To Succeed African Climate Statups Need more Local Patient Capital

Despite the devastating impacts of climate change on the African continent, the climate startup ecosystem remains underfunded. Compared to the fintech ecosystem, the climate startup economy is struggling. Last year, the African tech economy attracted $6.5 billion (a combination of equity and debt deals), Tech Crunch reported. Fintechs raised 39% of the total equity volume and 45% of the total debt volume. Meanwhile, Cleantech accounted for only 18%. With little funding coming into the green tech ecosystem, how sustainable is it to run a climate startup in Africa? Currently, it requires so much on the part of founders to run a climate startup. Incentives are low, government policies are not flexible, and investors are laid back. “Application of climate innovations needs to be localised and supported with government incentives, private sector patronage and partnerships,” said Chibunna Ogbonna, Co-Founder & CEO of Kiru, a Lagos-based Greentech Startup. “Ease of doing business needs to improve, a number of licenses and time of regulatory procedures need to be cut down so founders can focus on delivering solutions.” Again, the infrastructure gaps on the continent are critical problems for climate startups- from financial services to good road networks, distribution, literacy rates and security. These problems hinder the smooth pace of project execution. “

VENTURES AFRICA