Innovation

Bolstering climate-focused innovations in Africa

The Africa ClimAccelerator is a collaboration between the Stichting Climate-KIC International Foundation, funded by the German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH (‘GIZ’) exclusively on behalf of and for the account of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (‘BMZ’), and implemented by GrowthAfrica and Carbon Trust. Together we are working towards strengthening climate-focused innovation ecosystems of African countries by providing necessary support to early-stage business with the potential to contribute to decarbonized development.

GrowthAfrica strategically grows and accelerates impactful African growth businesses which innovatively contribute to Africa’s social and economic progress. We are the business growth partners for African entrepreneurs and SMEs. We develop and deliver locally contextualized business acceleration and growth programmes and activities for ambitious, innovative and scalable African post-revenue startups and SMEs. 

Founded in 2002 in Kenya, GrowthAfrica has developed into a leading African accelerator and entrepreneur support organisation building a Pan-African platform for the exponential growth of entrepreneurial and innovative African businesses. The organisation has been active in the enterprise development space in Africa for the past 19+ years, and by extension of GrowthAfrica’s entrepreneurial founders for over two decades.

Through a multitude of interventions, GrowthAfrica’s sector-agnostic approach has allowed the organisation to accumulate a wealth of knowledge and insights on how businesses are effectively established and scaled. The organisation is the anchored African partner for entrepreneurs as well as local and international organisations supporting entrepreneurs.

Established in 2001, the Carbon Trust works with businesses, governments, and institutions around the world, helping them contribute to, and benefit from, a more sustainable future.

With 270 staff globally, the Carbon Trust is a pioneer in the design and delivery of cleantech acceleration in the UK and globally since 2005, having assessed over 4,000 cleantech ventures and supported more than 500 of them to grow. Our acceleration services have catalysed more than $225 million in private sector investment within a year of companies graduating from our acceleration support. Our experience draws on extensive insight and best practice from our low carbon technology and innovation programmes. We are also experts in organisational and value chain decarbonisation, having worked with over 120 corporates on setting science-based targets and net zero strategies across multiple sectors.