Apply for the 2019 Land Accelerator here. Applications are due on July 8, 2019.
There has never been a better time to invest in land restoration. Restoring degraded land has the potential to become big business. Entrepreneurs are finding new ways to make money from sustainably managed forests and farms. Some are responding to governmental incentives. Others are responding directly to the market, restoring land to generate new products and services, or to differentiate their offerings from the competition. Such enterprises are profiting by breathing new life into unproductive land.
To help with these efforts The World Resources Institute and Fledge have partnered to create The Land Accelerator, a 4-day intense program to train and mentor entrepreneurs from select African countries, including both business planning and technical lectures, and ending with a Demo Day where participants will have a chance to pitch to prospective investors.
December 3-6, 2018
Nairobi, Kenya
Seeking entrepreneurs who are working to improve the ecological function of a degraded landscape. This may include working on reforestation, sustainable forestry, climate-smart agriculture, and non-timber forest projects. The Accelerator contributes to African countries’ efforts to bring 100 million hectares of land into restoration through AFR100 and the Bonn Challenge. The application deadline for the Land Accelerator is October 19.
Travel costs will be covered for applicants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, DRC, Ghana, Tanzania, and Liberia. Companies from elsewhere in Africa are also welcome to apply. There is no fee for the program thanks to the generous support of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the US State Department. Neither is there any guaranteed investment, but some participants may be invited to future Fledge sessions in other cities.
Sign up to go to the Demo Day here. Read more about the program and the growing restoration business movement on Africa here.
See our press release for more specific information.
You can also read more about our Demo Day for Nigerien restoration entrepreneurs here.