Reach for Change Ghana, 4 others to receive up to GH₵40m from Village Capital

Reach for Change Ghana has been chosen as one of five ecosystem builders. This selection is part of Village Capital’s Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Africa (ESEA) programme.

With support from Norad, Reach for Change will receive up to US$250,000. This funding aims to empower climate-focused start-ups in Ghana.

The initiative seeks to strengthen impact-driven climate start-ups. It will provide investment-readiness support and direct capital in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

Building on the success of Phase One in 2024, this next phase will partner with five ecosystem builders. Each builder represents one of the target countries and will run entrepreneur-focused programmes.

Reach for Change joins Catalyst Fund (Kenya), Ennovate Ventures (Tanzania), Emerge Livelihoods (Malawi), and IdeiaLab (Mozambique). Each organization will receive up to US$260,000 for team capacity building and workshops.

Together, they aim to build a pipeline of 500 start-ups. They plan to support 100 through pre-acceleration workshops and accelerate 30 per country in two cohorts.

At the end of the programme, four start-ups per market will receive US$25,000 each in grant funding.

Applications are open for early-stage start-ups developing scalable sustainability solutions. The focus areas include Climate Adaptation, Renewable Energy, the Blue Economy, and Food Security.

Start-ups should apply based on their country of operation. Applications close on April 30, 2025.

Since its launch in Ghana in 2012, Reach for Change has supported over 300 social entrepreneurs. These efforts have positively impacted over 800,000 young people.

The foundation has also worked with over 200 women and youth on entrepreneurship skills and economic empowerment. It is now a key player in Ghana's entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Using a hybrid model of tailored capacity-building and ecosystem development, it identifies early-stage social entrepreneurs. The foundation develops local ecosystems and forms strategic funding alliances for sustainable development.

Village Capital aims to support future entrepreneurs through innovative approaches. It helps founders build solutions for urgent social and environmental challenges by unlocking crucial capital.

Since 2012, Village Capital has operated in sub-Saharan Africa. It has run over 14 accelerator programmes supporting entrepreneurs across 15 countries.

Village Capital has assisted more than 120 local start-ups and worked with 78 Entrepreneur Support Organisations (ESOs). These efforts span sectors like financial health, hardware, sustainability, and future work trends.

Norad is Norway's Agency for Development Cooperation focused on achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals globally.

As a professional body under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norad promotes a greener future without poverty alongside its partners.

It emphasizes respect for human rights so that no one is left behind through knowledge sharing and cooperation.