Launched by the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM)’s Technical Assistance Facility (TAF), the SEE Impact Award 2025 recognizes and finances impactful, innovative, and scalable projects that enhance workforce skills, employability, and employment quality. The
award aims to empower businesses to become exemplary employers while driving sustainable development.
The 2025 edition of the Award attracted 34 applicants, each bringing forward innovative proposals, from a total of 14 funds and 3 financial institutions in SIFEM’s portfolio. The diversity of submissions, spanning sectors from agriculture and manufacturing to business process outsourcing and clean energy, also underscores the strong momentum behind impactful employment initiatives among portfolio companies of SIFEM-investee funds and financial institutions.
A particularly exciting aspect of this cohort is the geographic and thematic breadth of the applications. From pioneering efforts in South and Southeast Asia to transformative projects in North and Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, the submissions showcase how companies are embedding social impact into their core business strategies. Many applicant companies demonstrated a strong focus on empowering women and youth, integrating marginalized groups into formal employment, and leveraging technology to scale training opportunities.
Behind the scenes, an ecosystem of fund managers, financial institutions, and expert coaches has played a key role in guiding applicants through the process and helping them develop their ideas into project proposals.
Furthermore, given the important linkage of the Award theme with Switzerland’s International Cooperation Strategy (ICS) priorities and its development cooperation activities across the different countries, collaboration with Swiss Cooperation Offices across geographic
regions has been an important highlight of this initiative.
As the evaluation phase progresses, anticipation is building for the shortlist of finalists, which will be announced by mid-September 2025. The Award ceremony will be held in Zürich, Switzerland, in November 2025 where finalists will present their proposals in-person and the winners will be announced.
For more details or questions please contact the organizing team at:
_SEEImpactAward@responsability.com