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18 October 2016

 

Market Connect is a global centrally-managed pilot program which creates bridges between revenue-generating green ventures in developing countries and the global assets that they require to succeed.

These ventures access Market Connect services via local intermediary institutions that are part of the Market Connect program. South Africa will be the host of the Market Connect program’s first pilots. In conjunction with the World Bank, GreenCape and the Bertha Centre represent the consortium for the project, with GreenCape playing the project management role. Once pilots are tested in South Africa, Market Connect activities are planning to be deployed in other Climate Technology Programme (CTP) countries and will be available to entrepreneurs from across the a broader network

There are three pilots currently being run:

  • A matchmaking service, XBG, which links international companies to local small, green and growing businesses based in South Africa
  • An online P2P platform offering competitive working capital to green companies
  • A “fund of funds” which acts as a de-risking mechanism by investing in companies based on green metric outcomes

The matchmaking service addresses the Market Connect aim to improve business model diffusion, whereas the other two pilots (led by the Bertha Centre) addresses the aim of establishing innovative finance solutions.