The Land Accelerator is an exciting four-month program and curated network for entrepreneurs who restore degraded forests and farmland. It is anchored by an intensive week-long workshop when the cohort meets in person. There is no fee to join, and the program does not take equity.
The Land Accelerator has been held twice in Africa and will return to Nairobi for the third time in October 2020. The program will also be launching in South Asia in August or December 2020 and in Latin America in January 2021.
Featured resources
Tops tips and information for applying from the Land Accelerator launch in Delhi
Check the recording from our webinar on financing to learn strategies to get investment for your business.
Check out the 3-minute video below for more details about the Land Accelerator.
Are you an entrepreneur who’s interested in joining? If you are working to improve a degraded landscape – and you want to learn fast and raise money for your venture – then this is the right program for you. Applications are currently open for entrepreneurs from Africa and South Asia.
The Land Accelerator’s second African cohort met from September 7-12, 2019, in Nairobi, Kenya. The 14 startups were chosen from 335 applicants and represent 8 African countries. Each received a EUR 3,000 grant in addition to a travel stipend.
Over 100 investors and members of Nairobi’s start-up community joined us at the Demo Day on Sep 12 to meet the entrepreneurs. Missed it? No problem! The full video is below.
These are some highlights from the 2018 cohort in Africa:
Kalahari Honey pivoted to a new focus. It has since secured two large orders and raised $100,000.
Lentera secured a $50,000 loan and won a $10,000 cash prize based on its improved pitch.
SA Bamboo has transformed how it works with hundreds of farmers by organizing them into cooperatives.
Safi Organics received $55,000 in grants and is expanding to serve an additional 1,000 smallholder farmers.
The Accelerator contributes to efforts to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of land through the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), Initiative 20×20 in Latin America, and the Bonn Challenge. There is no fee for the program thanks to the generous support of the IKEA Foundation, the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the DOEN Foundation.
If you are interested in becoming a mentor for the Land Accelerator in 2020, please visit our Mentorship Program page for more details and to sign up.
By Sofia Faruqi and Will Anderson | World Resources InstituteOriginally published by One Tree Planted How do we simultaneously fight climate change and improve food security? Is there a way for us to protect wildlife while creating jobs? What about better air and water quality? The answer: landscape restoration. Restoring degraded land by growing trees in forests and on farms not only...
Update May 5 – We have nixed the August date, and now include a date of October 11-16, 2020 as Plan A, with Dec 6-12, 2020 as Plan B. With plenty of virtual interaction leading up to the in-person meetings. In a letter we recently sent to all applicants to the Land Accelerator, we described the Land Accelerator team’s plan in response to COVID. The letter is below. The first thing we...
We have also heard from many amazing companies, “I am not sure if my company qualifies.” We would like to provide some guidance. The overall premise is, if you are NOT sure if your company would qualify or not, we would encourage you to apply. Please see a few FAQs below that may further clarify: Q: My project is not structured as a company. Actually, it is a part of a non-profit initiative...
This webinar focused on explaining how impact entrepreneurs can leverage their strengths to find appropriate financing. Check out the recording of the webinar below: The webinar featured Moses Kimani of Lentera Africa, alumni from the Land Accelerator Africa 2018, who discusses his experiences and lessons with raising funds, his recent new focus to his business, as well as his experience with the...
Reuniting farmland with trees has the potential to improve agricultural productivity and boost food security by creating a landscape that does not become exhausted through overuse. Land Accelerator companies are identifying and scaling business models that help to restore the land and also provide financial benefits to farmers, forest dwellers, and land owners. Are you a land restoration...
Held on Feb 13, 2020 over 60 entrepreneurs joined for a conversation featuring ways to ensure your company is doing its best to respect and promote biodiversity. Three experts shared techniques to incorporate biodiversity into business operations, consider biodiversity when planning land use change associated with expanding your business’s footprint, and collect and report on biodiversity impact...
World Resources Institute, Sangam Ventures, and the IKEA Foundation combined forces to launch the Land Accelerator South Asia on Wed. Jan 29. The launch featured speakers from all three partner organizations as they shared the opportunity and tips for applying for the Land Accelerator with entrepreneurs around South Asia. Covered in the below video and PowerPoint presentation are topics such as...
WRI hosted the inaugural webinar targeting environmental and business issues for Land Restoration entrepreneurs. Dr. Moushumi Chaudhury presented practical best practices that companies everywhere can use to ensure they are prepared to face climate change and extreme weather events that are striking our planet more and more as time goes on. You may watch the recording of the webinar below to...
At the Transform Africa Summit, hosted by Smart Africa in Kigali, Rwanda on May 14, Lentera Africa was awarded the Afric’up Summit 2019 startup of the year after winning the finals of the pitch competition. The company graduated from the Land Accelerator in 2018. The Afric’up Summit aims to support the emergence of future African champions by promoting their skills, creativity and success stories...
This was originally posted on Impact Alpha by Amy Cortese on September 10. Turning sugarcane waste into cooking fuel. Growing neem trees to make natural pesticides and insect repellants. Providing affordable piped water for smallholder farmers. These are some of the restorative services offered by the startups in this year’s Land Accelerator, a bootcamp program for African entrepreneurs working...
