Mwenzi Capital is a groundbreaking concept from Conservation Capital that has the potential to positively affect Africa’s natural capital, nature-based businesses and foster greater levels of social equity at a local community level.

Innovation is key to unlocking solutions that will positively affect the future of Earth’s natural capital. Innovation has always been at the core of Conservation Capital’s work. Our latest project is a not-for-profit finance mechanism, Mwenzi Capital, which aims to democratise the ownership of high-value conservation enterprises through a blended finance mechanism.

Traditionally, donor funds are used to support new social enterprises which are expensive, risky, and often have long pathways to profitability and related impact. Mwenzi Capital will instead use a grant-capitalised fund to invest in proven going concern businesses that are significantly de-risked and capable of unlocking immediate returns for targeted beneficiaries. It will do this by helping carefully selected portfolio businesses establish and value specially structured Nature Stewardship Bonds (NSBs) for which Mwenzi Capital will then subscribe on behalf of relevant local communities and/or conservation organisations. These NSBs will link royalty-based returns to revenue creating a direct link for the beneficiary between these financial benefits and the health of the underlying natural assets upon which these assets are based – creating a positively reaffirming strategic cycle.

Founder and Partner at Conservation Capital, Giles Davies, says “We are delighted that our concept has been chosen as a finalist and look forward to working with the CFA to bring Mwenzi Capital to market later in 2022 as part of our Innovative Conservation Finance programme.”

Following an initial award in 2021 from Impactio (a ConsenSys and WWF Panda Labs platform), we are delighted that Mwenzi Capital has also been selected as one of seven finalists (from 73 applications) for the Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) 2022 Incubator programme. Five of the seven finalists will receive a grant of $20,000 USD to support their project. The programme will run over nine months and both the CFA and Conservation Capital will be sharing updates about progress. The seven incubated projects will receive mentorship, guidance and advice from a range of experts across the conservation finance arena.

Follow Conservation Capital on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest news on Mwenzi Captial.

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PR Contact – Alexandre Cassini: a.cassini@conservation-capital.com for further details