Skoll World Forum Interviews: Spotlight on Delta40 and African Women’s Development Fund

Introduction (00:02):
Welcome to Role Models for Change, a series of conversations with social entrepreneurs and other innovators working on the front lines of some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Françoise Moudouthe (00:13):
Okay. So, my name is Françoise Moudouthe. I’m a Pan-African feminist with roots in Cameroon. I’m the CEO of the African Women’s Development Fund, which is a fund that is at the intersection of philanthropy and feminist movement building in Africa.

Matthew Beighley (00:27):
Why is there a need for this fund? What’s the problem?

Françoise Moudouthe (00:31):
Yeah. So, about 25 years ago, three fantastic African feminists came together with the realization that the people who are actually best placed to bring about gender justice, that’s feminist activists and women’s rights activists, on our continent are the ones who are doing the most with the least, the least money, the least recognition, the least support, and the least connection, and the least access. And so, there was a problem of having philanthropy on one side with the funding, with the access, with the power, but none of, really, the understanding of the issues. And they were sharing those resources through the wrong channels, and those resources were not getting to the actual changemakers.

(01:25):
So, those three founders came together with the idea of an African Women’s Development Fund, which was with the purpose of making sure that people from movements, from feminist movements, from the communities that are experiencing oppression, can raise those funds and redistribute them to those changemakers, the feminist activists, in the ways that really help them, that really empowers them, and that is adapted to the priorities and the needs that they have. So, it’s really, as I say to my child, bring the money in, bring the money out. We need to bring the money out to the people who most are best placed to do the change, but also that we are aware of what they need and how they need those resources to come to them.

Matthew Beighley (02:18):
Can you give me an example of someone who would receive these funds and something that they would do with it?

Françoise Moudouthe (02:25):
So, I’d like to speak to the fact that in addition to just moving money and resources, we are also accompanying our partners in a way that is more holistic. So, technical assistance, of course, but also investing in the resilience of the organizations, but also the well-being and the connection among the leaders. And to that, I’d like to share the example of one of our partners in Burkina Faso, and specifically the leader of that organization. I happened to have known her through various areas of work for about 12 years. And from the very first day I saw her, she said, “I’m tired. I’m pushing. I’m pushing. They’re pushing back. We don’t have resources. I just feel like I’m doing this whole thing on my own.” And she was perpetually tired.

(03:24):
So, when I joined the African Women’s Development Fund, I was so excited to see that in addition to grant making, one of the accompaniment programs that we had was focused not only on the solidarity but also on the care of those leaders who are really facing the isolation and the burnout that comes from fighting for gender equality in the areas where they work. So, one of the programs that we have is called Flourish. And I love this program because it’s taking away for a few days these leaders and give them a space to recharge. It’s like a healing retreat. Because we think about feminist activists as the healers of society, but who heals the healers?

(04:17):
And that Flourish retreat is one of the ideas from one of the people in our team, even before I joined, to say, “Let’s just find a space, bring them to a beautiful place near the sea or in nature, and bring healers, bring psychotherapists, bring yoga teachers, and just let them to be together. Not to talk about as experts, but to show up as humans.” And one of the things that I heard that really touched me in this forum is, “Humans first, leaders second.” And that’s really very much at the core of what we’re trying to do and put them together.

(04:54):
And once we had a plan, this year, to do another one for Francophone African activists, who very often don’t have access to such spaces, I said, “We’ve got to get her in.” And so, she went, and she came back. I saw her in another meeting just last month, and I said, “So, how was it?” And she said, “I came out a new person. I think I can do another 10 years.” I was so inspired and grateful that we have the possibility, the energy, the creativity, and the resources to provide that.

Matthew Beighley (05:29):
Is there an example of an investment or helping someone financially with their work that you can cite to? I think it’d be good to get two examples, and I’d be very curious to hear what was the actual work that they were doing.

