From one intermediary to another, there are considerations that are taken to ensure a select group of enterprises are excluded.

For instance, companies involved in liquor, promoting gambling or trading in tobacco business are often excluded. SGBs associated with manufacturing of products that violate human dignity with denigrating and degrading portrayals of persons; or products that are produced in support or toleration of inhumane labour conditions and child labour (in terms of violating one of the fundamental ILO core labour standards)—including the supply chain.

In some instances, these exclusionary criteria cover aspects associated to fair treatment of employees (e.g., child labour regulations), but these are often in extreme condition

1. SGBs with products/services that do harm such as Gambling, Tobacco, Unhealthy food and drink, Weapons manufacturers, Dangerous pesticides, Harmful ingredients.
2. SGB that does harm to the environment/community such as Single-use plastic manufacturing, Unsafe waste disposal, and not replacing natural materials - trees.
3. SGBs with unethical working practices such as Unfair pay for employees, Unsafe working environment, and Testing on animals
4. SGBs promoting illegal activities such as Child labour, and Tax evasion (no willingness to ever pay tax)

A formalizing growth stage SGB in the education sector during due diligence was not able to demonstrate the desire to have a safe working environment.

This resulted to discontinued engagement with the intermediary since the management lacked commitment to put in place considerations that would ensure safety of key stakeholders including employees within the enterprise.

During the due diligence, it emerged that the sole focus of the SGB was in receiving financial support from the intermediary and nothing else. Failure to demonstrate leadership and management commitment to adhere to the minimum safety criteria led to the exclusion of the enterprise.

A dynamic early-stage LPG (liquid petroleum gas) company that value employee wellbeing put in place measures to ensure safety at work, as a result, experienced positive business growth. LPG cylinder accidents are catastrophic and hazardous if mishandled as it is highly flammable and could cause a fire if ignited, therefore promotion of good safety practices in its retail is key.

To promote safety at work, the SGB management has ensured that employees are provided with the right protective gear equipment to undertake their work including necessary training on the job. The plant is also designed to appropriate standards. Other precautionary measures undertaken by the SGB include installing appropriate protection of storage vessels for the LPG to prevent fire and explosion, correct labelling of cylinders and appropriate signage of non-smoking and clearly marked emergency exits in case of fire.

As an incentive to employees, the SGB has also provided the employees with health insurance including WIBA to motivate employees continued performance. These practices have seen the business record growth, increased revenue, and employee retention

In a formalizing early-stage clothing company with 10-12 permanent and casual workers, the working environment was unsafe as the workers were working in inadequately ventilated and poorly lit environment therefore affecting productivity with reported risks of fire in the premise. The work environment also posed danger to the workers as poor lighting at work can lead to eyestrain, headaches, stress, and accidents with poor ventilation resulting to fatigue or loss of life should a fire arise. Since most workers are casual and paid according to the number of units they produce, SGBs overlook the need for providing safe working environment.

To prevent safety related risks affecting business productivity, the SGB should ensure that all windows, are kept open, clean and in the best position to allow the maximum amount of natural light and fresh air into the workplace. Other considerations include proper maintenance of machinery to reduce the level of noise or provision of earplugs, provision of protective equipment such as gloves (if interacting with chemicals and solvents such as textile dyes) and masks (in case of dust), ensure proper workstation to avoid musculoskeletal disorders as the staff deal with highly repetitive and high-speed tasks as well as procure safety equipment’s such as fire extinguishers at the place of work in case of fire.

In a venture growth stage enterprise in the agriculture sector, there is a high likelihood that employees are exposed to chemical poisoning, especially sprayed in green houses and other closed spaces. Continuous exposure to these chemicals has chronic and acute implications to their health. Provision of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and proper training for employees is key so as to prevent the level of exposure from dangerous chemicals and pesticides.

A formalizing early-stage business involved in production of soap, there were evidence of scars on employees’ hands as the SGB did not provide protective gear to employees to use whilst making the soap. Soap making involves interaction of dangerous chemical that burn one’s skin upon contact with some essential oils among other ingredients posing a health risk to employees once inhaled. SGBs making soap should wear protective clothing in order to avoid any contact with harmful substance, wear rubber gloves, goggles, and extremely thick outer wear, the SGB should also receive proper training on mixing chemicals and accurate measurement and avoid working on wood surface because of its tendency to absorb the dangerous chemicals

In a dynamic growth stage enterprise involved in the construction industry, there were risks associated with employees not having the right protective gear on site with a large proportion of construction work being undertaken by unskilled workforce.

Majority of the workforce (casuals) had not received proper training on working at height, manual handling, slips and falls among other risks increasing exposure to hazards at the construction site. Because of the nature of work, working on construction sites can be dangerous.

