Case Studies
Why These Stories Matter
Taken together, these examples illustrate the CARFF approach: patient capital deployed through a diversified portfolio, combining partnerships with experienced impact managers and selective direct investments. The focus is not on short-term exits, but on enterprises that strengthen local economies, create decent work and embed climate resilience where it is most needed. Capital is repaid, recycled and reinvested, allowing today’s gifts and investments to keep working well into the future.
<<< BURN designs and manufactures affordable, energy-efficient cooking appliances that reduce household fuel costs, improve health and protect Africa’s forests.
In a fast-growing secondary city in East Africa, a locally founded enterprise is tackling two problems at once 1) unreliable electricity and 2) youth unemployment. The business installs modular solar mini-grids for markets and small workshops, replacing diesel generators that are costly, polluting and unpredictable. With patient loan finance and technical support, the company expands its operations, trains young technicians, and offers affordable power contracts to traders who can now refrigerate food, operate machinery and extend trading hours. The result is lower emissions, higher incomes, and a local energy system that keeps working even as climate shocks intensify.
In a drought-prone rural region, a cooperative of smallholder farmers is moving beyond survival farming into value-added production. By investing in climate-resilient storage, solar-powered irrigation and local processing, the enterprise reduces post-harvest losses and stabilises incomes. Affordable, long-term finance allows the cooperative to scale gradually without crippling interest rates. Women farmers, often excluded from formal credit, take on leadership roles within the business. As yields improve and market access expands, the cooperative becomes a reliable supplier to regional buyers, anchoring resilience in both land and livelihoods.
Across several countries, small and medium-sized enterprises sit in a financing gap, too large for microfinance, too small or too risky for commercial banks. Through investments made alongside experienced partners, the Fund supports specialist local lenders that focus on this “missing middle”. These institutions provide appropriately priced loans to businesses in sectors such as clean transport, agri-processing and essential services. By strengthening local financial ecosystems, capital flows further into the real economy, supporting thousands of jobs while building institutions that can endure long after any single investment has been repaid.
In a peri-urban settlement, a social enterprise manufactures clean, efficient cooking solutions using locally sourced materials. The stoves reduce household fuel costs, cut indoor air pollution and slow deforestation. With blended finance combining concessional capital and commercial discipline, the business expands production and distribution through women-led sales networks. Jobs are created along the supply chain, while families benefit from better health outcomes and more predictable household budgets. Small innovations, when properly financed, become scalable climate solutions.
In a congested urban corridor, an electric mobility company is rethinking transport for low-income workers. By deploying electric motorcycles supported by solar-powered charging infrastructure, the business reduces emissions while offering drivers a more affordable, stable income model. Investment capital enables fleet expansion and local maintenance hubs, creating skilled jobs and improving air quality. What begins as a transport solution becomes a wider economic platform, linking clean energy, employment and urban resilience.