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Empowering Social Business to Increase Positive Impact on Girls and Women
- Thomas Schuurmans
- Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan
- Spring Accelerator
- October 22, 2025
- Project start date: 01/01/2018 Project end date: 01/01/2018
Situation
SPRING Accelerator aimed to drive socio-economic empowerment for adolescent girls across East Africa and South Asia by supporting businesses with scalable, girl-focused solutions. Over five years, the programme impacted 2.5 million girls through 75 ventures in nine countries.
Assignment
SPRING selected Proportion to support 20 social businesses in conducting in-country design research and refining their business models to amplify positive impact on girls and women through a design sprint format.
Approach
Proportion deployed local research teams in Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan, beginning with a week-long bootcamp in Nepal. There, each business challenged its model with a gender impact lens. Guided by early assumptions, Proportion facilitated deep design research involving interviews, workshops, and prototype testing with stakeholders. A second bootcamp enabled teams to pivot or validate their strategies based on real-world insights.
Result
20 businesses emerged with sharper, field-tested strategies grounded in lived realities. Examples include onboarding farmers into rabbit farming in Nepal, improving mobile money agent models, and enhancing ICT training for women. Proportion’s role bridged global expertise with local insights to drive sustainable change.