Niger Basin Nexus Acceleration Programme // Article Series No. 10: Green Business Consulting, attracting financing and partnerships
As part of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Security Nexus Acceleration Programme, regular activities are organised for selected start-ups. These include investor cafés and meetings with potential financial partners, which are great opportunities for the start-ups to showcase their expertise. Zakari Abdou Idrissa, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Green Business Consulting, is supported to promoting his know-how in order to successfully raise funds and create new partnerships.
This article is also available in French.
Idrissa Abdou Zakari, CEO of Green Business Consulting, benefited from tailor-made support that enabled him to optimise the mode of governance of his start-up, measure the start-up's social and environmental impact, and develop a fundraising strategy. The various technical, managerial and structural changes made within Green Business Consulting have strengthened the start-up's positioning vis-à-vis its partners and potential investors.
The start-up is now one of the service providers selected as part of the African Biodigester Component (ABC) project implemented by the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV). To meet household energy needs and supply fertiliser to agricultural land, the service providers of the ABC project are expected to install 4,000 biodigesters in Niger between 2023 and 2025.
As part of the programme, Zakari participated in a decisive event organised between start-ups and impact investors in Abidjan, from 22 to 24 May 2023. It was a great opportunity for him to present the achievements of Green Business Consulting, showcase their expertise and outline their ambitions and perspectives. Discussions are ongoing with the investors who attended the event. "It was a very special meeting where we had the opportunity to talk at length with the investors who attended. They were honest and open with us and shared important experiences that will help us improve our future fundraising initiatives. It was a real meeting of giving and taking", Zakari says with satisfaction.
New partnerships
The programme provided Green Business Consulting with visibility that allowed to attract a number of strategic partners. The start-up currently has a private production site where its new semi-industrial production line is being installed. This has been possible because of the financial support provided by the Nigerian government through the National Support Fund for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship (Fonds National d’Appui pour la promotion de l’entrepreneuriat, FONAP). These funds were invested in the purchase of the land, in the ongoing costs of technical, managerial and structural reinforcement, and the installation of machinery acquired with the support of the Nexus Acceleration Programme.
Green Business Consulting has been identified and will receive financial support from Niger's Agency for the Restructuring and Upgrading of Industries (Bureau de Restructuration et de Mise à Niveau des Industries, BRMNI) to accelerate its transition to scale. Through this support, a study will be conducted on the needs of the start-, and its results will determine the financial package to be granted.
Challenges and prospects
Through the Nexus Water-Energy-Food Security (WEF) Acceleration Programme implemented by the 2iE Institute, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH support fund has enabled Green Business Consulting to activate growth levers for scaling up and industrialising its production line. The Programme is funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Given the growing demand and needs of its customers, the start-up is now approaching major investors for financial alliances. Green Business Consulting is currently carrying out a due diligence process, which will help to raise the start-up’s profile with investors and strengthen its position in the Nigerien market.
