Kickstarting businesses and development in !!!emerging!!! markets

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Lab of Tomorrow - How

The lot programme

Find out how sustainable and profitable business models are created in lab of tomorrow programme and where you can get involved.

PHASE 0

Development challenge

A local development challenge with business potential is the starting point of any lab of tomorrow programme.

PHASE 1

Understand local needs

Unmet needs of the local population and business opportunities are discovered.

PHASE 2

Ideate solutions

Products and services that tackle unmet needs are co-created by interdisciplinary teams.

PHASE 3

Incubate business

Market-ready products and services are developed through the newly established joint ventures.

PHASE 4

Sustainable business

Impact-driven ventures owned and driven by the private sector.

Where it all begins

PHASE 0

Development challenge

A general development challenge with business potential is defined to be addressed within the lab of tomorrow programme. The roles and responsibilities of the programme partners are clearly defined.

Start a challenge

The basis of our programme

PHASE 1

Understand local needs

Unmet needs of the local population and potential business opportunities are discovered. These insights form the basis for defining sustainable business opportunities and attracting suitable companies for the lab of tomorrow programme.

Team work makes a dream work

PHASE 2

Ideate solutions

The participating companies – often supported by actors from local public sector, civil society and academia – ideate business solutions in small, interdisciplinary groups. This happens in an ‘Ideation Sprint’ – an intense 4-day workshop supported by professional facilitators that concludes with the outline of a business model.

Finetuning business models

PHASE 3

Incubate business

The participating teams enter the incubation phase to refine, test and ultimately pilot their business model in the target market. Typically, the incubation phase takes about 3-4 months and encompasses coaching for the teams by Business Design experts and might also include additional in-kind support. The incubation phase closes with a pitch in front of investors.

Impact-driven ventures

PHASE 4

Sustainable business

The results of the lab of tomorrow programme are viable ventures owned and driven by the private sector that make a strong, scaling contribution to reaching the SDGs and are independent from development corporation funding.

Ventures that are operating the market

next phase: understand target group need

next phase: ideate solutions

next phase: incubate business

next phase: sustainable business

News and stories

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News and stories

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Invest

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Start a process

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Start a process

How it works

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How it works

The lab of tomorrow

An unique tool for customized business solutions.

The mission of the lab of tomorrow (lot) process is to turn business opportunities in developing countries into profitable businesses. We are convinced that only viable businesses will have a long-term impact on sustainable development.

More Info

The lot drives business
We bring access to new markets, local expertise and business opportunities in developing countries
The lot builds relevant networks
We match businesses, non-profits and political decision makers from the EU and developing countries to co-create and co-own products
The lot creates social impact
The new products and services contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Our track record

The lab of tomorrow has been the programme of choice by GIZ projects, the Austrian and the Swiss Development Agencies as well as companies to solve specific development challenges all over the world.

Running & completed programmes

461

Companies participated

Promising Concepts

Ventures preparing market entry

Businesses active in the market

Siemens

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Fopo–Bayer

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TÜV Rheinland

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Tui

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Merck

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Boehringer Ingelheim

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Bayer

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SAP

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Roche

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Africa Works

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DHL

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ibes

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Your opportunities

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Develop  your business  in emerging markets

Start process

Solve your development
challenge

Initiate a lab of
tomorrow process to:

Generate innovative and viable business solutions addressing a challenge.
Join forces with actors from the EU and local emerging markets, from the private sector but also politics and science.
Profit from their expertise, access to markets & technologies as well as available resources.

Start process

Develop  your business  in emerging markets

Start process

Solve your development
challenge

Initiate a lab of
tomorrow process to:

Generate innovative and viable business solutions addressing a challenge.
Join forces with actors from the EU and local emerging markets, from the private sector but also politics and science.

Start process

Invest in solutions and support innovations

Start process

Solve your development
challenge

Initiate a lab of
tomorrow process to:

Generate innovative and viable business solutions addressing a challenge.

Start process

How it works

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How it works

Any questions?

Ready to invest

start a challenge How it works

Become a partner or mentor

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Become Part of our network

Ready to create impact?

Propose a challenge

Toolkit

Conducting your own lab of tomorrow process and needing the right tools?

The toolkit supports you in conducting your own lab of tomorrow process by giving you all the materials you need.

