COSEF Information

COSEF invests at the nexus of climate and gender in high growth and high impact sectors of agribusiness, manufacturing, renewable energy, education, tourism and hospitality, health and retail, through leveraging support of business development organizations as catalytic funders and technical assistance partners, so as to accelerate achievement of the SDGs in Africa. There is a $42 billion financing gap for female entrepreneurs in Africa. These entrepreneurs are unable to attract loans from commercial banks because they lack adequate collaterals and are thus considered risky. Also climate change is upon us, and business as usual is failing to address it, resulting into a $2.5 trillion financing gap. Green and women owned or led businesses are unable to attract financing from mainstream commercial lenders because they are considered risky. Technical assistance is equally important for these enterprises to grow and scale, and if it’s to benefit many entrepreneurs, a cost-effective delivery model should be employed. This calls for not only flexible financing for green and women owned or led businesses, but also an innovative partnership to; (i) derisk investments for private investors so as to unlock more funding and hence contribute to closing the $2.5 trillion and $42 billion financing gaps for climate and women respectively and, (ii) cost effectively grow the businesses to accelerate achievement of the SDGs. COSEF invests through climate and gender linked mezzanine and flexible debt structures to incentivize investees to achieve pre-agreed climate and gender related targets, such as (i) number of women using sustainable energy and or mobility solutions; (ii) number of women benefitting from climate smart and resilient products and technologies; (iii) number of women in formal and indirect employment; and (iv) milestones in addressing gender issues and human rights impacts within the company and among end beneficiaries.