Ten Sustainability Startups Selected to Join Village Capital and Moody’s Innovation for Ecosystem Restoration Africa 2023 Program

Nairobi, Kenya (August 22, 2023) – Village Capital, with support from Moody’s Foundation, has announced that ten sustainability startups from Africa have been selected to take part in the Innovation for Ecosystem Restoration Africa 2023 program. 

The program is designed to support entrepreneurs working to reverse the effects of climate change through the development of solutions to tackle issues such as land degradation, waste management, forest management, agricultural resilience, sustainable fisheries, and other measures that contribute to biodiversity conservation.

Village Capital will provide expert training sessions enabling the startups to refine their sustainability solutions, improve their investment readiness as they prepare to scale their startups, and access the organization's global network of investors. 

The call for applications attracted applicants from 22 countries across Africa, with the final cohort comprising ten startups sourced from Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.

As interventions for climate action advance, climate restoration is emerging as a new avenue that supports and contributes to ongoing mitigation measures aimed at reducing and reversing the effects of climate change.

Meet the ten startups selected to join the Innovation for Ecosystem Restoration Africa 2023 program. 

• Akatale On Cloud (Kampala, Uganda) turns vegetables, fruits, and slaughterhouse waste into animal feed and organic fertilizer using the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae. 
• D-Olivette Enterprise (Lagos, Nigeria) designs and sells biodigesters known as Bio-tanks that produce biogas, fertilizer and animal feed for smallholder farmers and agrarian communities to use and/or to sell for income.
• Fourth Line Limited  (Lusaka, Zambia) enables smallholder farmers to produce honey and value-added products as a sustainable source of social and economic livelihood, while protecting and restoring local forests.
• Hydroponics Gardens Masaka (Kampala, Uganda) manufactures hydroponic gardens for women and smallholder farmers in urban and rural Uganda.
• Inno-Neat Energy Solutions (Nairobi, Kenya) is an off-grid clean energy solutions provider that provides access to safe and clean drinking water through Safisolar, a solar powered water filter installed in water pumps with recyclable batteries. 
• Integrated Aerial Precision (Ojodu, Nigeria) is an agricultural drone technology and data analytics service provider, with a focus on delivering end-to-end solutions to farmers in Nigeria and across Africa.
• Octavia Carbon (Nairobi, Kenya) designs and builds Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology in Kenya to reverse climate change and end the fossil fuel age.
• Organic Fields (Kiambu, Kenya) collects biodegradable food waste and converts it through controlled composting into an organic fertilizer.
• Spek Tech (Johannesburg, South Africa) is a digital platform that connects online consumers and businesses to carbon markets while providing financing to landowners for implementing land restoration projects in semi-arid regions.
• Women in Energy Sierra Leone Limited (Freetown, Sierra Leone) empowers women, girls and youth to manufacture smart green stoves and green briquettes from recycled agricultural waste, and how to install solar energy solutions. 

From August through September 2023, the selected startups will participate in online capacity-development workshops. The curriculum is focused on helping them develop the networks and tools they need to scale their businesses and better support entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

All startups that apply to the program will be invited to join Abaca, Village Capital’s online global network. Accelerators, incubators, and organizations providing support to entrepreneurs use the platform Abaca to measure, track, and analyze startups’ progress, even at the earliest and most intangible stages.

For more information, contact Eva Waweru at Village Capital (eva.waweru@vilcap.com).

About Village Capital

Village Capital is reinventing the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Known for its groundbreaking approaches to supporting founders who are building solutions to emergent social, economic, and environmental challenges, VilCap unlocks critical social and financial capital for early-stage companies to maximize business and impact growth.

Village Capital has operated in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2012 by running over 14 accelerator programs in serving entrepreneurs in 15 countries in the region. VilCap has supported more than 120 locally-based startups and 78 entrepreneur support organizations (ESO) working in sectors such as financial health, hardware, sustainability, and the future of work. Learn more at www.vilcap.com and follow @villagecapital. 

About Moody’s Corporation 

Moody’s (NYSE: MCO) is a global integrated risk assessment firm that empowers organizations to make better decisions. Its data, analytical solutions and insights help decision-makers identify opportunities and manage the risks of doing business with others. We believe that greater transparency, more informed decisions, and fair access to information open the door to shared progress. With approximately 14,000 employees in more than 40 countries, Moody’s combines international presence with local expertise and over a century of experience in financial markets. Learn more at moodys.com/about.