Leveraging catalytic capital to transform economic systems in Africa

What does it mean for investors to develop a systems change strategy – moving beyond the typical impact investing focus on individual deals and outcomes to tackle deeper, underlying challenges? “Small Foundation has long observed an issue within the field of development. We saw impactful ideas become strong pilot schemes with the potential to support a particular area, country, or region out of poverty. However, all too often these solutions had no means of scaling, or struggled with sustainability past their initial phase. These observations helped to develop our thesis that a commercially viable business ecosystem is necessary to sustainably improve opportunities and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA),” writes the Small Foundation’s Karina Wong, reflecting on conversations during C3 Learning Labs.