The air at the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) West Africa Regional Convening carried a sense of urgency, an understanding that climate change is no longer an abstract global storyline, but a daily, local reality shaping the lives of millions across our region.
For a long time now, Africa’s climate narrative has been framed around vulnerability. Yet, as Tokunboh Ishmael shared in her keynote, vulnerability is not the full story. There is great opportunity here too. Real, scalable, catalytic opportunity. The difference lies in how we choose to respond to them. Whether we agree or not, Climate Change Is Here. The Question Is: What Will We Do with It?
Across the region, the signs cannot be missed. We see it with the farmer waiting for rains that no longer align with the seasons, the coastal communities watching the sea inch closer each year, and in the rising adaptation costs confronting businesses already stretched by economic uncertainty.
But adversity has always been a familiar companion for West Africa. And Tokunboh in her opening speech stated that what will define us now is how we transform this moment. Because we have learned that every climate challenge carries the seed of an economic opportunity, if capital is deployed intentionally.
A Case Study in Climate Leadership with Our Portfolio Company: Psaltry International
When we invested in Psaltry International, a women-led cassava enterprise in Nigeria, through the Alitheia IDF fund, we weren’t simply financing expansion, we were also backing resilience and innovation.
We also supported Psaltry’s transition to cleaner, more efficient energy, and the company was able to:
- Reduce costs
- Improve margins
- Create over 1,500 jobs
- And positively impact hundreds of thousands of lives
This is what climate action looks like when it is rooted in local reality. This is what catalytic capital can unlock.
As Tokunboh shared during the convening, Africa’s climate financing gap remains wide. But gaps are also invitations that call for imagination, innovation, and investment.
We already have:
- The solutions
- The entrepreneurs
- The technology
- The regional experience
- The willingness
What we need now is greater resolve, stronger collaboration, and deeper intentionality.
This is where catalytic capital becomes not just important, but vital.
At Alitheia, our mission has never been limited to returns. Returns are necessary. But they are not sufficient, and that is why we were named impact investors of the year twice in both 2024 and 2025 because we believe strongly that capital must strengthen industries, transform lives, empower communities, and generate value that can endure the shocks of our era.
This is how Africa can move from surviving climate realities to leading climate solutions.
Tokunboh’s message from the AVPA West Africa convening was simply that we must learn to move together, invest with intention, and ensure West Africa’s climate story is defined not by vulnerability, but by leadership.
Because if there is one thing this region has taught us, it is that Every challenge carries a seed of opportunity, and when we choose to act, we turn that seed into transformation.