Transformative Capital: The Role of Blended Finance in shaping the trajectories of gender- and climate focused Impact Funds in Sub-Saharan Africa

In this new publication, Transformative Capital – The Role of Blended Finance in Shaping the Trajectories of Gender- and Climate-Focused Impact Funds in Sub-Saharan Africa, I&P Ecosystems, in partnership with the CC Facility Learning Hub (managed by Convergence and Climate Policy Initiative) and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), provides an in-depth analysis of how blended finance shapes the trajectories of funds operating at the gender–climate nexus. 

This report stems from a growing recognition that, while blended finance has become a central feature of impact investing in the region, there remains limited evidence on how various forms of concessional capital—such as design-stage grants, concessional debt and equity, and technical assistance facilities—are deployed at the gender–climate nexus and how they shape the trajectories of impact funds over time. 

Over the course of the study, the research team combined quantitative and qualitative methods, analysing a unique database of 46 gender- and climate-focused funds and conducting more than 30 interviews with fund managers and investors, complemented by three in-depth fund case studies of Persistent, Spark+ Africa Fund and Araf. 

This report constitutes an important step toward more effective structuring of blended finance at the gender–climate nexus. It identifies which concessional instruments are most relevant for different fund profiles, and under which conditions they are most effective, offering concrete guidance for both fund investors and fund managers across our ecosystems on how to design concessional tools to best support funds at various stages of their growth. 

We extend special thanks to Peter George (Spark+ Africa Fund), Wairimu Karanga (Persistent Energy Capital) and Tamer El-Raghy (Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund) for their active involvement in the research and for their willingness to share data, key learnings and strategies with us for the purposes of this study. 

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