Greetings Agents of Impact!
In today’s Brief:
- Outcomes-based approaches for workforce development
- Locally produced medical oxygen in Kenya
- How Root Capital is underwriting climate adaptation in farmer loans
Featured: Workforce Development
Innovative models for workforce development: Sharing the risks and rewards. American workers were already in a precarious situation before artificial intelligence threatened to upend old notions of work. What’s needed are “bold, innovative solutions to get more people into stable, well-paying jobs,” write Social Finance Institute’s Meg Massey and David Socolow in a guest post on ImpactAlpha. Too often, the risks land disproportionately on the shoulders of workers, who are forced to use their own limited time and money for training programs that may not lead to a better job. Last week in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell signaled a coming interest rate cut, noting rising “downside risks to employment” that could lead to “sharply higher layoffs and rising unemployment.” Leaders across the US, including some of Powell’s regional Fed colleagues, are piloting innovative ways to fund workforce development that shift risk and share responsibility. In July, the Social Finance Institute, the field-building arm of nonprofit Social Finance, collaborated with the regional Fed Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Richmond, Va., to release a new volume of “Workforce Realigned,” a collection of 21 case studies exploring how outcomes-based partnerships and innovative finance can reorient our workforce to meet the needs of workers, employers, and communities.
- Outcomes in action. The ReNEW Fund is addressing the nationwide nursing shortage with zero-interest loans to nursing students. Employer partners repay the loans, unless a nurse leaves within three years. Similarly, Google’s $100 million Career Certificate Fund offers zero-interest loans to training providers and workers from disadvantaged backgrounds to prepare them for in-demand tech jobs. Repayments are tied to successful hiring and retention, and providers offer additional support, such as career coaching and living stipends. First Step Staffing leverages philanthropic capital with fee-for-service contracts with employers to serve people who were previously incarcerated or homeless. The AARP Foundation supports small and medium-sized businesses in upskilling older low-income workers. The foundation reimburses businesses for the cost of training in exchange for a guaranteed wage increase for participating workers.
- Outcomes economy. Outcomes-based finance has been used for applications as varied as education, substance abuse recovery and financial inclusion. There’s even a marketplace for buying and selling outcomes (see, “The next step in pay-for-performance”). “In-demand sectors and relevant jobs will change, as will the specific skills needed to fulfill them,” reads the intro to “Workforce Realigned.” “More than ever, the workforce development space will need to be agile, ready to adjust and ensure workers do not gamble on a future that will soon be obsolete.”
- Keep reading, “Innovative models for workforce development: Sharing the risks and rewards,” by Meg Massey and David Socolow of the Social Finance Institute.
Dealflow: Investing in Health
AfricInvest invests $10.5 million for medical oxygen in East Africa after DFC reneges. The Covid pandemic laid bare African countries’ dire shortage of medical oxygen. In Kenya, oxygen demand more than doubled during the pandemic. Hewatele is one of a small number of local oxygen producers. Its production of 60 tons per month barely put a dent in the nearly 900 tons per month that Kenya needed in 2021, but it set the company on a growth trajectory. “Kenya is a net importer of oxygen, so we decided to raise funds to build a liquid oxygen plant that would increase our production capacity tenfold,” Hewatele’s Bernard Olayo told ImpactAlpha. Private equity firm AfricInvest invested $10.5 million for Hewatele’s newest plant, which will produce up to 20 tons of medical oxygen per day.
- Affordable oxygen. Olayo, a doctor and Harvard-trained public health specialist, first experienced the deadly impact of Kenya’s oxygen shortage while running district health services in the remote Nyanza province. He launched Hewatele in 2013 with a hub-and-spoke model for oxygen production and distribution. The company has five plants in Kenya and one in Uganda that each supply oxygen to health facilities within a 70-mile radius. “We cut the costs compared to the market price by 30% to 40%, and we want to cut it even further,” Olayo said. Hewatele’s plants serve over 400 hospitals and clinics daily, mostly in rural areas and low-income communities. Nearly three-quarters of its customers say Hewatele’s prices are more affordable than market alternatives, according to a 60 Decibels survey.
