In this section, we will update you with announcements from the ecosystem of inclusive business, pre-selected according to their relevance for inclusive business ventures.
MyJouleBox, a Benin-anchored African solar distributor and operator, has raised €3 million ($3.5 million) Series A round to deepen its presence in its home market and accelerate its expansion in Burkina Faso, Senegal and Togo. EDFI ElectriFI, an impact investment facility funded by the European Union, invested €1.5 million of the total. This is split into €500,000 as equity alongside Gaia Impact Fund and €1 million as convertible notes together with Hivos-Triodos Fund.
The Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security (MAIFS) requested FAO, through the Secretariat of Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG-Tea), Markets and Trade Division, to support the development of an inclusive business model for a thriving and sustainable tea sector in Mauritius.
Is your business working to address a social or environmental challenge in Nigeria? Are you trying to raise capital to scale your business? If yes, apply for the 2021 Impact Investors Foundation (IIF) Annual Deal Summit and Impact Amplifier’s Investment Readiness Accelerator, funded by the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN).
In partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the ANDE Gender-Smart Capacity Building Facility will award five grants of up to USD $30,000 for pre-investment, gender-smart capacity building services to joint teams of one investor and 1-3 SGBs in India, Brazil, or the East and Southeast Asia, Andean, or Eastern African regions. Apply by August 18, 2021.
The ILFF Funding Window Eastern and Southern Africa (ILFF ESA) aims to provide impact-linked funding to impact enterprises, thus enabling them to scale in both economic and impact terms. Applications are open until July 16, 2021.
The Social & Inclusive Business Camp is an acceleration and capacity building programme dedicated to entrepreneurs with an impact project on the African continent and with a desire to scale up. Application deadline: July 3, 2021.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority have launched the second edition of the Coffee Innovation Fund (CIF) for the year 2021. The fund, active in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, has awarded up to 2.53 million Birr in investment and technical assistance to innovative companies fostering fairer value distribution in the supply chain.
President Rodrigo Duterte will soon have the power to grant hefty fiscal perks to elephant-sized investments. He can exercise his power as long as the incoming project has “a comprehensive sustainable development plan with clear inclusive business approaches, and high level of sophistication and innovation.”
Impact investment firm Goodwell Investments has launched a new EUR50 million (US$60 million) fund that will channel capital from private investors, family offices and foundations to fast-growing, scalable small and medium-sized companies.
The Department of Agriculture signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the US-ASEAN Business Council to strengthen partnership on livestock production and animal health, agricultural trading and investment, plant science, agricultural technology, and digital agriculture, food safety, and inclusive business and sustainability through training of officials and personnel, extending assistance and expertise of member companies to provide technical support to DA, and joint research initiatives.