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FSD Africa and Parhelion have launched an initiative to attract investment in geothermal energy in Kenya and Ethiopia by addressing high upfront drilling costs and risks. The programme introduces a Geothermal Risk Transfer facility to mitigate the risk of unviable wells and a training programme to build the capacity of local insurers in risk assessment and parametric insurance. Ten leading insurers have participated in the training, with GA Insurance planning to launch a geothermal risk insurance product within one to two years. The initiative aims to increase geothermal production by 500% in Ethiopia and 20% in Kenya, potentially creating 2,600 jobs and providing electricity to 5.25 million people.

EcoBodaa is a Kenyan tech startup developing electric motorcycles tailored for the local market to replace petrol-powered bikes. Supported by Persistent Energy, the company has developed bikes with localized battery configurations and GPS systems, achieving maintenance costs up to 80% lower than petrol alternatives. While the company has struggled to recruit women as riders, it has appointed five women to leadership roles. EcoBodaa utilizes a rent-to-own model and an energy micropayment system to improve financial accessibility, and it is now 90% ready for scaling after selling 37 units.

The Financial Inclusion for Refugees (FI4R) project, launched in 2019 by FSD Africa, FSD Uganda, and Access to Finance Rwanda, aims to provide financial services to forcibly displaced people (FDPs). In Uganda, the project supported Equity Bank Uganda Limited, Vision Fund Uganda, and the Rural Finance Initiative, resulting in over 93,300 households registering on a digital platform and 65,484 households receiving digital payments. In Rwanda, Equity Bank Rwanda opened 57,000 accounts for refugees. The project has helped overcome barriers such as insufficient documentation and lack of financial history, with updated regulations now allowing over 600,000 refugees with attestation letters to access mobile-enabled services in Uganda.

The BimaLab accelerator, supported by FSD Africa and the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Kenya, provides training, mentorship, and policy advocacy to insurTech innovators in Africa. The program helped KaroPay, a Kenyan tech company, transition from a credit-focused model to one that integrates microinsurance with education savings. Specifically, KaroPay developed 'M-Soma', a savings product allowing parents to save for school fees while building a credit score for overdrafts, including a free life insurance cover to ensure children's continued education in the event of a parent's death. CEO Brian Ndege reports a "huge uptake" of these microinsurance policies during pilot phases in schools.

The document details the impact of FSD Africa's BimaLab accelerator on Soso Care in Nigeria. Soso Care provides health micro-insurance to low-income earners who pay premiums using recyclable waste. Through BimaLab's non-monetary support, Soso Care optimized operations and formed strategic partnerships with entities such as AXA, AIICO, Wema Bank, and the Port Harcourt Municipal Government. The initiative also emphasizes gender equality, with women making up 70-80% of Soso Care's 600+ agents and supporting 7,000 women through income-generating opportunities.

FSD Africa's Climate Finance Training Programme aims to close the green funding gap in Africa by training policymakers, regulators, and financial professionals. The program focuses on building the skills necessary to access the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and other climate funds, specifically through the accreditation of direct access entities (DAEs). To date, the training has reached 70 officials and 31 students from 13 institutions across 11 countries. The program expects to drive a sixteen-fold increase in investments in sub-Saharan Africa, with a projected funding split of 40% from climate funds and 60% from private sector financing tools. In Ethiopia, the training targeted staff from the Ministry of Finance, the National Bank of Ethiopia, and the Ethiopia Roads Authority to foster policy change and the potential issuance of green bonds.

The partnership between FSD Africa and Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company Limited (InfraCredit) has facilitated 1.6 billion Naira in local funding for DarwayCoast, a Nigerian solar power company. This support has enabled the deployment of six solar mini-grid projects across Abia and Rivers States, which are expected to produce 541.76 kW of solar energy and connect 7,711 households by September 2023. The initiative addresses the high cost of capital for greenfield infrastructure, where local interest rates can reach 27%, and includes a focus on gender inclusion through InfraCredit's gender action plan.

The Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme aims to broaden investment in green projects to alleviate a severe energy crisis where 86 million people lack electricity. The programme supports sovereign and corporate issuances, including a demonstration green bond and a specific NGN 3 billion bond for OneWattSolar to deploy 750 off-grid solar systems. Nigeria's enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions target a 20% emission reduction, with a further 47% conditional on securing an estimated USD 177 billion in investment.

FSD Africa invested US$4.5 million into Nithio FI, an AI-driven climate finance platform that provides receivables-backed financing to off-grid solar companies. As of June 2023, Nithio had committed $26.5 million in total capital and extended $19.8 million in loan commitments across ten investments. The initiative has improved energy access for nearly 244,000 people, supported 5,636 entrepreneurs, and deployed nearly 80,000 energy systems, resulting in a reduction of 665,654 metric tons of CO2 emissions. Nithio specifically targets 'tier 3' local firms—smaller companies that have grown through bootstrapping—and utilizes a Risk Analytics Engine for credit risk assessment and gender-disaggregated impact tracking.

Persistent Energy Capital provides equity and venture-building support to small, under-resourced green companies in Sub-Saharan Africa, starting with investments as low as $50,000. To date, the fund has invested $23 million across 23 companies in 22 countries, contributing to the elimination of 1.4 million tons of CO2 and the creation of over 21,700 jobs. With support from FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi), Persistent is currently raising a US$100 million Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund to expand its reach into sectors such as agritech, circular economy, waste management, and water and sanitation.

