Investment in nature-based solutions must double by 2025 and triple by 2030 to meet global climate change, biodiversity conservation and land restoration targets according to the UN Environment Programme’s 2022 State of Finance for Nature Report.
Private finance has an important role to play in identifying and funding initiatives that align portfolios with nature-positive investments, however, scaling-up action remains constrained by a relative scarcity of investment-ready opportunities.
The Restoration Factory aims to accelerate private investment in nature-based solutions by growing the pipeline of investment-ready sustainable land-use businesses throughout the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
By providing mentoring and business incubation support, the Restoration Factory assists entrepreneurs to develop attractive business models focused on restoring landscapes and ecosystems. The goal of the program is to support eco-preneurs to build resilient businesses that restore degraded landscapes and provide for their communities while addressing the effects of climate change.
In 2022, 47 participants with nature positive business models that demonstrate strong commercial potential were selected to participate in the Restoration Factory's cohort based in Kenya.
The eco-preneurs' businesses ranged from producing honey, organic fertilizers, herbs and essential oils to restoration-focussed commercial forestry enterprises and water irrigation businesses that restore degraded soils.
Over six months, the eco-preneurs have progressed through a tailored, step-by-step incubator experience to develop their business models. The early-stage founders were matched with experienced mentors and supported by local Entrepreneurial Support Organizations to take their promising business ideas from concept through to investment ready business plans.
Many of the eco-preneurs were drawn to the Restoration Factory for its targeted offering of building capacity and business networks.
For Damaris Nyambura of Daben Wa Miti Enterprise, which establishes sustainable forestry projects on under-utilised land, “I was interested in the Restoration Factory in Kenya because one, it aligns with my business vision, which is restoring forests and two, I learnt that I will be able to achieve skills that are going to help me in running my business effectively.”
Working closely with her mentor, Damaris has developed her business plan throughout the Restoration Factory program with the objective of increasing Daben Wa Miti Enterprise’s market share.
Samuel Helu of Segen Enterprises, a restoration-focused commercial forestry development business, was also drawn to the Restoration Factory program to build the capacity for his business to be able to scale operations.
“We needed to develop our capacity, our knowledge and skills because we were coming up with these commercially viable principles for community inclusiveness and climate resilient businesses and asked how can we develop this and how can the community see this to be something that can bring revenue to them? We wanted to reach a critical mass so of course we wanted to go beyond the village, beyond the region, because we found that this is something that can be scaled up,” said Samuel.
Through the Restoration Factory program, Samuel worked to improve Segen Enterprises’ business processes in order to find new partners and attract investors to support the business in scaling up.
Khamuye Norah is the co-founder of Gotabet Nurseries Limited, which propagates plant seedlings for macadamia and avocado trees as well as harvesting and selling macadamia nuts.
For Norah, “the reason why we were interested in joining the Restoration Factory program is because we really wanted to gain more knowledge and technical skills on how to do our business model canvas, on how to do our pitching and how to do our business plans at the end of the project. At the same time, we saw it as an opportunity for networking with other ventures who are doing similar businesses like ours.”
Norah is looking for funding to expand operations, create additional value chains, create new jobs for young people and restore forests and degraded lands.
The value of building networks was shared by Job Mumia from Asili Essential Oils, which cultivates herbs and extracts their essential oils. Asili encourages farmers to diversify their yields by planting herbs, food crops and trees concurrently.
For Job, “we joined the Restoration Factory program because we are passionate about mitigating the negative effects of climate change and we saw the program as a great avenue for us to implement our objectives and goals in achieving that, we also want to create income and restore the environment at the same time.”
Job has focused on strengthening his entrepreneurial skills, networking with similar businesses and aims to use the skills developed through the Restoration Factory program to raise funding to grow the business and restore abandoned lands.
The Restoration Factory’s 2022 programme culminated in a "Pitch Parade," where the cohort had the opportunity to pitch their business ideas at third global gathering of The Restoration Initiative (TRI) in Nairobi in front of a large audience of event delegates.
The Restoration Factory is an initiative led by the UN Environment Programme in partnership with Bridge for Billions, FAO and Partnerships for Forests and in 2022 was delivered in collaboration with local Entrepreneurial Support Organisations E4Impact Foundation and Mt Kenya Hub.
In 2023 the program has expanded to Thailand, Vietnam, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with further countries to be announced.