Françoise Moudouthe (05:42):
So, I think what I want to speak to as an example is an example of one of our partners in Uganda. It’s a youth-led queer rights group, queer-led, youth-led in a country where queer rights are being really smashed, right? There’s an anti-LGBT bill that was passed last year in Uganda. And this group really struggled to get funding, because they are not registered, because it’s dangerous to be registered, and because when they got funding, it was very small funding because they were a rather young group, and there is a true trust deficit, especially in Africa.

(06:33):
So, I met them at a meeting that we were organizing for the African Feminist Forum, and I see this group of three young people just rushing towards me.” Are you Françoise? Are you Françoise?” And I’m like, “Yes.” They said, “We just wanted to say thank you, because we applied for a small grant, and you gave us three times the amount we asked for, and no one ever trusted us that much.” And that really blew my mind. I was so grateful again, but also so inspired. Because we often hear about risk. This is the typical too risky group.

(07:20):
And so, I’ve been following the work. And in this context where Ugandan queer people are being really tracked down, they’re put at risk, violence is increasing, they’ve been able to create a safe space for young queer people who are cast out of their families and just create space for them. And they wouldn’t have been able to do that if we’d given them the money they had asked for. And that reminds me that as people who believe in the power of our partners, we need to take the risk that big-picture philanthropy is not ready to take, because we can’t afford not to take that risk. And so, I’m so glad there was a great reminder of that.

Matthew Beighley (08:14):
Talk to me about just the scale of this. How much money were you able to give out last year?

Françoise Moudouthe (08:21):
So, I was privileged to join the African Women’s Development Fund when it was turning 20, and so that was a great moment for us to take stock. And I was so excited to see the growth of the organization. So when AWDF was created, it started out with a budget of $350,000. Last year, our budget was over 20 million US dollars. In this 24 years, that growth. I’m excited about it because we continue to make sure that the most of that funding goes directly to movements. At least 70% goes directly as grants, plus another 20 or so going as non-grant making support, convenings and things like that.

(09:14):
So, that means that money is going directly to movements, it’s going directly to communities, and that’s very exciting for me. In the first 22 years of our existence, the African Women’s Development Fund has provided around 68 million US dollars in grants to 150 or so organizations across the African continent, and I think that’s fantastic. And I’m worried, because even at our best, we still are only able to fund about 12 to 15% of the eligible demands for grants that we receive. So, that means that even as we do our best, we are just not matching the demands and what needs to be done out there. There’s a lot of need and there’s a lot of ideas. What there isn’t is a lot of money and there’s not a lot of trust.

Matthew Beighley (10:12):
Are you hopeful that things are moving in the right direction, or is it getting harder?

Françoise Moudouthe (10:24):
Okay. I think things are getting harder. I think that things are getting harder. First, we are in spaces like the Skoll Forum, constantly excited by innovation, and so am I. I love innovation, but I’m worried, because as we are focused on innovating, very few of us remain focused on holding the line, preserving the rights that we secured 10 years ago, 20 years ago. We are taking them for granted.

(11:03):
But today, abortion rights, the wins that we thought we had, they’re gone, just like that. In The Gambia right now, Parliament is considering decriminalizing female genital mutilation. We thought we’d won that fight, right? So, because we have this deficit on attention on holding the line, I worry, I worry a lot about that. I worry also that the anti-rights, anti-gender movements are making great gains. They have a lot more funding, they have a lot more agility, and they feel sometimes that they’re a lot more effective than us. I worry about that.

(11:52):
So, in that sense, I think things are getting harder, but that doesn’t mean I’m not hopeful. So, that’s why I was hesitating when you’re asking the question, because I’m hopeful and inspired by the energy of those who are fighting back: the activists, the academics, the thinkers, the doers, and to a large extent the progressive funders, especially in feminist philanthropy. I’m hopeful because they continue to find that balance between creating, innovating, and holding the line. And I’m inspired by them, even though I know that they do so at a great cost, personal cost. They pay with their rights, their lives, their livelihoods. So, it’s tough times, I think, for feminist activism, especially in Africa, but I think, really, around the world. But vision, the courage, the boldness of activists, especially feminist activists, will always give me hope.