Who can participate?

Why should I participate?

How can I take part? Are there any prerequisites for participating in an lot programme?

What is the timeline of a lab of tomorrow programme?

Do I have to participate in the entire lab of tomorrow programme?

I did not take part in the Ideation Sprint. Can I still join a running programme?

Is there a participation fee? How much does the participation cost?

How can I prepare for the Ideation Sprint?

Who will I be working with during the lot programme?

Who owns the products or services that are being developed?

Who will finance the further development of the business models?

How do I become a partner of the lot?

Currently running challenges

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E-commerce | Nigeria | Transport

LOT

Intercity and last-mile transport services for people and goods in Nigeria

This challenge is in phase: Sustainable Business

How might we improve intercity and last-mile transport services for people and goods in Nigeria?

The transport and e-commerce sectors are crucial for economic and social development in Nigeria, and they are currently booming. As of today, intercity transport services in Nigeria have been dominated by private operators. Informal and demand-driven para transit services consisting of minibuses, shared taxis, motorized three-wheelers, and motorcycle taxi are predominant in urban transport. The  17th lab aims to improve the transport of passengers and goods with a focus on digital trade.

Partners

01

Understand

Nigeria's e-commerce and online trading market is worth about 13 billion USD today and is expected to rise to 50 billion USD in the next 10 years. Also, the logistics sector has witnesses significant growth with a rise of 140 million USD from 2017 to over 696 million USD in 2018. Both are essential ingredients to enhanced productivity. Transport services, as the backbone of economic growth, must adopt intelligent technologies to meet customer needs. Modern transport services in Nigeria are predominantly demand driven and informal, operated by private operators. Urban transport therefore consists mainly of para transit services such as minibuses, shared taxis, motorised tricycles and motorcycle taxis. These services are characterised by poor fleet quality, inefficiency, low profitability, under-investment, and negative effects on the environment. Another issue is the lack of transparency, which makes the development of business relations difficult.

The lab of tomorrow #17 aims to tackle these challenges at the intersection of the transport of passengers and goods, with a focus on digital trade. Specifically, e-commerce would profit from alternative means of delivery, more security in payment systems, and stronger cooperation between the e-commerce service providers and delivery services. These tasks require tailor-made solutions which can be provided by the private sector. There is great potential for business development, i.e., in the areas of platform solutions, insurance or logistics, which in turn create employment opportunities, support recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and tackle development barriers.

Business Opportunities

Better coordination between intercity and last mile delivery

Safe delivery of perishables

Increased efficiency in transportation services

Information on transportation options

Trust in payments and returns

02

Ideate Solutions

During the ideation sprint in Abuja, the teams developed 5 innovative business ideas.

Participants

Companies

Ideas developed

Proven Business Models

03

Incubate business

5 ventures successfully entered the Incubation Phase.

04

Sustainable Business

moniemove

moniemove is a B2B marketplace that enables small and medium-sized logistic service providers in Nigeria to procure their supplies in bulk and hence increase their purchasing power on the market. Furthermore, moniemove’s integration of a secure payment and shipment tracking system allows for a seamless operation of the marketplace as well as high customer satisfaction.

efotainer

efotainer (efo meaning vegetables) is a mobile solar-powered refrigeration device, which enables continuous cooling in the process of transporting perishable goods from farm gates to the final destination. Following the motto “Mobile cooling at its best”, this new tool guarantees freshness and a prolonged shelf-life of the produce while at the same time, through real-time monitoring, providing data on the location of the transported goods.

Cargolink

Following the motto “More opportunities, Better deliveries”, Cargolink is a digital platform where trusted logistics operators can seamlessly partner on nationwide shipment. The platform connects intercity delivery providers with last-mile carriers to close that gap in the last-mile infrastructure and to enable more efficient shipments.

Shapp

Shapp Delivery Management is a delivery management platform that helps e-commerce vendors and delivery companies to solve this miscommunication between package sender, delivery company and rider. The platform hence enables e-commerce vendors to increase their transparency and reliability which optimizes their operations, upgrades the customer experience and maximizes revenues.

TradeTracka

TradeTracka is a review and rating platform that helps building trust between online shoppers and businesses, using artificial intelligence. The platform entails a price comparison tool and aggregates reviews from multiple platforms.