How to scale your venture in uncertain environments
The WFP Innovation Accelerator supports innovations working in some of the most difficult contexts around the world, reaching the most vulnerable populations with innovative solutions to humanitarian and development challenges. Discover the key challenges ventures in these contexts face and the unique strategies successful ventures have used to overcome them. Read the full report here.
By Katja Bouman, edited by Jackie Negro
Starting a company is always a risky business. Yet, some ventures operate in particularly unpredictable environments. Establishing a scaling strategy or following a clear growth plan can be challenging when key external factors — political, economic, or environmental — are volatile. Moreover, contextual instability leads to a scarcity of financial and human resources while the pressure to succeed increases. With these challenges in place, how do ventures still manage to scale under uncertainty?
As one of the world’s largest social impact innovation accelerators, the WFP Innovation Accelerator supports innovations to scale in the most challenging and fragile contexts worldwide. To reach the most vulnerable populations through innovation, we must recognize their unique challenges and learn to adapt to these vulnerable environments.
What is a VUCA environment?
A vulnerable, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment refers to the challenging circumstances that arise from incomplete knowledge or predictability of a situation.
VUCA environments can take many forms and evolve from many different causes. In the context of WFP operations and the innovations we support, conflict, political unrest, economic disruptions or climate volatility are frequent drivers of VUCA environments.
Challenges for innovations scaling in VUCA environments
Inconsistent stakeholders
Inconsistent stakeholders cause ventures to face fluctuating policies, frequent changes in power and varying levels of commitment. Therefore, ventures struggle to have a single reliable entity with whom they can make decisions and get buy-in to establish sustainable services.
Fragile strategy
Building a robust, long-term strategy in a VUCA environment is challenging. Traditional management approaches use strategic planning and forecasting. In VUCA environments, however, accurately predicting the future is near impossible. There is no guarantee that what worked in the past or present will continue to work. As a result, it is difficult to create a resilient strategy grounded in a deep understanding of the future.
Financial and human resource scarcity
Financial resources are often scarce in VUCA environments. Investors are often hesitant to invest in high-risk ventures. If they decide to invest, the ventures feel disproportionately high pressure to succeed. Economic instability also complicates financial planning.
Similarly, ventures may struggle to build strong, dependable teams and management due to low education levels and an outflux of well-educated individuals due to politically or economically volatile situations.
Operational vulnerability
Finally, ventures in VUCA environments have particularly insecure or unreliable operational contexts that limit their ability to service those in need. Climate volatility, inadequate infrastructure, risks due to conflict and other causes make it even harder to reach vulnerable communities, who, paradoxically, need support the most.
Successful strategies to scale in VUCA environments
Despite the unique challenges of scaling in VUCA environments, ventures still succeed. At the WFP Innovation Accelerator, we have seen what it takes for ventures to scale in uncertain environments in order to reach some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
Bleaglee and Speetar are two ventures receiving sprint support through the Humanitarian Innovation Accelerator, powered by the WFP Innovation Accelerator, the Government of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, and the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC).
Both ventures are currently scaling successfully in VUCA environments. Bleaglee, an innovative waste management solution that fights climate change by turning waste into value, operates in Cameroon, which has high climate vulnerability and political instability. Speetar, a digital health solution enabling access to health care for underserved communities, operates in Libya and faces political and economic instability.
To be successful, Bleaglee and Speetar must approach their business and operations differently, fostering a resilient, motivated team and embracing challenges and change.
Establish a dynamic business model
Successful ventures attest that volatile circumstances demand ventures to be dynamic. In place of static, multi-year strategies, ventures need to have not only a plan B but also a C, D and E. Bleaglee emphasizes their dynamic approach and readily available backup plans as key contributors to their success, giving them a stronger competitive advantage. Flexibility, adaptability and dynamism have become integral to the company’s DNA and team culture.
Place learning at the core
To establish a dynamic team, ventures must place learning at their organization’s core and cultivate a culture of curiosity and humility. The team can then be open to change and willing to learn from each other, their mistakes, the local community and even their competitors.
“You need to establish a team that doesn’t take failure personally, but stays motivated when challenges arise”
Tayma Almezogy, People and Culture Manager, Speetar
Speetar actively focuses on building a network of collaborators instead of competitors, seeking to learn from each other rather than work against each other. For example, Speetar formed with Jangala, a fellow venture in the Humanitarian Innovation Accelerator, to realize a combined project in Libya.
Adopt a localized approach
Developing a localized approach to understanding the situation, key issues and potential trends comprehensively is an essential prerequisite for a learning-focused, dynamic venture. This consists of having a local team, maintaining a physical presence on the ground, leveraging a human-centered design approach for the solution, and investing in local talent.
Speetar established a hyper-local team to build trust and engage with the community while accommodating Libya’s significant regional language and cultural differences. Similarly, Bleaglee collaborates with local lawyers in every new region of Cameroon it enters to ensure compliance with the law amid the country’s legal volatility.
Build a purpose-driven team
Intrinsically motivated and passionate teams are more resilient and better able to cope with the challenges of volatile environments. Juveline Ngum, CEO and founder of Bleaglee advises,
“Your mission and vision should be the driving force behind your venture. [..] A solid foundation will enable your venture to withstand challenges and make informed decisions”.
Likewise, Speetar attributes its success in the volatile context to its passionate team, which truly lives for the cause. In VUCA environments, things rarely go as planned. A strong, bright north star — the mission — is essential to guide and motivate the team through challenging times.
Learn more about Speetar and Bleaglee in our recent LinkedIn Live.
The way forward
VUCA environments, by their very nature, will continue to appear and change worldwide. Therefore, we must be prepared to adapt to unique contexts and better serve vulnerable communities.
Ventures scaling in VUCA contexts must adapt traditional best practices for their unique contexts. VUCA environments demand teams to be dynamic, localized, mission-driven and focused on learning. By learning from ventures succeeding under these circumstances, such as Bleaglee and Speetar, we can contextualize the existing knowledge and frameworks and build a path forward for other ventures. Only in this way can we ensure that innovation reaches those in the most unpredictable and challenging locations and supports those who need it most.
This blog is part of a larger report on scaling in VUCA environments. Read the full Scaling under uncertainty report.
Katja Bouman is an innovation ventures consultant on the WFP Innovation Accelerator SDGx team working on design processes and innovation support.
The Humanitarian Innovation Accelerator Programme, powered by the WFP Innovation Accelerator SDGx team, the Government of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, and the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC), is supporting high-impact innovative solutions that strive to solve emergency and humanitarian challenges faced by vulnerable populations and humanitarian actors.
The WFP Innovation Accelerator sources, supports and scales high-potential solutions to end hunger worldwide. We provide WFP colleagues, entrepreneurs, start-ups, companies, and non-governmental organisations with access to funding, mentorship, hands-on support, and WFP’s global operations.
Find out more about us: http://innovation.wfp.org
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