Greetings Agents of Impact!
🎥 Re:Construction. ImpactAlpha is on the road with our mini-documentary, “Equity and ownership.” It was great to see so many Agents of Impact last night at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC. Next up: A screening at the Boston International Film Festival, this Saturday, April 12, at 7:30pm ET. Be sure to buy your tickets. We’ll be gathering at 5:30 at the nearby Granary Tavern. Hope to see you there. We’ll buy the first round! – David Bank
In today’s Brief:
- Mapping ecosystems for regenerative agriculture financing
- Restoring grasslands for soil health and biodiversity
- Small business bonds in Nigeria
- Gender-lens strategies advance from access to agency
Featured: Regenerative Agriculture
It takes an ecosystem to finance the transition to regenerative agriculture. The adoption of regenerative techniques in agriculture presents an opportunity not only to grow healthier food, but to revitalize soil health, sequester carbon and enhance biodiversity as well. Transitioning to regenerative agriculture could unlock trillions of dollars in new business opportunities and mitigation potential. An estimated $250 billion to $430 billion is needed annually to finance the transition. “Figuring out how to unlock that value can be tricky,” FAI Farms’ Øistein Thorsen, Open Future Coalition’s Kaitlin Archambault, and WhiteLabel Impact’s Jerome Tagger and Steven Zausner write in a guest post on ImpactAlpha. Initiatives often focus on creating novel mechanisms, funds and initiatives, instead of understanding and amplifying what is already there. “There is often lots of money for the new, and little money to scale what works,” they say. A better approach? Ecosystem analysis.
- Map the landscape. Locating key players, resources and interactions within the financing landscape can identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. Are farmers struggling to access capital to adopt new practices? Do lenders lack tools to assess the long-term financial viability of regenerative systems? Are there gaps in technical assistance or market access? Is a specific type of financing needed to facilitate trade? Such analysis can avoid “misdirected efforts, missed opportunities, and ultimately, a fragmented and inefficient system,” the authors write. Ecosystem models have successfully been put to work for regenerative agriculture finance in Ukraine (before the invasion) and the Middle East and North Africa. “By mapping the landscape before designing solutions, we can ensure that every dollar invested drives meaningful change for farmers, ecosystems, and communities,” the authors write.
- Keep reading.
Grasslands regeneration is the next great nature-based solution. Grasslands, like the Great Plains in the US, are vital carbon sinks. They support soil health and water regulation, foster resilience, and provide habitat for everything from monarch butterflies to bison. Mass conversion to agriculture, unsustainable growing and grazing practices, climate change, and desertification threaten these vital ecosystems, writes Manuel Piñuela of Cultivo, a nature-based project developer. Through practices such as rotational grazing, grasslands regeneration presents an effective and durable climate solution with potential for financial returns from eco-tourism, land value appreciation, bio-based materials and ecosystem services payments. Octopus Energy, for example, partnered with Cultivo last year to deploy up to $40 million into projects that regenerate US grasslands. Says Piñuela, “A community-first, ecologically sound approach to grasslands can benefit all stakeholders while protecting and restoring delicate ecosystems and contributing to the reduction of carbon in our atmosphere.”
Dealflow: Small Business Finance
Agri-processing company AgroEknor taps Nigeria’s bond market to finance exports. Nigeria’s AgroEknor sources hibiscus, ginger and sesame from a network of 5,000 smallholder farmers, 70% of whom are women. It then processes and exports their products to Europe, Asia and North America. The company is one of an increasing number of African businesses looking to meet their growth capital needs through local funding channels. The company in February listed a five billion naira ($3.3 million) bond on the Financial Markets Dealers Quotation exchange. It has raised 1.5 billion naira so far through the issuance. “The success of this transaction underscores the confidence investors have in our vision and the resilience of Nigeria’s agricultural sector,” said AgroEknor’s Timi Oke.
- Small business bonds. AgroEknor’s bond was issued as “commercial paper,” the term for a specific type of short-term debt instrument in Nigeria that helps companies meet their working capital needs for anywhere from 15 to 270 days. Commercial paper is typically issued by “large corporations with good credit ratings and history,” including companies operating in Nigeria’s oil sector, according to the FMDQ Exchange. Oke told ImpactAlpha that for AgroEknor, commercial paper was faster, more flexible and more affordable than traditional equity or debt. “Flexibility was particularly beneficial for us given the seasonal nature of our operations and export cycles,” he said.
- Local capital. “Access to strategic local currency funding enables businesses to grow sustainably, create impact, and compete globally,” wrote the team at Aruwa Capital, a Lagos-based investment firm with an equity stake in AgroEknor (see, Agent of Impact: Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes). “AgroEknor’s achievement sets a precedent for how local financing can be leveraged to unlock the full potential of agribusiness in Africa.”
Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:
- Excelsior Energy Capital closed its second Renewable Energy Investment Fund at $1 billion, anchored by the Development Bank of Japan, to invest in solar, energy storage, wind and other energy transition projects in the US. The firm surpassed its $750 million target. (Excelsior)
- Toronto-based Adaptis, whose software helps building managers reduce energy and material use, raised $4 million in a seed round led by Building Ventures. (Financial Post)
- Insurance data analytics firm Verisk acquired Simplitium Limited, a subsidiary of Nasdaq that provides risk-modelling software for catastrophes. (Verisk)
- Tafalo in Côte d’Ivoire received a $500,000 working capital loan from Sahel Capital to train rural farmers and aggregate produce for export. (Africa Private Equity News)
- Anteris Capital, Rumbo Ventures and Water Unite Impact led a $5.7 million round for New York-based Pack2Zero, a producer of plant-based, compostable packaging for the food and beverage industry. (Wellers Impact)
- Mumbai-based Asha Ventures raised $10 million from British International Investment for its first fund to invest in early stage companies focused on climate, financial inclusion, education, job creation and healthcare solutions. (Entrepreneur)
Signals: Gender Smart
Gender-lens strategies in rural Africa advance from ‘inclusion’ to ‘agency.’ Inclusion is just the starting point for gender-lens strategies. As organizations bring more women into financial systems and economic opportunities, they are taking on the systemic issues that prevent women from having the right services, jobs and resources. In Africa’s agriculture sector, women make up as much as 80% of the labor force in some countries but are often restricted from owning land or making critical decisions. Most gender-focused efforts center on access to microfinance and job creation, observes Esther Dassanou of the Mastercard Foundation. “If [women] were given the agency and the voice, the equipment, access to land, finance and markets, they would have the ability to quickly turn this industry around,” she said in a discussion about “gender-transformative approaches” to Africa’s agriculture sector, hosted by Mastercard Foundation, Acumen and the Dutch nonprofit IDH. The discussion spotlighted initiatives that are pushing gender-based initiatives beyond jobs and finance toward meaningful system change.
- Personal and financial security. One approach IDH and Mastercard Foundation are testing in northern Ghana involves public-private partnerships that bring more women and youth into grain supply chains. Mastercard Foundation put $22 million into the four-year-old Grains for Growth initiative to increase women’s access to land, machinery and farm inputs. With Unilever, Twinings and Taylors of Harrogate in India, IDH targets gender-based violence as a root cause of women’s absenteeism on tea estates. The Women’s Safety Accelerator Fund is working to foster awareness of gender-based violence to support female employees at 550 tea estates in the country.
- Investor influence. Female fund managers and entrepreneurs have been frustrated by gender initiatives that focus on “training” women without addressing systemic barriers that exclude them in the first place. Acumen couples training with systemic work in its portfolio. With Nairobi-based SokoFresh, a cold-storage company, Acumen supported training for female farmers to use the technology to prevent food waste and improve earnings. It also helped the company increase women’s representation in its agent network to 40%. Having women in key procurement positions, explained Acumen’s Oscar Koome, led to “women sourcing from women, which meant that more families were directly empowered.”
- Keep reading, “Advancing gender-lens strategies in rural Africa from ‘inclusion’ to ‘agency‘,” by Lucy Ngige on ImpactAlpha.
How Pro Mujer is tapping bond markets to expand access to capital for women-owned businesses (video). Markets may be rattled, but Carmen Correa is certain about Pro Mujer’s ability to expand financial inclusion for women-owned small businesses in Latin America. Two years ago, the 35-year-old social enterprise launched a rated “gender bond” on Argentina’s public bond market (and then a second, later that year). Pro Mujer used the low-cost capital to lend to thousands of female entrepreneurs in northern Argentina. This year Pro Mujer plans to issue a gender bond in Nicaragua, the first in Central America, followed by one in Bolivia, Correa told ImpactAlpha in a video interview at the Latin American Impact Investment Forum in Merida, Mexico.
- Low-cost capital. By developing and deploying familiar instruments such as bonds, “we will be able to give access to finance to more women, we will be able to attract more investors to Latin America, and we will be able to finance institutions such as Pro Mujer in a much more efficient manner,” said Correa, who took the helm of Pro Mujer in 2022. In June, Pro Mujer will host its annual Gender Lens Forum Latin America, or GLI, in Mexico City.
- Share this post and watch the video interview.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Neil Bose, previously with White Star Capital, joins Convergence Blended Finance as a senior associate… DC Green Bank adds Douglas Wilberding, a former director at LISC Strategic Investments, as origination senior director… ESG Global welcomes Boris Couteaux, previously with Impak Analytics, as principal… Katherine Hernandez, previously with Impactual, joins Ownership Works as a senior associate… Invenergy seeks a renewables asset management associate in Chicago… Impetus has an opening or an investment manager in London.
The Population Health Management Learning Center is looking for a finance director in the San Francisco Bay Area… Also in San Francisco, Activate Global is hiring a chief development officer, and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, or CalSTRS, is looking for an associate portfolio manager for its sustainable investment and stewardship strategies… Galvanize Climate Solutions is on the hunt for an investment associate of credit and capital solutions.
I&P is recruiting a back office project manager in Madagascar… Upstart Co-Lab is launching Upstart Consults to advise foundations and other impact funders in the creative economy… The Canadian Impact Venture Investors Coalition and ImpactVC are co-launching “Impact Investor Circles,” an initiative designed to elevate impact investing practices in Canada.
👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.
Thank you for your impact!
– April 9, 2025
