Shell Foundation and 500 Global Launch Accelerator to Power Africa’s Climate Tech Ecosystem
The countries that will drive tomorrow's infrastructure buildout, energy consumption, and job creation aren't waiting for Western blueprints. They're charting their own course, and the decisions being made today in Africa, Asia, and Latin America will determine global carbon trajectories for generations.
These regions now generate roughly 63% of worldwide emissions, a figure that's climbed steadily as manufacturing has migrated southward. But here's the paradox: the challenge isn't about curbing consumption it's about enabling growth without embedding carbon-intensive infrastructure that becomes impossible to unwind later.
That's precisely where climate-focused startups have hit a wall.
The Funding Desert
Venture capital firms with global reach typically steer clear of seed-stage climate ventures in emerging markets. The reasons are familiar: extended payback timelines, unstable policy environments, razor-thin margins. Local accelerators exist, but they're often underfunded, geographically confined, and too brief to create meaningful traction. Impact investors may offer grants or short-term programmes, yet these rarely bridge the gap to commercial viability.
What's missing is a structure that can shepherd these companies through the treacherous middle ground past the grant phase but before they're ready for traditional venture rounds.
Enter the Sustainable Innovation Program, a collaboration between Shell Foundation and 500 Global that's attempting to fill this void for African climate tech startups.
Following the Money
The programme operates in an interesting liminal space. Through 500 Global's Sustainable Innovation Seed Accelerator in Nairobi, participating startups typically secure around $150,000 in exchange for 6% equity, with approximately $37,500 allocated toward programme costs.
Shell Foundation takes a different approach, no equity stakes, just grant capital ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 for early-stage ventures in agriculture and energy. For context, Shell's parallel initiative in India went considerably larger, offering between €100,000 and €500,000 per company in its 2025 cohort.
Launched in August 2025 with support from the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the African programme targets three sectors: energy, agriculture, and mobility.
I recently spoke with Juliette Keeley, Shell Foundation's chief impact officer, and Carrie Liauw, executive director at 500 Global, to understand how they're making these sustainability ventures investable. What follows are the key insights from that conversation.
Breaking Geographic Boundaries
One structural advantage the program offers is network access. As Liauw explained, most accelerators in emerging markets operate within single-country silos. Founders end up with limited exposure to international investors, potential customers, or operational expertise beyond their immediate geography.
The Sustainable Innovation Seed Accelerator was designed specifically to counter that isolation. Rather than offering brief, locally focused support, it connects founders to global mentors and 500 Global's worldwide network over an extended timeline.
What Grant Funding Actually Buy
Shell Foundation's role is explicitly non-equity. Their grant funding supports a 12-month accelerator model covering enterprise-building fundamentals: market validation, achieving product-market fit, capital planning, and fundraising preparation.
The focus spans from the seed stage through Series B, the range where Keeley sees the most acute funding gaps. Meanwhile, 500 Global handles mentorship, network introductions, and toolkits designed to accelerate revenue growth.
An obvious concern: does flooding a market with global capital and brand recognition undermine local players?
Keeley addressed this directly. Most local accelerators run short programmes at a limited scale. This initiative aims to complement rather than displace them by extending what founders can access globally.
Kenya's startup ecosystem already includes organisations like Baobab Network, iHub, KCIC, Delta 40, Savannah Fund, and Catalyst Fund. Rather than compete, 500 Global is exploring partnerships with these existing players. The accelerator also operates through the Timbuktoo Africa initiative led by UNDP, deliberately strengthening local infrastructure alongside global connections.
Where Influence Ends
A critical question in any funded programme, how much control does the money buy?
According to Keeley, 500 Global provides strategic guidance and execution support, but founders retain ultimate decision-making authority. Shell Foundation's involvement is even more circumscribed—they track whether companies serve target customer groups and monitor income and gender-related outcomes through selection criteria and key performance indicators. Beyond that, strategy remains entirely in the founders' hands.
Risk Allocation in Practice
Understanding who bears which risks clarifies how the programme actually functions.
Shell Foundation accepts that impact outcomes, both climate and income-related, only materialise at scale, making early-stage impact risk unavoidable. They manage this through aligned KPIs, careful selection, and reporting requirements. Commercial risk, however, stays with founders and subsequent investors.
Recognizing Failure Signals
How do you distinguish between a flawed business model and poor market timing?
Keeley described a milestone-based approach tied to customer reach, income improvement, and gender outcomes within specific timeframes. These markers help isolate whether problems stem from execution issues, incorrect market assumptions, or fundamental model weaknesses.
Where Intervention Happens
Shell Foundation doesn't concentrate on a single point in the value chain. Their work spans innovation support, scaling partnerships, and capital mobilisation. The accelerator mirrors this breadth, helping companies with market validation, expansion strategy, fundraising, and network development rather than zeroing in on one intervention layer.
Data That Shapes Future Bets
Throughout and after the programme, participating companies report customer numbers, capital raised, and emissions reduced. A third-party evaluator independently assesses income impacts on end customers. This accumulated data directly influences Shell Foundation's decisions about backing similar accelerators and funds going forward.
Read More: FUNGUO Deepens Support for Tanzanian Innovators Through $2.65M Funding Round
Knowing When to Exit
After the accelerator concludes, Shell Foundation reviews results across customer reach, funding leveraged, and measurable income impact. That assessment determines whether follow-on investment makes sense or whether it's time for a clean handoff.
Why This Matters Beyond Africa
The Sustainable Innovation Program represents a structural experiment, can you systematically de-risk climate ventures in emerging markets enough to make them attractive to mainstream capital?
If the answer is yes, the implications extend far beyond a single cohort of African startups. The model offers a template for addressing the funding desert that's kept climate solutions from scaling in the regions where they're needed most urgently.
The West may dominate climate policy discussions, but the real test of our collective ability to build a low-carbon future is unfolding in places where energy systems, cities, and economies are still taking shape. Getting capital to flow there and stay there isn't just about climate goals. It's about ensuring that the infrastructure being built today doesn't trap entire continents in yesterday's carbon economy.
