Our mission
Building permanent market structures for African climate finance
CGA's mission is to move climate capital beyond isolated pilots and into bank-led systems that can finance SMEs, strengthen value chains and scale across African markets.
Africa's climate finance challenge will not be solved by one-off projects. It requires permanent market structures, commercial banks with the products, capital, pipelines, reporting systems and partnerships needed to finance the businesses driving adaptation, productivity and jobs.
Our mission
To make climate finance deployable through African banking systems
Climate Gateway Africa's mission is to build the permanent market infrastructure that allows catalytic capital, commercial bank lending and value-chain demand to work together, turning climate finance into bankable SME portfolios.
Our focus is not only on mobilising capital. It is on building the systems that allow capital to move repeatedly, responsibly and commercially.
From pilots to markets
The future of climate finance is not another pilot. It is a repeatable market structure.
Africa's climate and SME finance gap cannot be closed through fragmented projects. To reach scale, climate finance must become part of the operating infrastructure of domestic financial systems.
Banks become the deployment layer
Commercial banks host the platforms, own the customer relationships and deploy finance through existing credit and SME systems.
Capital becomes structured for the real economy
Grants, guarantees, concessional capital and TA are organised around specific market constraints, not disconnected activities.
Value chains become finance channels
Agriculture, blue economy, logistics, water, energy and adaptation-linked sectors become structured pipelines for lending.
SMEs become Africa's agents of change
SMEs and value-chain actors are positioned as the businesses that drive jobs, resilience, local production and inclusive growth.
The scale of the challenge
The gap is large. The opportunity is larger.
CGA's mission is grounded in a simple reality: Africa does not only need more capital. It needs stronger deployment architecture.
$2.8T
Africa's climate finance need by 2030.
$331B
SME financing shortfall across Sub-Saharan Africa.
$42B
Credit gap facing women-owned enterprises.
These figures point to a structural opportunity: build the banking, value-chain and reporting systems that allow climate and SME finance to move at scale.
Near-term build targets
What we aim to build first
By the end of phase 1, CGA aims to prove the model through a focused set of bank-led facilities and value-chain finance opportunities in East Africa.
5
Partner banks onboarded
Work with a focused group of commercial banks ready to design, host and scale climate finance facilities.
$100M
Catalytic / DFI capital pathways
Structure capital pathways across grants, TA, guarantees, concessional funding and bank-led lending facilities.
1–2
Flagship facilities live or committed
Move priority facilities from concept into committed, pilot-ready or implementation-ready status.
3+
Priority value chains structured
Build facility logic around sectors such as coffee, agriculture, blue economy, logistics, water, energy or adaptation-linked SME finance.
500+
SMEs mapped or pipeline-qualified
Identify, segment and prepare SME and value-chain actors for potential financing through bank-led facilities.
10–20x
Catalytic capital leverage ambition
Design facilities where catalytic capital can mobilise larger volumes of private and bank-led deployment over time.
2030 ambition
A new deployment architecture for African climate finance
The long-term goal is to shift climate finance from fragmented pilots into permanent market structures owned and operated by African financial institutions.
$1B+
Climate & SME finance mobilised
Support the mobilisation of catalytic, concessional and commercial capital into bank-led facilities.
20+
Bank-led facilities designed
Help structure a portfolio of facilities across priority African markets, banks and sectors.
10+
Priority value chains financed
Support facility development where climate resilience, productivity, jobs and commercial opportunity intersect.
10K+
Climate-aligned SMEs reached
Enable finance to reach SMEs and value-chain actors driving adaptation, local production and inclusive growth.
50K+
Jobs supported or enabled
Support employment and livelihood outcomes through finance reaching productive enterprises and ecosystems.
5+
African markets activated
Build a model that can be adapted across countries, banks, sectors and capital providers.
10–20x
Leverage model demonstrated
Demonstrate how catalytic capital can unlock larger volumes of commercial and bank-led deployment when structured correctly.
By 2030
A new deployment architecture for African climate finance — owned and operated by African banks.
