African Wildlife Capital

Mission-Related Investment

African Wildlife Capital (AWC) is a new mission-related investment company owned by, and operating under the mission of, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). AWC is part of AWF’s larger vision to work with the people of Africa to ensure that the wildlife and wild lands of Africa will endure forever.

After more than a decade of successful engagement in conservation enterprise work, AWF has recognized the need for a new type of conservation finance. AWC thus offers alternative development financing in the form of structured loans to selected small and medium-sized conservation enterprises in the agricultural and tourism sectors.

This new capital will support and promote small to medium sized enterprises with promising business models that can help protect habitat in large conservation landscapes—while also benefiting local economies and the livelihoods of people who live with wildlife.

Investment Philosophy

AWC invests in promising conservation enterprises—defined as commercial activities that generate economic benefits in a way that supports the attainment of one or more conservation outcomes—based in or near the continent’s largest, most viable, and most important conservation landscapes

Investment decisions are based on three main criteria:

• Positive conservation impact
• Positive impact on poverty alleviation and local livelihoods
• Commercial and financial viability

The target range of investment per transaction is between $250,000 (USD) and $1.5 million (USD).

Why AWC?

AWC is intended to take AWF’s work to a new scale and use the capacity of promising private sector companies in Africa to do more, in more places, for the benefit of conservation and people.

AWF believes in using the right kind of money for the right kind of job. Large-scale infrastructure for parks, for example, warrants large-scale funding from governments and development banks. Scholarships for African students and species protection projects, on the other hand, tend to be better suited to small grants.

AWC is incorporated in Mauritius, the preferred jurisdiction for investment vehicles operating across multiple countries in Africa. Day-to-day operations are conducted out of AWF’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. All potential investments by AWC are subject to an explicitly defined due diligence process.

Eye to the Future

Following an initial round of investments in 2011, AWF expects to invite investment through AWC by other impact investors, foundations, and development agencies. At present, AWC investors are required to be AWF donors or supporters, to ensure philosophical alignment and to simplify operations (AWF underwrites AWC operational costs).

Contact

For more information on AWC, contact:

Mr. Giles Davies
gdavies@africanwildlifecapital.com