The Kinjani
(Ad)Venture Builder
Calling all Nature-Tech and Climate-tech Founders and Startups. Supercharge your business and impact. Kinjani works with Africa's leading science driven innovators.
This programme is for ambitious individuals solving BIG problems with bold ideas and early stage ventures.
Kunjani, we’re Kinjani!
At Kinjani, we’re focused on helping you and other African founders to build climate & nature tech startups.
Applications Open
2nd of December 2024
Start Date
31st of March 2025
Residency
Mpumalanga / Johannesburg, South Africa
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Investment
Founders receive a cash stipend for every full month you participate in Kinjani’s program, with investments in cash and support of up to $30,000 per founder… so you can focus on just building.
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Community of Founders
You’ll work alongside and get access to a select group of business builders at a similar stage with equally impressive ambition to solve BIG problems with you. You may find your co-founder or first business partner in this group.
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Expertise & Mentorship
We provide support from the Kinjani team and leading mentors, who are experts in science, industry, technology, business, funding and marketing.
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Continuous Support
Kinjani offers ongoing support and investment for you to keep building and scaling your business.
You are on a mission,
we’ve got a map.
Building a business is hard. Building the next gigacorn solution out of Africa is no mean feat either.
Kinjani exists to make nature-based solutions and nature-based startups succeed.
In this programme, we’ll help you accelerate your business, network and impact, gain key insights from industry experts, and better understand what the capital markets are seeking.
Step 1: Apply
Fill out this application form.
Step 2: Ignite your Business
Join the program and accelerate your nature-based business removing / avoiding carbon.
Step 3: Collaborate in Person
Enter into a one month residency to accelerate your startup. Validate it alongside inspiring founders and industry leaders.
Step 4: Incubate your innovation
Refine your business idea with continuous learning, market research, pitch readiness and feasibility research.
Step 5: Invest
Pitch your business to a handful of high potential investors, with the chance to receive up to $125,000 to grow your business further.
Is this programme for me?
The nature of this accelerator is different. Our structure, the network, the type of industries all point to one thing: science-driven entrepreneurs building scalable (and profitable) climate positive businesses.
This is not a program for developing software. We’re focused on building hard tech inspired and derived from nature-based businesses in the real world, with carbon sequestration and co-benefits of biodiversity, water access and improved livelihoods as key focuses - in Africa, by Africans.
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You can expect to be busy with workshops, mentors and the Kinjani team for 15-20 hours per week for the first month.
From month two to month four, the time commitment drops to 8 hours - ensuring you have plenty of time to build an exceptional business. -
We are looking for people with the following expertise:
Technical: an individual who has technical training & experience (science or engineering) in one of our key industry areas - food systems, materials, critical minerals and urbanisation.
Commercial: an individual who either has experience in investing, a business management role, or who has started a company before and wants to do the same in climate.
Operational: an individual who has on-the-job training and experience at an operator company in one of our key industry areas.
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Yes and maybe. Over the course of the program you will receive stipends, business cost cover and venture support to a total of $30k per founder. This is for costs relating to living, testing ideas and reasonable work related travel. At the end of the program you'll pitch to the Kinjani Investment Committee which will select 7 companies to receive follow-on funding of up to $125,000.
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This programme is specifically helping founders who have already started taking steps to solving a problem they are passionate about.
We know that the idea or approach you have to solve this problem may change, and this programme is here to help you validate your approach to create the biggest climate impact and commercial returns potential.
We will be assessing individuals for the program based on their areas of expertise, ambition to solve big problems, and steps taken to already do so to date.
The point of the programme and the cohort approach is to help individuals to refine their approach, validate business models and super charge your ideas into commercial scale within two years.
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Absolutely! The Kinjani talent program exists to support Africa’s top talent solving our planet's biggest problems, and that comes in all shapes & sizes.
This programme brings together like-minded individuals with complementary skillsets towards building teams around these opportunity areas.
Checklist:
☑️ You are driven and motivated to solve big challenges in food systems, materials, critical minerals and urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa.
☑️ It’s early days, and you are pre-seed or pre-idea.
☑️ You are a citizen in a sub-Saharan African country.
☑️ You are ready to build a business.
You have one of the following
Technical Expertise
You have technical training or experience (science or engineering) in a key industry area.
