Africa’s energy transition represents far more than an environmental necessity; it is an economic opportunity. Yet the investments required cannot be met by public finance alone. Unlocking progress, to close the investment gap, will depend on mobilising private capital and deploying it through specialised, innovative, and locally dependent investment approaches tailored to emerging markets.

Cygnum Capital focuses exclusively on frontier and emerging markets. With over USD 1.3 billion under management across seven funds, Cygnum Capital channels global capital directly into impactful private sector initiatives in the most challenging markets. Its mandate is to unlock high-impact, scalable private-sector investments that drive inclusive growth and sustainability, with a central focus on accelerating Africa’s energy transition. Over the past 7 years, Cygnum has deployed more than USD 750 million into clean energy and energy access investments across Africa. These include solar PV, mini-grids, green infrastructure bonds and energy-efficiency initiatives, each tailored to local contexts and designed for sustainable long-term, measurable impact.

Cygnum’s approach is deeply entrepreneurial, combining blended finance, local partnerships, and tailored structuring to de-risk private capital flows into energy transition sectors. This has led to innovative product development in three high-impact areas:

Green Bond Investment

The African Local Currency Bond (ALCB) Fund continues to advance the development of Africa’s domestic capital markets, with over USD 450 million committed across 17 countries and a local investment leverage of 9.1 times. As an anchor investor in CEC Renewables Limited, a subsidiary of Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) Plc, the Fund invested USD 16 million across the company’s debut 2023 green bond issuance of USD 53.5 million and its follow-on 2024 issuance of USD 96 million. These transactions financed CEC’s renewable portfolio, including the Itimpi PV project, and represented Zambia’s first corporate green bond programme. Both issuances were heavily oversubscribed, attracting participation from regional banks, asset managers, and development finance institutions. This principle demonstrates the ALCB Fund’s strategic value proposition: pioneering local currency instruments, mobilizing domestic institutional capital, and driving investment in scalable renewable energy infrastructure across Africa.

ALCB Fund is itself rated Baa1 by Moody’s and has issued notes to global institutional investors via its medium-term note programme – deploying these funds in domestic corporate bonds across Africa.

Distributed Renewables Investment

The Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI) continues to catalyse high-impact renewable energy deployment across Africa, with over USD 350 million invested in C&I and mini-grid solutions in more than 15 countries. As an early supporter of CrossBoundary Energy (CBE), FEI provided CBE’s first debt facility in 2023, enabling the platform to scale its market-leading C&I portfolio. FEI subsequently partnered with Standard Bank of South Africa to structure a larger debt package, further accelerating CBE’s growth. Since then, CBE has raised over USD 500 million. This trajectory underscores FEI’s strategic value proposition: assuming early-stage risk, unlocking bankability, and crowding in commercial capital at scale.

Energy Efficiency and Decarbonization

The Africa Green Growth (AGG) Fund continues to accelerate the deployment of sustainable energy and efficiency solutions across Africa, with over USD 165.9 million in committed capital driving decarbonization in sectors such as agribusiness, manufacturing, and logistics. As an early backer of Cold Solutions Kazi (CSK) in Uganda, AGG provided a cornerstone investment enabling the company to establish East Africa’s first large-scale, energy-efficient cold-chain storage and logistics platform. This support allowed CSK to expand its operations, integrate renewable power systems, and enhance cold storage capacity critical for reducing post-harvest losses and improving food security. Building on this success, AGG is partnering with additional regional financiers to mobilize further commercial investment into CSK’s growth phase, extending its impact across neighbouring markets. This path highlights AGG’s strategic value proposition: providing catalytic capital at early growth stages, mainstreaming bankable green infrastructure, and crowding in institutional investors to scale climate-smart industrial transformation.

After several years of investing in emerging markets, Cygnum Capital concluded that:

• Local-currency financing reliably reduces risk and supports long-term sustainability, while blended capital structures help unlock institutional investment that would not enter these markets otherwise.
• Specialist funds with focused mandates consistently outperform generalist strategies in emerging markets, and strong local partnerships remain essential for effective project origination, execution and monitoring.
• By contrast, copy-and-paste models imported from developed markets rarely succeed, and one-size-fits-all investment structures do not work in the diverse, fast-evolving environments found across the continent.

Driving meaningful private-sector investment in Africa’s energy transition requires a combination of specialized investors such as Cygnum Capital, who bring deep market knowledge and sector expertise; patient capital blended with public or concessional support to absorb early-stage risk; innovative financial products tailored to the needs of underserved markets; and close collaboration with local partners and regulators to ensure solutions are practical, scalable and durable.

Cygnum Capital is not just investing in Africa’s future; it is helping to shape it. With a distinctive track record, deep sector expertise and a strong commitment to innovation, Cygnum Capital is demonstrating that climate-aligned, commercially viable investments are not only achievable in emerging markets but essential for long-term, sustainable growth.