The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Annycent Capital (Annycent) have signed a Statement of Intent to mobilize public and private capital for high-impact renewable energy projects in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and other developing markets in Africa.

The partnership focuses on the development of innovative financing solutions to accelerate capital mobilization in the secondary renewable energy market, support the strengthening of domestic and regional capital markets, and help address persistent investment gaps.

Despite recent notable progress, limited access to long-term capital continues to slow growth of the renewable energy sector in Africa. A key constraining factor is the lack of a well-capitalized secondary market for investment in renewable energy projects post-construction and once they commence operations. As a result, critical risk capital invested at development stage remains tied up for too long and is unable to pursue development of new projects.

The partnership is designed to mobilize and de-risk new investment flows into the secondary African market and enable recycling of risk capital into new projects, especially in countries that are underserved by private capital, including LDCS such as Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

The partnership is expected to contribute to local job creation, market growth, and improved resilience across participating African countries. Through targeted deployment of concessional and blended finance instruments, UNCDF aims to help de-risk investments, crowd in private capital, strengthen secondary market liquidity, and enable the development of new renewable energy projects.

“Africa’s renewable energy transition is held back not by a lack of viable projects, but by constraints in the flow and recycling of capital” said Cyrille Arnould, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner at Annycent. “By working with UNCDF, we aim to unlock investment at scale and support a sustainable project development ecosystem, anchored by a functioning secondary market.”

“UNCDF’s mandate is to deploy catalytic finance in markets underserved by commercial finance but overflowing with entrepreneurial spirit and talent”, said Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, Executive Secretary of UNCDF. “Our collaboration with Annycent aims to improve the flow of capital for clean energy development in Africa and fuel economic growth on the continent.  Together we are building the financial scaffolding helping investors eventually say “yes” to places where they would otherwise pass.”

The Statement of Intent provides a framework for joint engagement to design and scale blended finance solutions that leverage the complementary mandates of both institutions, catalyse investment in priority markets, and accelerate progress toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.