Commercial Experience
You have experience in building, growing or investing in startups, have run teams, managed businesses or raised funding before.
Operational Experience
You have on-the-job training and experience at an operator company in a key industry area.
The Program Focus Areas
Kinjani aims to attract startups that are focused on reducing and removing carbon, with co-benefits of biodiversity enhancement, access to water and improved livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa.
There are four key industries that we believe are best suited to addressing climate-related pain points - specifically 1.) Food Systems, 2.) Urbanisation 3.) Materials and 4.) Critical Minerals.
These industries have historically been underfunded within the climate space (unlike, for example, energy and mobility), and yet continue to contribute heavily to several climate concerns within carbon removal, circularity, and climate resilience.
To build scalable, science-first ventures in key industries, this program brings together startups and entrepreneurs with technical expertise or commercial / operational experience within Sub-Saharan Africa.
We’re not afraid to get our hands dirty to keep our continent clean.
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Buildings are being unsustainably constructed and are not designed to minimise waste and be energy efficient. This is compounded by a rapidly increasing number of people who lack adequate infrastructure, increasing the risk of climate shocks.
The Magnitude of the Problem
The construction sector accounts for 38% of global carbon emissions.
Roughly half of the carbon footprint of buildings is from the upfront construction (30%) and maintenance & disposal (20%).
18% of people in sub-Saharan Africa live in informal settlements, which is only increasing as rapid urbanisation and population growth outpaces construction capacity and affordability.
The Focus:
We must radically adapt construction practices and building structures to meet net-zero goals and ensure durable and liveable cities and human settlements.
How Might We:
Sustainably and inclusively upgrade housing in informal settlements?
Urbanize in symbiosis with nature?
Design buildings for modularity, deconstruction, and reuse?
Make buildings more resilient against extreme climate conditions?
Design and engineer green and cost-effective building structures?
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Globally, manufacturing is single greatest GHG contributor. Almost half of the continent’s potential GHG-intensive industries have yet to be built. Africa can “grow green” by building new renewable industry assets from the start.
The Magnitude of the Problem
To reach net-zero by 2050, 90% of manufacturing emissions in Africa must be reduced.
Roughly 80% of Scope 1 emissions are from cement, petroleum refining, coal-to-liquids, iron & steel, and ammonia.
Roughly 30-40% of total African Green House Gas emissions are from manufacturing (yet account for only 3% globally).
The Focus:
We must urgently create low-emitting substitution manufacturing businesses for the world of tomorrow.
How Might We:
Decarbonize or replace cement, iron, and steel?
Promote green hydrogen production (fuel and power)?
Embody carbon into materials using nature?
Replace fossil fuels for powering our industries?
Use plants or reuse textiles to make recycled fabrics?
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Dwindling yields coupled with high emission production and distribution systems will not meet the food security needs of a surging population nor our future goals for the planet.
Magnitude of the Problem
Globally, agriculture accounts for 22% of GHG emissions.
Currently, 60% of the African population consists of smallholder farmers representing 80% of farmland in sub-Saharan Africa.
Agricultural soils are becoming more polluted and less productive, yielding up to 11X less than US crop production.
The Focus
We must design climate-smart innovations that triple smallholder production, work in tandem with nature, and nourish a growing population.
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Extraction is a destructive industry that currently does not invest enough time, money, and effort into end of life restoration and has had severe impacts on ecosystems. Yet, critical minerals in Africa hold the key to a green energy transition.
The Magnitude of the Problem
Production of critical minerals needs to increase by nearly 500% to meet net zero requirements.
Africa contains roughly 30% of the known global mineral reserves (the DRC alone contains half of the world’s cobalt reserves).
In 2021, Mining, oil, and gas accounted for roughly 64% of exports across 24 African economies.
The Focus:
We need Africa to transition away from coal, oil, and gas extraction to supply commodities that are vital for a green energy future.
How Might We:
Mine more and waste less?
Make mines more habitable?
Decarbonise mines and draw in more greenhouse gases?
Increase supply chain value addition and regional collaboration?
Reduce and reuse resources for mining?
What Our Founders Say
The guides, articles and documents for climate-tech and nature-tech startups.
The Kinjani Atlas
Accelerate your Business and Impact
From Start to Summit