Value-chain priorities
Where permanent market structures can unlock real economic value
CGA focuses on value chains where climate finance, SME productivity, jobs, resilience and commercial bank opportunity intersect.
Coffee & export agriculture
Financing for producers, aggregators, processors, traceability systems, storage, logistics and export-linked SMEs.
Export earnings, value addition, traceability and working capital demand.
Blue economy
Financing for coastal SMEs, fisheries, eco-tourism, marine services, restoration-linked enterprises and circular economy models.
Livelihoods, natural capital, tourism, food systems and coastal resilience.
Water & adaptation
Financing for irrigation, water access, climate-smart farming, resilience infrastructure and adaptation-linked enterprises.
Productivity, loss reduction, resilience and long-term asset finance.
Energy & productive use
Financing for distributed energy, productive-use assets, clean cooking, cold storage and energy-enabled SMEs.
Asset finance, enterprise productivity and lower operating costs.
Logistics & green trade
Financing for cold chain, transport, storage, packaging, export systems and cleaner logistics infrastructure.
Trade efficiency, reduced losses, export readiness and supply-chain resilience.
Light manufacturing & processing
Financing for local value addition, SME processors, packaging, clean production and equipment upgrades.
Industrial productivity, import substitution, jobs and higher-margin value chains.
Commercial logic
The model must work for banks, capital providers and SMEs
Permanent market structures only last if they create commercial value. CGA designs facilities that align impact outcomes with bankable demand, risk-adjusted lending, credible reporting and repeatable capital mobilisation.
For banks
Banks gain a structured pathway to originate, deploy and report climate-aligned SME finance through existing systems.
New SME lending portfolios, improved risk-sharing, stronger DFI readiness, climate finance capability.
For capital providers
DFIs, donors and foundations gain credible bank-led channels for moving catalytic capital into the real economy.
Higher deployment confidence, stronger leverage, clearer impact reporting.
For SMEs
SMEs gain a pathway from fragmented demand to bankable participation in structured value chains.
Improved access to finance, longer tenors, better-fit products, stronger investment readiness.
For markets
Markets gain infrastructure that can support multiple facilities, sectors and capital providers over time.
Repeatable platforms, better data, stronger pipelines, lower transaction costs.
Impact logic
What we will measure as the model scales
CGA's impact logic is built around what permanent market structures make possible: more finance reaching productive SMEs, stronger value chains, better bank systems, and measurable climate and development outcomes.
Capital mobilisation
Bank system change
SME & value-chain reach
Commercial performance
Climate & development outcomes
Theory of change
From catalytic capital to permanent market structures
Inputs
Catalytic capital, DFI funding, donor grants, commercial bank balance sheets, TA and market data.
Activities
Facility design, bank readiness, capital structuring, value-chain mapping, SME pipeline, ESG/MRV, partner alignment.
Outputs
Bank-owned platforms, structured facilities, mapped pipelines, reporting systems, governance, deployment roadmaps.
Outcomes
Increased SME lending, stronger bank capacity, better data, lower transaction costs, improved risk-sharing, more private capital mobilised.
Impact
More resilient SMEs, stronger value chains, more jobs, higher productivity, improved adaptation and permanent climate finance infrastructure.
Success measures
Success means the market can keep moving after the first facility
- 01
Banks can deploy repeatedly
Climate finance is embedded into credit, risk, SME banking, treasury, sustainability and reporting systems.
- 02
Capital providers have credible channels
DFIs, donors and foundations can route capital through bank-led structures with clearer risk-sharing, reporting and implementation logic.
- 03
SMEs become more finance-ready
Africa's agents of change are better documented, aggregated, classified and prepared for lending.
- 04
Value chains become investable
Priority sectors move from fragmented opportunity to structured pipelines with bankable demand.
- 05
Market infrastructure compounds
Each facility strengthens the data, relationships, systems and confidence needed for the next one.
Help build permanent market structures for African climate finance.
If you are a bank, donor, DFI, foundation or value-chain partner seeking to move climate capital from ambition to deployment, CGA can help structure the pathway.