By strengthening local value chains and providing small-, micro- and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) with business incubation, gap financing, and networking opportunities, the SWIO Venture Builder lays the foundations for a sustainable, inclusive blue economy that is able to attract investment from the private sector, from local and global. In particular, it provides technical advice, business development support, and bridge financing to enable small-scale businesses to thrive, unite and scale.

At the heart of the SWIO Venture Builder’s approach is an innovative model for aggregating promising sustainable blue SMMEs into a consolidated investment portfolio to reduce the risk to investors and overcome financing challenges faced by SMMEs seeking to scale.

Assessing the potential to extract economic value from a SWIO seascape’s ocean-based natural resources in a sustainable (or regenerative) and inclusive manner that is also attractive to investors is an important first step on the journey towards developing the region’s sustainable blue economy.

To date, WWF-SWIO has completed high-level assessments for all 13 WWF seascapes in the SWIO region and detailed assessments of three WWF seascapes in Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania. This involved:

• Evaluating the seascapes’ existing business models

• Identifying potential avenues for revenue that are sustainable from an ecological, social and financial perspective

• Determining what needs to be done to develop the seascapes’ portfolio of sustainable blue enterprises to investment-readiness

• Assessing the seascapes’ governance structures and the operating and policy environment in the country for local community-led enterprises.

The SWIO Venture Builder has selected five out of WWF’s 13 operational seascapes across the region – one from each WWF-SWIO country – to pilot a programme to incubate sustainable enterprises by providing further technical, business and financing support.

The aim of this work package is to develop these enterprises to the point where they can be included in the SWIO Venture Builder’s portfolio of investment-ready projects. 

Most community-led businesses are too small or too risky for mainstream finance. To enable these businesses to grow, the SWIO Venture Builder has developed a pipeline of finance mechanisms – including the village savings and loans associations that WWF has supported the development of across several seascapes – to carry them from the micro scale to private investment readiness. Where existing financing mechanisms are lacking, the SWIO Venture Builder engages financial intermediaries to bridge the gap to develop custom financial mechanisms to suit each stage of business development.

SWIO Venture Builder partners across the region are prototyping various financing models to support two key aspects of the blue economy:

• Businesses that sustainably leverage the region’s natural assets

• Community stewardship and restoration efforts that aim to sustain the natural assets that underpin communities’ lives and livelihoods.

These financing models focus on various potential income streams, including income from ecotourism, the issuing of blue bonds to private investors, and creating opportunities for large corporations to invest in regenerative activities as a way to contribute to global climate mitigation and biodiversity commitments.

REGIONAL PARTNERS

EMBEDDED IMPLEMENTATION PARTNERS