The Nature-First
Innovation Lab

NFIL is looking for post-feasibility, nature-positive enterprises operating in Africa. In practice, that means you have moved beyond the idea or pilot stage: your model works, you are generating revenue (or have a credible, near-term path to it), and you are seeking investment to grow.

Enterprises from across Africa can apply.

Your core business activity should deliver evidenced benefits for nature — such as biodiversity, soil health, water, or ecosystem restoration — embedded in how you produce and sell, not as a side activity. Environmental and community integrity is assessed alongside commercial viability.

NFIL is designed for post-feasibility models, so it is unlikely that a pre-feasibility enterprise would be selected for this cohort. However, we would encourage you to apply anyway, providing information about your status, as there may be other support the team can provide. For example, we may be able to connect you with another more suitable programme, or we could keep track of your progress in view of an application to a future NFIL or CAPE cohort.

NFIL targets enterprises whose primary revenue is not carbon-linked. If carbon credits are your main revenue stream, you may be better suited to CAPE, FSD Africa’s sister programme focused on carbon and biodiversity markets. Enterprises with secondary carbon revenue alongside a core product business remain eligible for NFIL.

The process starts with a short Expression of Interest (EOI): a brief eligibility screen covering your geography, stage, revenue, business model, and investment needs. Enterprises that pass this screen will be invited to complete a fuller application covering your business, financials, team, and capital needs.

The initial screen is around 12 short questions and should take no longer than five minutes to complete. The fuller second-stage application requires more detail and supporting information.

8 July.

Applications are reviewed against a consistent screening framework. A shortlist of high-potential enterprises will be invited to a deeper diagnostic conversation — similar to how an investor would assess your business — before the final cohort of 6–8 enterprises is selected.

Yes. Information you share is used for screening and selection by the NFIL delivery team. Nothing about your enterprise will be published without your consent.

Not necessarily. Strong enterprises not selected for this cohort may be considered for future cohorts, and — with your consent — may be connected to other capital providers, buyers, or support programmes better aligned to your stage and needs.

Selected enterprises receive a tailored package, which may include:

• Catalytic capital — Flexible returnable and non-returnable grants to help promising businesses scale.
• Transaction support — Covering financial structuring, governance, impact metrics, investor readiness and other enterprise-specific needs.
• Investor and buyer engagement — Structured investor engagement and capacity building to increase appetite and capability to underwrite nature-first deals.

No. NFIL is not an investor and does not take equity. It provides grants and advisory support designed to help you reach the point where investors can make a decision.

Yes — there is no fee to apply or participate. Some grants are structured as returnable, meaning they may be repaid once your enterprise successfully raises investment, allowing the capital to be recycled to support other enterprises.

The programme runs for 12 months. Support is sequenced and milestone-based: it deepens as enterprises progress, and the level of support is reviewed at defined decision points.

No programme can guarantee an investment outcome. NFIL’s goal is to get your enterprise to decision-grade readiness — a complete, credible package that investors can diligence and decide on.

This will depend on the use case of the particular grant and be determined during the grant administration. For returnable grants, this will likely be covered for working capital so repayment can extend beyond the 12 months of this accelerator. Returnable grant repayment terms and triggers will be tailored to each enterprise’s unique situation.

Yes, the first cohort for NFIL focuses on regenerative supply chains, and there will be future cohorts in the coming year, with a focus to be confirmed.

The key question is not whether carbon is present in your model. It is whether carbon is the primary basis on which an investor would underwrite you.

• If a funder looks at your model and says "this works because of the carbon revenue" — that is CAPE.
• If they say "this works because of the enterprise, the supply chain, the offtake relationships, and/or the ecosystem service payments" — and carbon is a secondary or supplementary stream — that is NFIL.

We do not recommend applying to both programmes. While both NFIL and CAPE are targeted towards nature-positive enterprises, each programme has a different focus. It is therefore highly likely that one of these accelerators will be a better fit than the other for your enterprise. Please take a close look at the eligibility criteria and apply to the programme best suited to your enterprise’s business model.

If you remain genuinely uncertain after reading the eligibility criteria, please do reach out to the team before applying. We would be happy to clarify any points of confusion.