Development Practitioners

We support the scale-up leaders that will tackle the most significant social challenges on the African continent!
Supporting a thriving economy driven by local ingenuity, we aim to create DECENT WORK and REDUCE INEQUALITY. We address the leadership ceiling scale-ups face as they grow by working with CEOs and their executive teams: we shift mindsets, provide know-how and tools and hand hold. Our three main focus areas are Strategy, Execution and Management Systems and Human Capital/People.

We seek to catalyse significant, long-term positive change by leveraging digital innovations to scale our world-class support globally.

Who We Are

We are part of Edge Growth – a group of companies that specialise is supporting venture growth. Our structure enables a tailored and holistic approach to delivering impact.

We have ~12 years’ experience as an impact-based business that exists to grow SMEs to drive purpose-aligned forms of impact. Specifically:

Dignified and fulfilling work opportunities and improved livelihoods as a means of poverty reduction
Socio-economic development as measured by the quality of life of our communities
Entrepreneurial capability

We believe that entrepreneurship can be a force for good and employment leads to poverty reduction. In Africa especially, employment is a key predictor of people’s path and progression out of poverty. Our mission recognises that employment is a leading pathway out of poverty for families.

Who Are Our People

We are a dynamic, skilled and diverse team whose shared passion is to transform the continent by growing SMEs through access to markets, funds and skills. We invest significant time in finding and retaining exceptional individuals.

Our experience covers the spectrum of commercial environments, from start-ups through to some of the world’s largest and most innovative enterprises and enables us to create tangible, actionable results with and for SMEs.

Our staff and mentors are involved in esteemed bodies including The Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellows, WEF Young Global Shapers, The Presidential Commission on the 4th Industrial Revolution.

What We Do

We help companies scale providing capacity development by working with the CEO and their Executive teams, we shift mindsets, provide know-how and tools, handhold ultimately build scalable business systems.

We currently do this by means of the 10X Accelerator – creating a tailored, customised solution for impact ventures within the context of our three main focus areas, i.e. Strategy, Execution and Management Systems and Human Capital/People.

How We Are Different

10X was born out of Edge Growth’s funders’ personal struggle to scale, plus our front row seats watching many of our venture investees to scale. Scaling up is HARD! And it is very different to starting up. The mindsets, management tools and leadership practices are almost all new, but not many Founders know that.

We have scoured the globe for the most advanced tools and techniques to Scale Up – resulting in the 12 Disciplines detailed above. The provide a number of assessments including conducting assessments, providing consulting, coaching and mentoring plus proven toolkits, we provide executive education on how to scale targeting founders scaling for the first time. This has resulted in a deep toolkit covering several media (including bootcamps, assessments, workshops, coaching, e-learning, software and a curated list of Scale Up relevant book summaries).

We are the best at what we do for the following reasons:

Seasoned support from our team of battle-tested scale up specialist
Globally cutting-edge and proven methods & tools
Unique 10X Methodology
Lasting impact
Proven track record for scaling businesses
African: Africans doing what works in Africa

Our Track Record & Results

We support innovation-led, high growth impact ventures and minority led firms in a number of geographies in a frequent, constant and ad-hoc basis. The countries where we are active include South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria and Mauritius.

We have partnered with esteemed impact organisations, including:

The Omidyar Network
The Africa List
The Allan Gray Foundation
The Alpha Code FinTech Accelerator/ Rand Merchant Holdings
The Entrepreneurs organisation

We have pioneered impact programs in South Africa, including:

A guarantee instrument, with AFD
An investment readiness programme, with USAID
An Impact Bond, with the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Our 2 primary impacts are:

Creating sustainable, dignified livelihoods to create pathways out of poverty
Addressing inequality by supporting minority entrepreneurs

Impact Investors We’ve Supported with TA

We’ve provided TA support to a number of impact ventures on the continent.

What Our Clients Have to Say

Our Impact Thesis

10X seeks to reverse the vicious cycle of poor management throughout the African continent. We aim to strengthen the quality of management through powerful technical assistance within impact ventures and create a virtuous cycle that enables companies to generate stronger returns and impact to attract top talent. This in turn strengthens impact fund performance, improves the attractiveness of impact funds, increasing the flow of impact capital and reducing poverty through creating decent livelihoods and reducing inequality.