Rwanda Green Fund, also known as FONERWA, provides financial and technical assistance to projects that will help Rwanda meet its goals of becoming a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy by 2050. The organization is focused on critical environmental issues such as biomass replacement, green-city development, sustainable transport, waste treatment, climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy and clean water. The fund has mobilized $200 million for more than forty projects over the past seven years. Its largest partner is the Rwandan government, with other contributions coming from bilateral and multilateral development partners, international environment and climate funds and private sector financing.

Its environmental focus is what distinguishes Rwanda Green Fund from other investors. “We look at return on investment beyond how traditional funds do it. We are looking at the impact on the land, the amount of land secured against erosion, agroforest coverage, the protection of water bodies, the level of CO2 avoided and, of course, the creation of green jobs,” says CEO Hubert Ribiziba. With more than 140,000 green jobs created, 21,000 hectares of land secured against erosion and 93,000 tons of CO2 gas emissions avoided, the return on investment has been substantial.

The fund supports companies of all sizes via innovation grants, credit lines and project-development grants. Innovation grants are performance-based investments where private sector companies, often startups, apply for up to $300,000 and provide 25 percent match funding. The credit line is a form of cheap funding where the fund, working with Rwanda’s Development Bank, provides financing at 11.45 percent, well below market rate. The private sector company must contribute 30 percent match funding. Project development grants are only available to public institutions and NGOs. Rwanda Green Fund is actively seeking to develop private sector innovation at the startup level and has initiated a series of engagements with local incubators and coworking spaces.

Show us you can make an impact.
We want to see how innovative a project is, how the technology will be applied and how it will have a positive environmental impact. Show us how jobs will be created, how CO2 will be reduced and so on. Make a list of your project’s impacts.

Address current environmental issues.
We look for projects that provide solutions to current and ongoing problems, such as drought, heavy flooding and an increase in malaria due to climate change. The more immediate the problem, the sooner we need to solve it.

Demonstrate value for money. 
All proposals must go through a rigorous screening process. We want evidence that your project is worth investing in.

Have a coherent business plan. 
Even the best ideas can’t move forward without a strong business plan in place. We look for a convincing climate rationale to your plan.

fonerwa.org/apply-page

Main Photo by Alex Niragira