Lyndsay Handler (00:02):
Welcome to Role Models for Change, a series of conversations with social entrepreneurs and other innovators working on the front lines of some of the world’s most pressing problems.

(00:13):
My name is Lyndsay Handler, and I’m the founder of Delta40. At Delta40, our mission is to increase incomes and tackle climate change in Africa by investing in African and female founders on the front lines. We are really passionate about supporting the entrepreneurs on the journey, so not just investing equity into them and expecting returns, but actually how do we support the social entrepreneur? Because we need social entrepreneurs more than ever, and actually it’s getting harder and harder for them to raise capital, to get through the policy barriers that are holding them back. And so, something we’re excited to think about and work on with the Skoll community is how we support the social entrepreneur with not just capital, but also being their embedded team and also thinking about their mental health and well-being along the way.

Peter Yeung (01:05):
Why female leaders? What’s the importance of that?

Lyndsay Handler (01:09):
Yeah. At Delta40, we’re really passionate about investing in female founders because, one, they are the most affected by climate change, particularly in Africa, and because we feel that they have some of the most innovative and practical and scalable solutions to climate change, yet less than 4% of capital that is deployed to solve climate problems in Africa goes to female founders. And so, we are really passionate about directing more capital to those entrepreneurs and then supporting them to achieve real scale.

Peter Yeung (01:45):
Can you talk about the problem? What does climate change look like on the ground there?

Lyndsay Handler (01:51):
I’ve been really lucky to live in rural Africa for the past 20 years, and one of the things that you see with climate change is there used to be really predictable rains, so farmers knew when to plant. And while they didn’t always have the biggest yields relative to the rest of the world, they were able to feed their families. They were able to have some disposable income. And today, with unpredictable rains that are leading to either extreme droughts or flooding or farmers missing planting seasons, we are really seeing not just reduced incomes but in some cases hunger in places where we should be able to feed everyone.

Peter Yeung (02:29):
Can you give me a case study for an example of a female founder, investing in them and what that looks like, the whole process?

Lyndsay Handler (02:38):
Yes. That’s my favorite part of the work we do. So an example of an amazing African female climate hero is Dr. Linda Davis. She is the founder of Giraffe Bioenergy. Linda spent 20 years getting her PhD in bioethanol and how to actually make new sustainable fuels from food sources. She built companies in the US that used ethanol to fly airlines. She then went to work with US government to build some of the most novel ethanol facilities. So she spent this career doing this in the US and then decided to go back to her home country of Kenya to do this there. Known technologies, amazing career, but when she got on the ground in Kenya, she could not raise the capital she needed to build a company she knew in and out. She spent years trying to fundraise and could never get enough money to get a real climate venture off the ground.

(03:39):
Everybody wants to see a new software platform, a venture-backable app. But what we need in Africa is actual real industries, real businesses doing the hard work. So we two years ago invested in Giraffe Bioenergy. We were the first investor, and then we helped her get to some of those proof points she needed to raise more capital. She’s now on her second round. She’s raising another $1 million US and will soon be raising $20 million to put up the first domestic bioethanol production facility in Kenya.

(04:12):
And what this will look like is actually she’ll have thousands of women planting a novel strain of cassava, which then is drought resistant and has high yields, and then she will turn that cassava into bioethanol, and then women will cook with that ethanol and reduce the smoke from their homes. They’re currently using charcoal cook stoves. They’ll cook with this clean fuel to provide food for their family.

(04:38):
So the impact of investing in an entrepreneur like Dr. Linda Davis is just incredible, and it’s a real shame that entrepreneurs like her cannot get the capital they need and the support they need. There’s many, many, many other examples like Linda Davis.

