Africa Sustainable Futures Awards

Sun King securitisation for "pay-as-you-go" solar business, Kenya

Financing Access to Clean Energy

Spiro Pan-African Smart Energy Ecosystem, multi-country

Resillient Infrastructure

African Wildlife Foundation biodiversity economies initiative, multi-country

Biodiversity and Ecosystems Protection

Arise garment training centre, Benin & Togo

Gender Equality and Inclusion

Intelsat satellite broadband, Burkina Faso

Digital Infrastructure

Sun King securitisation for "pay-as-you-go" solar business, Kenya

Judges Awards for Excellence

Bridges to Prosperity - Africa’s unmapped rivers, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda & Zambia

Innovation Showcase

The Financial Times and the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), have launched a major new awards programme to promote ground-breaking, long-term solutions to development challenges in Africa.

The Africa Sustainable Futures Awards will recognise innovative and financially viable projects and initiatives that provide transformative solutions to some of the biggest development issues facing Africa today. The focus in this inaugural year will be on the entrepreneurship, innovation and investment that can provide access to clean energy and digital connectivity, and ensure that urban infrastructure and natural ecosystems remain resilient to climate change. The programme will also highlight the importance of gender equality and inclusion in boosting the overall well-being and prosperity of Africa’s communities. 

The winner in each category will be announced at a special awards dinner on 30 October 2024 that will conclude the FT’s Africa Summit, a major event at the Peninsula London bringing together African government, business and finance leaders with global investors and industry partners to collaborate on opportunities for long-term, sustainable growth.

Financing Access to Clean Energy

This award recognises transformative renewable energy or energy efficiency projects that also increase access to energy and provide climate-smart solutions across key productive sectors.

Resilient Infrastructure

This award recognises initiatives that leverage public and private sector expertise and finance and use new technologies to build and modernise critical infrastructure, decarbonise mobility networks, develop scalable, practical green building projects, improve waste management, and generally boost urban environmental resilience.

Biodiversity and Ecosystems Protection

This award recognises regenerative projects in Africa that protect ecosystems by conserving or restoring natural capital and leverage biodiversity to create long-term growth, greener and higher quality jobs, more secure supply of food and water, and barriers to natural and man-made disasters.

Gender Equality and Inclusion

This award recognises initiatives in Africa that expand and enable economic opportunities for women, engage more women as leaders, reduce violence against women and girls, and generally expand the participation of women and girls in economic growth.

Digital Infrastructure

This award recognises economically viable and energy-efficient initiatives in Africa that promote effective telecommunications markets, deepen the resilience of digital infrastructure and networks, expand connectivity to disadvantaged groups, improve digital literacy and affordability, and mitigate cyber risk.

Overall Award: Judges Award for Excellence 

This prize will be awarded to the initiative that in the opinion of the judging panel stands apart among the winners of all core categories for its level of innovation, impact, replicability, financial viability and sustainability in the context of Africa’s development.

Download our judging criteria which provides detailed information on the evaluation process, helping you understand how entries are assessed and how winners are selected. Click the link below to download the PDF and gain valuable insights into the judging process. 

If you would like to know more about the awards or have any specific questions for the team, you can contact us via the button below.

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