Article

What a Decade of Corporate-SME Partnerships Taught Us About Scaling Impact Through Value Chains

2026-11-09 · By Grace ter Haar, Sustainability Manager, Unilever | TRANSFORM Programme

Grace ter Haar of Unilever shares five lessons from a decade of TRANSFORM on how corporate-SME partnerships can scale social and environmental impact through value chains. She highlights the importance of internal champions, clear business needs, leadership engagement, navigation support and flexible funding in helping impact enterprises become lasting commercial partners to large companies.

If we’re serious about building inclusive economies and addressing the climate and nature crises, we need impact enterprises embedded in the systems that already move goods, money and resources at scale: corporate value chains. Impact enterprises, often small and medium-sized, use commercial models to create social or environmental impact. When they become suppliers or commercial partners to multinationals, the value flows in multiple directions. Enterprises gain revenue and routes to scale, while corporates gain access to innovation, new market opportunities and more resilient supply chains. As impact enterprises grow, they can also create jobs, strengthen local economies and extend the reach of solutions to our biggest shared challenges.

Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of working on TRANSFORM, a partnership between Unilever, the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and EY, which has supported over 160 enterprise and research projects across Africa and Asia, reaching more than 21 million lives. TRANSFORM combines grant funding with tailored business support and crucially, a real pathway into Unilever’s value chain. Working with enterprises along that pathway has highlighted five conditions for successful corporate-SME integration.

1. A Dedicated Internal Connector Changes Everything

Through TRANSFORM, each enterprise was assigned a ‘Project Lead’ from Unilever. These individuals translated between the enterprise and internal teams, navigated procurement, and championed the partnership. Without them, even promising SMEs could struggle to gain traction. Corporates should invest in the capability and continuity of these connectors, making integration part of their objectives rather than depending on personal goodwill.

1. Start with a Problem the Business Needs to Solve Now

Integration works best when local teams see its relevance to current priorities. Boost, an enterprise that digitises last mile ordering and fulfilment, secured contracts across Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt because its B2B e-commerce platform addressed distribution challenges. In Indonesia and South Africa, the refill models developed by Alner and Sonke aligned with Unilever’s packaging innovation agenda.

The starting point is a clearly defined business need and an understanding of where an impact enterprise can provide a commercially viable solution. Sharing visibility of emerging priorities also gives enterprises the opportunity to anticipate future demand and build their offer accordingly.

1. The Right Leadership Engagement Accelerates Everything

In Bangladesh, senior leaders’ interest in WASH enterprise Bhumijo and Refill Bangladesh accelerated decision-making. For TrashCon in India, visible leadership support bolstered credibility with city authorities. Yet the most impactful leader isn’t always the most senior. It’s the person who actually makes the decision. Engaging them early, through a site visit or direct conversation with the entrepreneur, can move a partnership forward.

1. Hands-On Navigation Support Is a Game-Changer

Many enterprises would never have reached vendor registration or contract negotiation without active guidance. Boost described Unilever’s onboarding process as transformational for their broader ambitions, but only because someone helped them through each step.

Corporates should build this navigation guidance into partnerships from the outset through clear playbooks, orientation sessions, documented processes and access to the right internal teams. Making corporate procedures accessible to smaller enterprises can enable valuable innovations to progress.

1. Flexible Funding Enables the Pivots That Make Integration Possible

Proof points build trust. Small pilots, shared metrics and early commercial wins can move a relationship from interest to action. From there, flexible support can help enterprises take the next steps towards integration.

TRANSFORM’s willingness to adjust scopes, extend timelines and fund critical pivots helped several enterprises reach the point where integration became viable. TrashCon credited a flexible second grant for enabling a technology upgrade that positioned them for supply chain integration.

For corporate funders, this demonstrates the value of continued investment beyond proof-of-concept. Enterprises may still need investment in quality systems, technology and operational capability before they can meet corporate requirements.

The Bigger Picture: Why This Matters Now More Than Ever

Grant funding alone cannot close the gaps we face in climate adaptation, nature restoration or inclusive growth. The corporate-SME partnerships that thrive are those where both sides are willing to adapt and meet in the middle. Corporates need to invest in the internal infrastructure that makes integration viable, while SMEs bring commercial readiness and resilience. Funders also have an important role to play, providing flexible, longer-term support that gives partnerships the space to evolve. Together, these conditions can help promising collaborations develop into lasting commercial relationships that deliver impact at scale.