Particularly in the construction industry, workers need requisite PPEs, on-the-job training for unskilled workforce with inclusion of safety features in contracts between contractors and subcontractors, management teams need to perform physical examinations to determine workers’ fitness for duty and job assignment and clearly communicated signage on site. Without this, the risk of injury (and sometimes death) become imminent.

A dynamic early-stage enterprise in the food industry producing peanut butter was flagged due to emerging concerns of poor hygiene and food handling procedures. There were also concerns with the ingredient composition requiring the intermediary to bring on board a technical expert and food safety specialist to reduce the risk of food poisoning.

The expert facilitated a session on product development, improving the SGB’s products to competitive quality range. Failure in that, the SGB risked food poisoning of the target clientele which could result to closure of business or recall of product negatively affecting the reputation of the SGB. Safe food handling practices and procedures are thus implemented at every stage of the food production life cycle to curb these risks and prevent harm to consumers. The fulfilment of such specific standards allows an SGB to have a competitive edge when bidding or seeking investors in its sector.

Partners in Food Solutions, an independent non-profit organization, is working to strengthen food security, improve nutrition and increase economic development across Africa by expanding and increasing the competitiveness of the food processing sector.

They target and identify food companies and plan technical/business projects. A key step in their due diligence process is assessing if these businesses meet sector specific requirement specifically food safety requirement. All food business owners must follow food hygiene practices and systems established by food safety requirement.

Due diligence in food safety ensures that businesses within their portfolio have done everything reasonably possible to prevent food safety breaches.

According to Shona, SGBs within their portfolio are required to comply with the Uganda Occupational Safety and Health Act 2006 that set out the employer’s legal obligation to ensure the health and safety of their employees and to provide a safe workplace for their employees. The act further sets out the need to set up a safety committee when an employer has more than 20 employees. The act sets out that employees reporting any health and safety issues should not be penalized for reporting health and safety issues.

Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) has also developed different approaches, combining financing and support to serve their mission and meet the needs of African SGBs based on their maturity, size, and financing requirements. The intermediary has implemented a rigorous methodology to measure and monitor the impacts of its partner companies using ESG metrics and IFC performance standards to ensure compliance of local regulatory and international standards to de-risk investment.

A dynamic growth hospital enterprise in Nairobi during the first wave of Covid-19 hit in 2020 and the country went on lockdown. The Hospital immediately took some quick measures to keep their employees safe at work and to manage the business and keep it running:

1. The team leader took time to discuss with the intermediary on options available to him to keep the business afloat and moving. The intermediary organized various coaching conversations to establish and co-create the options available to SGB.
2. The team leader held meetings with all the heads of department in his business to discuss the options available to them in light of Covid 19 pandemic.
3. The management further held a meeting with all the staff and presented the staff with the options they were looking at and the staff agreed that it was important to make some adjustments:
   • ● First and foremost, the management assured the staff that none of them was going to be let go or sent on leave.
   • ● They were going to work in shifts to keep the numbers down, limit exposure and ensure the business is running.
   • ● The employer agreed to pick the employees from their homes and drop them back at the end of their shifts to limit exposure in public means.
   • ● The SGB got the employees PPEs and ensure maximum adherence to the guidelines issued by WHO and the government.
   • ● All staff including management would take a pay cut with those at senior levels taking higher pay cuts.
   • ● Anyone who felt they did not desire to be part of this was given a chance to leave. No one did.

The entire organization was open to making the adjustments and productivity went up. Revenue continued to flow and were among the few private entities that stayed open.

In a dynamic growth and venture enterprises in the Tech-industry, there has been a growing concern on the pressure associated with the job to innovate and with quick turn-around times. In various instances, employees become demotivated, and their productivity becomes lower. Work-related pressure is a major cause of occupational ill-health, poor productivity and human error. This means increased sickness absence, high staff turnover and poor performance in the organization and a possible increase in accidents due to human error.

A venture early-stage construction company had been facing downward growth trend. When an intermediary sought to understand why, it emerged that the employees were progressively not achieving their targets, as the management was piling up the pressure to perform. As a result, the employees grew demotivated, and unproductive. However, upon advisory and coaching, the staff were able to open channels of communication, resulting in renewed positivist culture, with teamwork, thus able to regulate the psychological discord.

A venture growth enterprise was facing low productivity among its employees, especially in the afternoon hours. The SGB’s management noted that the low productivity was associated with absenteeism or lateness in the periods after lunch, and in some case slow work.

The SGB instituted an internal policy, that ensured that the employees were provided with lunch at work. The implication of the slight policy shift was a healthier and more productive work force, with reduced absenteeism and lateness.

As such, having internal policies that promote employee wellbeing, is strategic for building better systems.