Fund to scale up climate and nature business in Africa

A new fund to support African enterprises in attracting private investment and scale climate-adaptation solutions that benefit people and nature has been launched.

The Nectar Fund will provide grants and tailored technical assistance to African businesses developing impactful climate-adaptation and biodiversity-positive solutions, enabling them to attract the private capital needed to grow and scale.

Led by the World Wide Fund for nature (WWF), the fund is backed by a three-year 60 million Norwegian kroner (NOK) commitment from Norway through the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and Norfund.

By strengthening companies’ business models, impact measurement systems and investment readiness, the fund seeks to accelerate capital flows into landscapes that are home to communities and ecosystems on the front lines of climate change.

For businesses, the fund offers flexible grant capital and hands-on advisory support to strengthen operations, unlock additional financing and scale positive climate and nature impacts.

For investors, including development finance institutions and commercial capital providers, the fund creates a curated, de-risked pipeline of opportunities backed by WWF’s technical expertise and on-the-ground presence in key African landscapes.

Aaron Vermeulen, the Global Finance Practice Lead at WWF says the Nectar Fund builds on WWF’s existing Bankable Nature Solutions network, which has seen success in programmes such as the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD).

The new fund adds a sourcing channel that can feed into investment vehicles and WWF’s growing investor network.

By working closely with Norfund and other partners, the fund helps bridge the gap between impact-driven enterprises and the capital they need to scale.

“Across Africa, we see entrepreneurs building powerful solutions for climate resilience and nature, but too many of these businesses fall into the ‘missing middle’ too early or too risky for traditional investors. The WWF Nectar Fund is our answer to that challenge. By combining grants, technical assistance and our conservation expertise, we can help transform promising nature-positive businesses into investable opportunities and channel more capital to the people and places that need it most,” Vermeulen said.

The Nectar Fund will support at least 14 enterprises in its initial phase, with a focus on Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar.

Norad’s, Director General Gunn Jorid Roset says climate adaptation and nature protection require far more capital than public budgets alone can provide.

“Norway supports the WWF Nectar Fund because it uses grants strategically to build investment-ready businesses that can mobilise both development finance and private capital. By strengthening African enterprises and creating a credible pipeline for investors, we help unlock larger flows of capital and deliver measurable results for climate, biodiversity and communities,” Roset said.

William Nyaoke, the regional director for East Africa at Norfund, says the fund will partner with the Nectar Fund by providing investment expertise in business selection, mutual pipeline sharing and shared learning on key climate and nature themes.

“Scaling climate adaptation across our region will require mobilising significant amounts of capital, yet a persistent barrier is the shortage of investable projects. Norfund is pleased to partner with WWF and Norad to help promising African enterprises move from impact potential to scalable, investment-ready solutions that strengthen climate resilience, protect biodiversity and benefit local communities,” Nyaoke says.

Jackson Kiplagat, the chief executive officer at WWF-Kenya, says the WWF Nectar Fund is one of the innovative financing models with strong potential to unlock barriers and scale up bankable nature solutions that meaningfully benefit people and nature.

“Bankable Nature Solutions can be leveraged by all stakeholders, including businesses, to help tackle the greatest threats facing our planet, chief among them biodiversity loss and climate change,” Kiplagat says.

Norway’s ambassador to Kenya Siv Cathrine Moe says her country’s Africa Strategy is rooted in partnerships based on equality and mutual interests.

She adds that the fund reflects this commitment by backing African enterprises designing practical, home-grown solutions to climate and nature challenges.

“When we help strong local businesses unlock the financing they need to scale, we strengthen communities, protect ecosystems and support sustainable growth,” Moe says.