Sand to Green, supported by the Catalyst Fund through the Catalysing Climate Resilience (CCR) Programme, uses agroforestry and solar desalination to transform deserts into productive farmland. With $100,000 in initial capital and tailored support, the firm secured $1 million in seed funding, expanded its land holdings to 30 hectares in Morocco, and grew its annual turnover from €30,000 in 2019 to over €100,000 in 2020.

SolarTaxi is a Ghanaian electric vehicle manufacturer founded in 2018 that designs, assembles, and leases low-cost solar-powered two-wheel and four-wheel vehicles. By utilizing an assembly plant in Accra with a mix of imported and local components, the company has achieved a 40% cost reduction, making its vehicles price-competitive with used foreign imports. The business has created over 100 full-time jobs and maintains a workforce where 70% are engineers, 90% of whom are women. SolarTaxi provides training through a driver academy and has secured contracts to supply solar electric buses to Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire. Its vehicles are currently used for deliveries by companies such as Jumia and Bolt in Accra.

The document details a pilot project by Wezesha Aqua Farms, supported by FSD Africa's Triggering Exponential Climate Action (TECA) initiative, to introduce cage fishing in Mwanza, Tanzania. This aquaculture approach aims to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as fish migration to deeper waters and stock declines, by allowing communities to rear fish year-round. The project utilizes a pay-as-you-use or lease model for cages costing approximately 8.5 million Tanzanian Shillings (USD 3,500), targeting the Victoria Blue Cooperative Society. Initial results show increased community interest in aquaculture investments, particularly among women.

The BimaLab accelerator programme supported the Kenyan insurtech MotiSure in refining its customer profiling and product design for bodaboda riders. This led to an expanded insurance offering covering medical expenses, income loss, disability, death, and repairs, with premiums as low as Sh10 (USD 0.06) per day. Following the programme, MotiSure grew its customer base from 4,600 to over 12,000 riders, maintaining an 85% retention rate. MotiSure aims to expand into six African countries within three years and 13 countries by the end of six years, while aspiring to eventually become a re-insurer for micro-insurers.

The 'Kit d’Outils d’Obligations Verte Afrique' is a practical guide developed by FSD Africa and the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) to support the issuance of green bonds in Africa. It outlines the structural similarities between green and conventional bonds, while detailing the specific requirements for environmental benefit allocation, transparency, and reporting. The document explains global benchmarks such as the Green Bond Principles (GBP) and the Climate Bonds Standard (CBS), and provides a step-by-step issuance process including pre-emission preparation and post-emission verification. It also highlights successful case studies from South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria to demonstrate investor demand and the role of credit guarantees in local market mobilization.

The FSD Africa and FSDAi venture finance portfolio consists of numerous funds and platforms targeting climate action, gender-lens investing, and financial inclusion across the African continent. Key climate-focused initiatives include Africa Climate Ventures, which aims to reduce 100 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030, and the Catalyst Fund, which targets 40 pre-seed climate resilience start-ups. Gender-focused funds such as Aruwa Capital and RiTA Fund I specifically address capital imbalances for female-led businesses. The portfolio also includes sector-specific vehicles for fintech (First Circle Capital), insurance (Inclusive Insurance Investment Fund), and renewable energy (Nithio, Spark Energy), utilizing a mix of equity, grants, and debt to catalyze private investment and drive sustainable economic growth.

FSD Africa co-funded the Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) from 2016 to 2021 to train digital finance professionals in low-middle income countries. The partnership established the Certified Digital Finance Practitioner (CDFP) qualification and reached over 15,000 professionals. Key achievements include the creation of 22 Communities of Practice across 20 countries and the development of 47 DFS regulations, policies, or directives.

The document outlines a scalable governance model for early-stage alternative local capital providers in Africa, distinguishing between Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) and Investment Companies (Investcos). It details three core pillars of governance—legal structures and agreements, decision-making bodies, and people, policies, and processes—and provides a phased approach from 'foundational' to 'expanded' measures as funds grow in size and complexity. The framework includes specific checklists for key documents like Limited Partnership Agreements (LPAs) and Investment Policy Manuals, while offering good practice examples from African-focused funds such as First Circle, Catalyst Fund, and Aruwa.

The Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme (NGBMDP) aimed to develop a non-sovereign green bond market in Nigeria between 2018 and 2021. The programme successfully facilitated the issuance of 4 corporate green bonds and 2 sovereign green bonds, raising a total of ₦58.51 billion in sovereign issuances and ₦32.83 billion in corporate issuances. Key achievements include the training of over 500 capital market professionals, the development of mandatory Nigeria Green Bond Guidelines by the SEC in December 2018, and the certification of local verifiers such as Rubicola Consulting Limited and Agusto & Co. Limited. The programme also supported the launch of the FMDQ Green Exchange in November 2021 to improve transparency and ESG reporting. Despite these gains, the report notes that the market remains in its infancy, with a heavy reliance on public sector financing and a need for a larger pipeline of bankable green projects.

The document analyzes insurance penetration and market performance in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda, highlighting a significant risk-protection gap. In Nigeria, only 8% of 138 million adults with bank accounts and mobile phones are covered by insurance. Across the four countries, the combined insurance asset base exceeded USD 10 billion in 2016, yet investments remain predominantly short-term, and a large portion of non-life risk is transferred offshore, particularly in Nigeria (81%) and Ghana (65%).