- Funding pivot. The funding from AfricInvest will help Hewatele keep plans for the plant on track after a $10 million loan commitment from the US International Development Finance Corp. failed to materialize, due to the Trump administration’s funding cuts and pauses. Last year, Hewatele was one of three recipients of a $22 million blended finance package from Unitaid, with support from Clinton Health Access Initiative, to build liquid oxygen plants in Kenya and Tanzania. Hewatele is also backed by Soros Economic Development Fund, FinnFund, the UBS-Optimus Foundation and Grand Challenges Canada.
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Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:
- Many small, resource-constrained higher education institutions are at risk of shutting down. Impact Engine invested in Core Education to help such institutions remain competitive by diversifying their revenue streams and modernizing their technology. (Impact Engine)
- Carbon credit marketplace Rubicon Carbon inked an off-take agreement with Kenyan biochar company Bio-Logical. Bio-Logical will begin producing credits for Rubicon next year, which Rubicon will sell to corporate customers looking to offset their carbon emissions (see related, “Beyond storing carbon, biochar’s co-benefits give it early customers and revenues”). (Rubicon Carbon)
- Symbiotics provided a $5 million loan to Ghana-based Complete Farmer to help smallholder farmers improve their operations and access to markets. (Symbiotics)
Podcast: Climate Adaptation
Root Capital maps its shift into climate resilience lending for smallholder farmers (podcast). Robusta coffee, once relegated to instant blends, is gaining ground with farmers, as climate change threatens yields from more preferred varieties. Farmers in Peru, Uganda and elsewhere are adding the hardy bean to their planting mix as a climate adaptation strategy, observes Elizabeth Teague of Root Capital, a nonprofit impact investor focused on the world’s smallholder farmers. “Climate change is making farming riskier and more expensive. We’re seeing that climate shifts are forcing farmers to invest more just to maintain their past yields.” Adopting climate-resilient crops, technologies and farming methods adds financial pressure to individuals who are already chronically underfunded: Smallholder farmers receive just 1% of global climate finance even though they produce the majority of local food in emerging markets and are a key driver of jobs. In a podcast interview with ImpactAlpha’s David Bank, Teague shared how Root Capital is leaning into its 26 years of lending experience to adapt its financial tools to farmers’ adaptation needs. The podcast was produced in collaboration with SOCAP and the Sorenson Impact Institute’s Money + Meaning podcast (ImpactAlpha is a media partner for SOCAP 2025).
- Responsive finance. Climate adaptation hasn’t always been core to Root Capital’s lending. Root’s strategy for reaching smallholder farmers is to lend to cooperative and mid-sized agriculture enterprises that can disburse a six-figure loan into $500 checks for individual farmers in their networks. The organization has loaned over $2 billion to more than 1,000 agricultural businesses in Africa, Asia and Latin America. “We need local partners who are there with farmers, who can understand the risks,” says Teague. With more climate threats affecting its borrower communities, Root Capital launched a Climate Resilience Roadmap to figure out how to help farmers adapt. “These communities are very much prepared to act,” Teague says, but “their ability to take on debt financing for action is honestly lower than we expected.”
- Soils, crops, communities. Since creating the roadmap in 2020, Root has provided fifty businesses with tailored “climate loans” to finance irrigation, organic fertilizer or agroforestry systems. Farmers are wary of borrowing without clear data on the returns associated with adopting climate-smart technologies, new farming methods or new crops, says Teague. The organization is developing its next five-year climate strategy built around soils, crops and community resilience. Compost may be the most “actionable solution” for improving soil health, she says. “If we want to have global food systems in the future,” adds Teague, “farmers will need to adopt new practices in order to maintain supplies in the future.”
- Keep reading and listen to, “Root Capital maps its shift into climate resilience lending for smallholder farmers,” by David Bank and Isaac Silk on ImpactAlpha.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Jess Brooks tells ImpactAlpha she will be departing from her role as investor relations director of Social Finance… CalSTRS appoints Kristy Jenkinson as senior investment director of private markets and sustainable investment and of stewardship strategies… Upaya Social Ventures is hiring a portfolio and investment analyst in Bangalore… United Eco Solutions seeks an investor relations associate in Sweden.
BlackRock is recruiting a social impact and employee engagement-focused analyst in New York… L’Oréal has an opening for a director of sustainability and social impact… Florrent is seeking a head of business development… Elemental Impact is accepting applications for funding from early-stage tech founders working on green energy, industry, food and agriculture, nature, water and transportation solutions.
👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.
Thank you for your impact!
– Aug. 25, 2025
