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Accelerating Climate-Health: How the Sector Can Become Africa’s Next Strategic Investment Frontier
Africa faces a growing dual challenge at the critical nexus of climate and healthcare, as countries and health systems that are already strained by chronic underinvestment must now also deal with climate-related shocks and disease burdens. As Rajat Chabba at the William Davidson Institute and Martin Slawek at Open Capital Advisors explain, without targeted investment in integrated climate-health solutions, these health systems risk becoming overwhelmed, undermining public health and climate resilience across the region. But they also argue that these pressures create a clear opportunity for investors, businesses, and public and development-sector players. They explore why climate-health presents a compelling investment case in Africa.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, Investing
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When Uncertainty Becomes Structural: Entrepreneurship Support Organisations as Ecosystem Infrastructure in a New Fiscal Reality
Over the past year, the global development sector has changed at a speed and scale that would have seemed unlikely even two years ago. According to long-time development consultants Stephen Hunt and Nelson Okwonna, as funding dries up and uncertainty becomes structural, entrepreneurship support organizations (ESOs) are increasingly providing the collective functions that were once financed, governed and sustained through donor- and publicly funded programs. They discuss the implications of this shift for ESOs and entrepreneurs, exploring what it reveals about the key needs of entrepreneurship ecosystems — and about how ESOs must evolve to meet those needs.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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The Myths and Realities of Inclusive Insurance: Lessons from the Field
Across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), insurance penetration is around 1% of GDP, compared to a global average of around 7%. According to Rehan Butt at Instaful Solutions, policymakers, donors and insurers have increasingly turned to “inclusive insurance” to reach LMIC customers — yet they often mistakenly approach it as a scaled down or charitable version of traditional insurance. He argues that inclusive insurance represents a fundamentally different business model, with distinct product design, processes, distribution and economics, and highlights some misconceptions that can cause these insurance products and programs to underperform.
- Categories
- Finance
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Designing Finance for the Realities of Youth: Applications are Open for the Newly Renamed Luxembourg Award for Inclusive Finance
Over 1.3 billion people in emerging economies are between 18 and 35, and the median age in some developing countries is in the teens or low twenties. As Sam Mendelson at e-MFP and Tim Nourse at Making Cents argue, young people represent the economic center of gravity in the Global South, yet financial systems were not designed to serve their shifting needs. They explore opportunities to unlock youth-inclusive finance — the theme of this year's Luxembourg Award for Inclusive Finance (formerly known as the European Microfinance Award).
- Categories
- Finance
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The Trade-offs in African Energy Access are Real: Why Electrification Efforts Must Prioritise Industrial Use over Household Connections
In the face of stagnating progress, a debate has emerged about whether energy access efforts in Africa should prioritize household or industrial and commercial electrification. Taiwo Odugbemi, a power sector regulation specialist and economist, pushes back on the argument that household access should take precedence over industrial uses — and the assertion that Africa can pursue both goals simultaneously. He explains why maintaining a dual focus may not be realistic, given the continent’s grid limitations and constrained public resources, and argues that African electricity policies must evolve to prioritize productive use, particularly in industrial and agro-processing hubs.
- Categories
- Energy
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The Hidden Role of ‘E-Boiling’ in Clean Cooking: How Nairobi’s Informal Settlements are Quietly Powering an Electric Transition
As policymakers and funders look for ways to bring clean cooking to Africa’s urban poor, one key reality often goes unnoticed: Electric cooking is already happening in the continent’s informal settlements, just not in the way most people think. June Lukuyu, Nathan Williams, Vongaishe Mutatu, Austine Owuor Otieno, Paul Kyoma Asiimwe and Vijay Modi share findings from their research in Nairobi, which reveal a growing use of electricity for boiling water to cook, make tea, bathe, and sterilize food and drinking water. They argue that this adoption of “e-boiling” offers an entry point for expanding electricity usage in these communities, and explore the implications for clean cooking programs.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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What Drives Corporate Philanthropy in Asia: Exploring the Region’s Unique Approach to Giving
As Asian wealth has surged in recent decades, so has the region’s corporate philanthropy. According to Gwendolyn Lim and Denise Chew at the Bridgespan Group, the 20 top Asian corporate funders alone commit an average of $3.7 billion annually to social and environmental causes. They explore the factors that are driving this trend — from Asian business culture to government CSR policies — and discuss three widely used approaches to corporate giving in Asia, as highlighted in a recent Bridgespan report.
- Categories
- Investing
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Addressing the Communications Breakdown in Global Development: How AI-Enabled Assessment Tools Can Reach Excluded Communities
Development work can only be effective if it’s based on the actual needs and lived experiences of the communities it aims to serve. But as Talía Jiménez Romero at Fortell Impact explains, in many of the remote, under-resourced areas where this work is most needed, the voices of local people are often the hardest to hear, due to barriers related to language, education, and lack of access to the internet and other technologies. She explores how AI can be leveraged to facilitate data collection and needs assessments in these multilingual and low-connectivity contexts, while complementing the work of local teams on the ground.
- Categories
- Technology
