Findings from ANDE will support investors and entrepreneurs to enhance their market development strategies and help drive a green economy focused on the Kenyan small business sector.
Contact: Jon Purves
The Aspen Institute
Jon.Purves@aspeninstitute.org
Washington, DC, March 02, 2023 – The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) today released a new research study, with support from the IKEA Foundation, showing green entrepreneurship in Kenya across nine sectors offers a US $122.7 billion market opportunity for small businesses. Sectors covered include energy efficiency & storage, renewable energy, cleaner fuels, sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, sustainable forestry, ecotourism, sustainable transportation, water management, waste management and circular economy, green buildings, and disaster management.
While market opportunities in the renewable energy sector, sustainable agriculture and aquaculture are already known, a key insight highlighted the $54 billion market potential for waste management and circular economy sectors by 2030, with the water management sector offering over US $22 billion in potential. However, the green entrepreneurial ecosystem in Kenya remains heavily influenced by international players, with about half of support organizations, including 70% of finance providers, being headquartered outside of Kenya, so the report highlights a need for strengthening local capital provision and technical assistance as well as more focus on ecotourism and disaster management.
Access to finance remains the primary challenge across the sectors covered according to entrepreneurs and support providers interviewed for the study, particularly regarding a lack of investor confidence in business models with new technology or those that are new to the Kenyan market.
To learn more, go to:
- Building the Green Economy: Trends and Opportunities for Green Entrepreneurship in Kenya Report – the primary research study details trends in green entrepreneurship in Kenya, case studies of successful ventures, market size projections, and deep dives into specific sectors.
- Kenya Green Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Snapshot Report – a mapping tool which identified 176 organizations supporting green entrepreneurship in Kenya and examines ecosystem characteristics and gaps in support.
- Kenya Green Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Snapshot Website – a filterable directory of all 176 organizations identified in the report, as well as interactive visualizations.
About ANDE
The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) is a global network of organizations that propel entrepreneurship in developing economies. ANDE members provide critical financial, educational, and business support services to small and growing businesses (SGBs) based on the conviction that SGBs create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth, and produce environmental and social benefits.
As the leading global voice of the SGB sector, ANDE believes that SGBs are a powerful yet underleveraged tool in addressing social and environmental challenges. Since 2009, we have grown into a trusted network of more than 250 collaborative members that operate in nearly every developing economy. ANDE grows the body of knowledge, mobilizes resources, and connects the institutions that support the small business entrepreneurs who build inclusive prosperity in the developing world. ANDE is part of the Aspen Institute, a global non-profit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society.
ANDE’s East Africa chapter, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, was launched in 2012 with the aim of creating a platform that supports all stakeholders in the local SGB ecosystem through training, knowledge sharing, facilitating introductions, and fostering collaboration.
About IKEA Foundation
The IKEA Foundation is a strategic philanthropy that focuses its grant making efforts on tackling the two biggest threats to children’s futures: poverty and climate change. It currently grants more than €200 million per year to help improve family incomes and quality of life while protecting the planet from climate change. Since 2009, the IKEA Foundation has granted more than €1.5 billion to create a better future for children and their families. In 2021 the Board of the IKEA Foundation decided to make an additional €1 billion available over the next five years to accelerate the reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions.
Learn more at: www.ikeafoundation.org or by following them on LinkedIn or Twitter.
###