The United Nations Environment Programme, (UNEP) on Thursday 17, November 2022 initiated the Restoration Factory pitch session with the ambition of supporting ecopreneurs to build long-lasting, climate-resilient businesses that restore degraded landscapes and provide for their communities.
46 participants with nature-positive business models that demonstrate strong commercial potential were selected to participate in the Restoration Factory’s 2022 cohort that took place in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Besides building a climate-resilient business, The Restoration Factory’s ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch session aimed to provide an opportunity to meet and profile the next generation of Kenyan ecopreneurs working on diverse sustainable land-use and restoration businesses.
Some of the businesses include beekeeping, producing organic fertilizers, winemaking, and sustainable forestry.
Being the UNEP initiative, the Restoration Factory aims to accelerate private investment in nature-based solutions by growing the pipeline of investment-ready businesses in the sustainable land-use and landscape restoration sectors.
Apart from that, the Restoration Factory “supports programs and assists entrepreneurs to develop attractive business models focused on restoring landscapes and ecosystems.”
The Restoration Factory, developed by the United Nations Environment Program, (UNEP) FAO, Partnerships for Forests and Bridge for Billions is an innovative incubation program aiming at supporting Kenyan eco-entrepreneurs in developing commercially viable restoration projects.
Other local Entrepreneurial Support Organizations include E4Impact Foundation and Mt Kenya Hub.
However, the Restoration Factory program seeks to attract projects that show robust revenue generation perspectives and ambition to reach a critical mass.
The Restoration Factory is an e-learning program that helps restore and explore entrepreneurs in developing enticing business ideas.
This vital goal is accomplished by utilizing the knowledge of a group of private-sector mentors who are dedicated to assisting their mentees at every stage of their company discovery journey.
The tailored support is then catalyzed through a rigorous 6-month training program, co-designed with the social enterprise Bridge for Billions, that borrows from the best business development curriculums, including MIT’s disciplined entrepreneur method.
It is practical, solution-oriented, and evidence-based, promoting a scientific method of verifiable experimentation, through assumptions, tests, and validations.
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