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Courageous Capital: How Africa Built its Own Tech Ecosystem
Africa’s tech sector has been thriving for almost three decades, during which its entrepreneurs have quietly built a self-sustaining ecosystem. And as Marsha Wulff at LoftyInc Capital explains, instead of government and charitable institutions taking the lead, it has been Africa’s own innovators who have developed its tech infrastructure and driven its commercial success. She explores how African entrepreneurs and investors have built a vibrant and resilient tech ecosystem that addresses the continent's unique needs — and taps its massive growth potential.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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Proparco Backs Early-Stage Tech Fund in Africa
The investment aims to strengthen early-stage technology financing in Francophone Africa and support startups operating in high-growth digital sectors.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: ResponsAbility Finances Robust International to Strengthen Climate-Smart Agricultural Supply Chains in Emerging Markets
The strategy is structured around three core pillars: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and sustainable production and consumption.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Global
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First Circle Lands US $4.87 Million from Cathay United to Expand Philippine SME Loans
New financing gives First Circle fresh capacity to meet rising demand for working capital, business loans, and solar finance.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- business development, lending, MSMEs
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Understanding Africa’s Broken Climate Finance System: How the Missing Layers in the Capital Stack are Holding the Market Back
Africa needs roughly $277 billion a year in climate finance to meet its 2030 climate goals. Yet as Gagandeep Bakshi at the William Davidson Institute and Santosh Singh at Intellecap explain, with annual flows of $44-50 billion, the gap is considerable — and investors are pulling back just as the need for this funding is growing. Making matters worse, they argue that the problem is not just in the numbers, since beneath these totals, there is a thin layer of capital piling into a handful of companies and countries, while missing layers in the capital stack prevent the emergence of a more balanced market. They explore how this issue is holding investors and entrepreneurs back, and propose a more effective approach.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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Press Release: IFC Anchors Highland Central Asia Fund II to Boost Private Equity and SME Financing in Central Asia
IFC is investing up to $10 million in Highland Central Asia Fund II to increase SME funding in Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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Arm-Harith Secures $76 Million First Close for Climate Transition Fund
The fund, which targets a final close of $200 million, is designed to mobilise African institutional capital and accelerate investments in energy transition and climate-resilient infrastructure projects across Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Financing the Future: How Off-Balance-Sheet Special Purpose Vehicles Could Fund Africa’s Cleantech Transition
Across Africa, founders are tackling some of the world’s most difficult development challenges with cleantech solutions that require significant capital expenditure. But according to Julia Lawson-Johns, and Amar Inamdar at KawiSafi Ventures, beneath this wave of innovation lies a capital architecture that is still too shallow to enable the scale these firms now require. They argue that off-balance-sheet financing via special-purpose vehicles could provide cleantech enterprises with an alternative means of securing upfront liquidity to finance growth, and explore how these vehicles could power Africa’s cleantech transition.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Investing, Transportation
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