Peter Yeung (04:58):
You said there’s obstacles. What are they? What are you up against? Because this sounds so obvious, that solution, and it’s wonderful for everyone, I imagine, but what are the obstacles that are preventing that from happening all the time?

Lyndsay Handler (05:11):
So the primary challenge for female founders building climate companies in Africa is to find the right investors and to raise the right capital for their companies. A lot of these companies do not need venture capital. They need equity, project finance grants. They need blended finance. And despite many funds and investors saying they want to invest in more women, despite the fact that women for every dollar they raise are generating more revenue, more profit, and more excess, despite those realities, women still raise less than 4% of all climate capital in Africa.

(05:52):
And so, I really think we have to go one level above. And what we’re seeing is that we need more women, female fund managers. We need more funds that are dedicated to investing in women to see this needle really move in any meaningful direction.

(06:07):
And so at Delta40, we actually decided to build a female fund manager team. So 90% of our staff are women. The leaders looking for pipeline are women. The investment directors evaluating pipeline are women. And we think that that’s one of the things that we need to do to get more capital to the female funders that we feel are actually best positioned and actually can lead to the best returns as well.

Peter Yeung (06:33):
Do you feel like the needle’s moving in the right direction?

Lyndsay Handler (06:37):
Yeah. So I’ve been really lucky to be in climate in Africa for 21 years. And to be honest, I actually think it’s getting harder. A few reasons why: In the early 2000s, we had the microfinance movement, and the microfinance movement was deploying a lot of capital to women. We’ve seen a lot of success with that. And then in the 2010 to 2020, we saw venture capitalists come to Africa and bring a lot of equity. So we went from $500 million a year to more recently $7 billion a year going into the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa.

(07:14):
Yet what I am seeing is that investment in female founders was 8%, down to 4%, I think, globally post-Covid. We’re strangely seeing we’re losing ground on seeing women in the workplace, seeing women raise capital, and yet we need them. As Mary Robinson said yesterday on the Skoll stage, “We need women in these roles more than ever,” but they’re tired. They’re tired of having to work 10 times harder to raise capital. And so, I think we’re seeing women went into the workplace, and yet they’re still raising children. We’re still moms, and we’re having to work so much harder to raise every dollar. And so, I think that’s really starting to have its toll in today’s world.

(07:57):
So we really do need to, in our view, reimagine the way we find female entrepreneurs, the way we fund them, and the way we really, truly holistically support them on that journey so that they stay in these important leadership positions.

Peter Yeung (08:09):
What’s your vision of the world you’d like to create? What would it look like?

Lyndsay Handler (08:19):
Yeah. In 2009, I lived in a small Kenyan village for a whole year on a 50-watt solar home system with no refrigerator, a few lights. I thought a lot about what is the one thing we can do to improve quality of life? Because most people around the world live like that actually. Most people around the world live like people in rural Kenya or rural India and rural Brazil. What is the one thing we could do?

(08:47):
And I can say that I think we need to create a world where they have the capital they need to build small businesses or to get jobs and just have a basic income that gives them dignity, that allows them to feed their families and make their own choices. So I’m just really passionate about a world where everyone has the opportunity to create an income and then build the lives they want to build for their children with that income.

(09:14):
So we think a lot about job creation, and in some cases, as we face climate change, as we face the AI revolution, sometimes that might look like minimum basic income that enables people to invest in their own futures. So that’s the world.

(09:32):
Every business we invest in at Delta40, we are looking for businesses that create jobs or enable people to generate more income on their farms, and that’s the world that I am excited to see.

Peter Yeung (09:46):
That’s really great.

Lyndsay Handler (09:49):
Not sure we will see it in this generation. In some ways, we’re going the opposite way. Three people in America own more wealth than 50% of America. So there’s a lot of barriers to achieving that world. But everyone here at Skoll is actually working towards that world, and it’s actually weeks like this that inspire me that it will be possible one day.