This article is based on a conversation from Voices & Visions, a podcast produced through a partnership between Tutto Passa Agency and TechCabal, which explores the people and ideas shaping Africa’s innovation economy.
The world’s biggest climate challenge at the moment may not be raising more money, but deploying the existing capital differently.
In Africa, investors have committed $44 billion annually, up nearly 50% from a few years ago, yet founders building technologies to help farmers survive droughts, businesses reduce emissions, and communities adapt to changing weather patterns still struggle to access capital.
According to Victor Ndiege, the CEO of Kenya Climate Ventures (KCV), an impact investment manager focused on early-stage climate enterprises, their problem is not a shortage of investors but funds unwilling to finance risk on local terms.
The disconnect is exposing one of the weaknesses in Africa’s green transition. As climate adaptation becomes the top policy agenda, local fund managers argue that the financial instruments meant to support it are designed for mature markets and not small local enterprises.
