SEED launches Green Finance Academy Trainings and Innovation Lab
SEED has launched an innovative new programme: Green Finance Academy Trainings and Innovation Lab. The programme – is a collaborative partnership between Uganda Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator (UGEFA), Uganda Bankers’ Association (UBA), SEED Practitioner Labs Climate Finance and GO4SDGs. It is a programme for local bank staff and other finance actors that want to finance more successfully green small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and environmental-related projects in Uganda
The Academy focuses on five investment areas: Agriculture, Natural Capital Management, Green Cities, Transport, and Energy. Under the green growth and jobs commitments of the Uganda Green Growth Development Strategy financing needs to be mobilized – with a target of US$1.8 billion per year. This funding is expected to be contributed from multiple sources, with a strong role to be played by the financial sector in Uganda. Our programme highlights the central role of SMEs as economic players in Uganda – providing employment to over 2.5 million people and contributing around 90% of private-sector production and familiarize these actors with their support needs.
The hands-on training support financiers to deliver tailored financing for green investments, including for SMEs across sectors. It also captures the growing international capital, earmarked for climate and broader green finance purposes, and how to tap into it. Participants will get access to case studies and global good practices of green finance instruments. These experiences, coupled with SEED Practitioner Labs Climate Finance successes, will form the basis for co-creating the next generation of financial instruments for green finance in Uganda.
The Academy is funded by the Delegation of the European Union to Uganda under the Uganda Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator programme and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety within the SEED programme. IT specifically targets UBA Member Banks, who will benefit from access to case studies and global good practices of green finance and expert training – thus, laying the basis for co-creating the next generation of financial instruments for green finance in Uganda.