CATAL1.5°T Initiative ESG Training for West African Venture Capital Investors

On 18 and 19 July, twelve managers of seven pre-selected Venture Capital (VC) funds from Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire were invited to participate in the Leading in ESG training at the GIZ Teranga Hub in the Senegalese capital Dakar. The cohort of VCs were trained by VentureESG, a global non-profit working with Venture Capital funds and Limited Partners (LP) on meaningful integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles. Their 2-day training is aiming to help VCs to boost their ESG-readiness and to better include the principles into their investment decisions and due diligence processes.

The training started with the definition of ESG principles and how they differ from "impact." The key takeaway for participants was to understand that – unlike impact – ESG principles are directly tied to the core business success of start-ups. This, for example, includes ensuring data protection and compliance with labor laws. Through a case study, participants realized they were already incorporating many ESG aspects into their due diligence processes. The session therefore concluded with the introduction of tools developed by VentureESG to help them integrate ESG in a more structured manner in their future processes.

To connect like-minded entrepreneurs, investors, and other ecosystem actors,, the CATAL1.5°T Initiative and VentureESG also organized an adjunct ecosystem event with a panel discussion on the state of sustainability in VC funding in West Africa with speakers from renowned Venture Capital firms and the CATAL1.5°T West African platform: Hamada Touré (Co-Founder and Managing Partner - Joliba Capital), Khadija Ba (Senior Investment Associate – P1 Ventures), Fatou Doumbia (Digital Ecosystem Advisor West Africa – GIZ CATAL1.5°T) and Johannes Lenhard (Co-Director and moderator – VentureESG). Speakers and participants engaged in discussions about the general lack of funding exchanged on various ideas to tackle this, such as greater collaboration as an ecosystem or new approaches to financing mechanisms.

Based on the feedback of the participants, the training was a full success in bringing together a cohort of pioneering like-minded Venture Capital funds. And the collaboration continues: Each participant was invited to join VentureESG's new VC emerging markets community , dedicated to sharing ESG insights among Venture Capital funds in emerging markets with free access and a Notion Knowledge Hub. This marks a big step towards fostering an interconnected sustainable entrepreneurship- and climate innovation ecosystem in francophone West Africa.