COVID-19 has put a strain on the systems that sustain livelihoods across Africa: The World Bank estimates that the pandemic will push an additional 30 million people in sub-Saharan African into extreme poverty. The resulting supply chain disruptions and falling incomes have also led to surges in food insecurity. As people are forced to look for food elsewhere, forests, grasslands and other ecosystems are put under increasing pressure.

Hundreds of entrepreneurs in Africa are tackling these challenges through locally led, market-driven green businesses that protect and restore farmland and forests. Restoration businesses balance profitability with social and environmental impact by sequestering carbon, combating desertification, and helping communities adapt to the effects of climate change, while securing local food systems and creating jobs in struggling rural landscapes. Investing in them is key to creating a more sustainable future.

That’s where the Land Accelerator Africa, led by World Resources Institute (WRI), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and Fledge, comes in. It is a training and mentorship program for restoration entrepreneurs that aims to build pitching, communication, financial and supply chain management skills, provide networking opportunities and boost companies’ investment readiness.

The accelerator has now worked with 104 entrepreneurs from 34 countries in total, including 78 local businesses from 27 countries for its third cohort in 2021. Each graduate is receiving a $5,000 innovation grant from African Union Development Agency-NEPAD and Embassy of Sweden in Addis Ababa to help them scale up their businesses, and a selected group of 15 leading entrepreneurs are benefiting from customized support to improve their business models and understand the realities of the funding landscape from a team of expert mentors. The program is culminating in impact days, on October 26 and 27, where they will pitch investors.

A Cohort With Significant Impact

Even prior to the Land Accelerator, this year’s cohort made massive impacts on their communities and the environment. This impact spans across the African nations that are home to businesses owned by the cohort, whose business models range from growing trees on farmland in agroforestry systems to technology solutions.

• They report their businesses have restored over 90,000 hectares of land.
• They report they grew over 11 million trees.
• They employ over 9,000 people in total.

In the past decade, development banks and the private sector have made financial commitments of more than $16 billion to restore Africa’s degraded farms, forests and other ecosystems through the AFR100 and the Great Green Wall Initiatives. It’s no wonder funders are interested — every $1 invested in land restoration can create $7-30 in economic benefits while protecting biodiversity and fighting climate change.