learned and best practices to assure continuous strengthening of the development impact of the B2B Programme.To achieve a hands-on impression of different partnerships developed with support from the B2B Programme, the ICT company, Maconomy SA, gave a presentation. Furthermore, the delegates visited some of the other B2B partnerships in South Africa, namely; JessenDakile and Naturfugl/Masakhane Farming. One of the main items in the meeting was to unpack the Innovative Partnerships for Development programme guidelines (IPD), which was recently launched to replace the PPP programme. The IPD Programme has a strong focus on CSR and BoP. The manager of BoP Southern Africa; Mokhethi Moshoeshoe gave a presentation about perspectives and practical experiences with the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid in Southern Africa. This presentation enhanced the delegates’ knowledge of the concept of BoP and the current developments. See graphical presentation of B2B in South Africa on the right hand side.
