The paper presents the lessons learnt from the Vegetable Oil Development Project in Uganda and Mail Biocarburant S.A. in Mali in establishing mutually beneficial inclusive business models between smallholder farmers and outside investors that improve the livelihoods and tenure security of smallholder farmers and rural communities more generally. The establishment of these models has not been without challenges and sometimes the business arrangements require some form of trade-off. The success of such partnerships depends on the level of ownership, voice (governance), risk-sharing and benefit-sharing between partners. Partnerships that do not require a major transfer of land rights to investors are more desirable and socially sustainable. Any land relinquished in such deals should be done preferably on a temporary basis (e.g. through a lease agreement). Rights to land need to be recognised, taking into account legitimate occupation versus legal rights.