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5 days ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
The investment arm of UK-based clean energy developer Octopus Energy Group, is partnering with South Africa-based Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Managers to invest in clean energy projects on the continent. Octopus is looking to raise $250 million for rooftop solar, battery storage, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and grid upgrades.
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1 week ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
Austin Mwape learned the ins and outs of banking as the deputy governor of the Bank of Zambia and chair of both Absa Bank and Stanbic Bank in the country. Now with the Zambia National Advisory Board for Impact Investment, Mwape is working with his former colleagues at the central bank to unlock financing for small businesses while building a more supportive lending ecosystem.
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1 week ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
Years-long efforts to get local funders in Africa to step up with financing for small businesses and economic development are starting to bear fruit. In Ghana, the Ci-Gaba Fund-of-Funds is nearing a first close to drive capital to small and mid-sized businesses in West Africa. “Fundraising has been good,” said Hamidiya Ismail of Savannah Impact Advisory, which manages the Ci-Gaba Fund of Funds, expressing a sentiment not often heard from fund managers in today’s market.
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1 week ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
Lagos-based Winich Farmshas built a digital marketplace connecting over 180,000 smallholder farmers, logistics partners and agricultural produce buyers like small and mid-sized factories. The startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding from the Egyptian venture capital firm DisrupTech Ventures.
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2 weeks ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
The trend toward investing in creative themes was gaining momentum among museum endowments, art collectors and wealth managers even before the US government yanked public funding for arts programs. Many art museums in the US, which hold $64 billion in their endowments, are looking to align their investment portfolios with creative sectors, which collectively make up about 10% of the US economy.
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2 weeks ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
Coral Vita, based in Freeport in the Bahamas, launched one of the world’s first land-based commercial coral farms in 2019, growing coral up to 50 times faster than in its natural environment (for background see, “New models for financing reef restoration in the Caribbean and beyond”). Now it is among the first coral restoration-focused companies to raise Series A financing.
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3 weeks ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
Each dollar invested in climate adaptation and resilience yielded more than $10 dollars in benefits over the course of a decade, according to the World Resources Institute. The nonprofit calculated the returns from 320 such investments totaling $133 billion, and found potential returns of $1.4 trillion, for an average annual return of 27%. The projects spanned Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
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3 weeks ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
The UAE’s $30 billion private climate investment fund Altérra, via its Altérra Acceleration Fund, committed €50 million ($56.3 million) to Absolute Energy, an Italian developer of small to medium-scale solar projects. American infrastructure-focused private equity firm I Squared Capital, which acquired a 95% stake in Absolute Energy in 2023, was a co-investor in the deal.
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3 weeks ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
The Nutritious Food Financing Facility is an impact-first debt fund that backs small businesses producing nutritious foods for low-income earners across Africa. The fund launched in 2023 as a joint initiative of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, or GAIN, and impact investor Incofin. Investors include the government of the Netherlands, the Eleanor Crook Foundation, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the US Agency for International Development.
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3 weeks ago | 
impactalpha.com | Lucy Ngige
Macquarie Asset Management and Dutch pension fund manager APG, together invested €300 million ($341 million) to help SkyNRG set up production facilities across the Netherlands, Sweden and the US by 2030. ABP, a Dutch pension fund for government employees that is managed by APG, provided €250 million. Macquarie, which had invested €175 million ($199.5 million) in SkyNRG via its Macquarie GIG Energy Transition Solutions Fund in late 2023, added €50 million.
