Africa Sustainable Futures Awards Winners Announced

LONDON, Oct. 30, 2024 – The Financial Times (FT) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which houses the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, announced the winners of the inaugural Africa Sustainable Futures Awards, a major program promoting ground-breaking, long-term solutions to development challenges in Africa. 

The awards recognized innovative and financially viable projects and initiatives that provide transformative solutions to some of the biggest development issues facing the continent today. The focus in this first year was on solutions that can provide access to clean energy and digital connectivity and ensure that urban infrastructure and natural ecosystems remain resilient to climate change. The program also highlighted the importance of gender equality and inclusion in boosting development.

A total of 211 entries were received, of which 22 were short-listed across five core categories. The awards were presented at a dinner in London on Oct. 30 at the conclusion of the FT’s two-day Africa Summit, a major event bringing together African governments, businesses and finance leaders. The Summit included an Innovation Showcase, highlighting exciting new ideas that did not meet the eligibility criteria for the core categories but have the potential for transformative impact. 

Full list of winners and highly commended projects:

Financing Access to Clean Energy

Winner: Sun King securitization for “pay-as-you-go” solar business, Kenya

Highly Commended: Nithio climate fintech platform, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda

Resilient Infrastructure

Winner: Spiro Pan-African Smart Energy Ecosystem, multi-country

Highly Commended: Lagos Free Zone, Nigeria

Biodiversity and Ecosystems Protection

Winner: African Wildlife Foundation biodiversity economies initiative, multi-country

Highly Commended: Enimiro supply chain traceability for farmers, Uganda

Gender Equality and Inclusion

Winner: Arise Garment Training Centre, Benin and Togo

Highly Commended: Ladybird Logistics female driver program, Ghana

Digital Infrastructure

Winner: Intelsat satellite broadband, Burkina Faso

Overall Award: Judges’ Award for Excellence 

Winner: Sun King securitization for “pay-as-you-go” solar business, Kenya

Innovation Showcase

Judges’ Winner and Audience Winner: Bridges to Prosperity – Africa’s unmapped rivers, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia

“We were delighted by the response to these inaugural awards and the quality of the short-listed entries. It was not easy for the judges to select the winners, and their deliberations were often intense,” said David Pilling, Africa Editor of the Financial Times and co-chair of the awards judging panel.

“The Africa Sustainable Futures Awards highlight business models that integrate environmental, social, and corporate governance principles. These models prove that sustainable development is not only achievable but also financially beneficial for business,” said Ethiopis Tafara, Vice President & Chief Finance, Risk, Legal and Sustainability Officer at MIGA, and fellow judging panel co-chair.

The awards judging panel consisted of:

• David Pilling, Africa Editor, Financial Times (co-chair)
• Ethiopis Tafara, Vice President & Chief Finance, Risk, Legal and Sustainability Officer, MIGA (co-chair)
• Runa Alam, Co-founder and CEO, Development Partners International 
• Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chair, Mo Ibrahim Foundation
• Yvonne Ike, Managing Director and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa, Bank of America
• Donald Kaberuka, Chairman and Managing Partner, SouthBridge
• Yasmin Kumi, CEO and Founder, Africa Foresight Group 
• Lexi Novitske, General Partner, Norrsken22

For more details on the Africa Sustainable Futures Awards, please visit africasustainablefuturesawards.live.ft.com.      

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Initiated in 2024, the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform consolidates all guarantee products and experts from across the World Bank Group institutions at MIGA. It provides a simplified and comprehensive menu of guarantee solutions, enabling clients to select the instrument that best suits their needs. The platform streamlines processes, removes redundancies, and provides greater accessibility by de-risking investments in developing countries. Its goal is to boost the WBG’s annual guarantee issuance to $20 billion by 2030.   

For more information about the guarantee platform, please visit:https://www.worldbank.org/wbgguarantees 

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