By Murimi Gitari, October 30, 2026, A Kenyan exporter of conflict-free gum arabic and a farm group practising a Brazilian method of agroforestry around Limuru, Naivasha and Naro Moru are among five African enterprises selected for the first cohort of the Nature-First Innovation Lab (NFIL), announced on Wednesday.
The 12-month accelerator is run by FSD Africa with Systemiq and the African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA), and is backed by UK International Development and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). It will help the five enterprises prepare to raise investment, with a combined fundraising target of about USD 10 million.
The two Kenyan firms are Acacia EPZ and ForestFoods. Acacia EPZ, founded in 2015 by Sam Ombogo Nyamboga, exports gum arabic, an ingredient used in soft drinks, sweets and medicines. More than 70% of its collectors are women who depend on healthy trees for their income. With war disrupting supply from Sudan, the company offers buyers a traceable, conflict-free alternative, and its revenues have grown 56% in the past two years.
ForestFoods is one of the few enterprises in East Africa showing that syntropic agroforestry can make money. The approach grows trees, crops and livestock together so that the land regenerates. The company farms near Limuru, Naivasha and Naro Moru and is developing a new site at Shimba Hills.
They join three other African enterprises in the cohort. Forested works with smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda to supply regenerative honey, beeswax, shea butter and oils to international beauty brands. NovFeed in Tanzania turns organic waste into fish feed and fertiliser, while Savanna Agri Chains in Ghana sources and exports shea butter and baobab with more than 1,000 women harvesters across 22 districts of Northern Ghana. What links all five is that their revenue depends on maintaining or restoring healthy land, forests and soils.
The programme comes as research by FSD Africa and McKinsey Sustainability estimates that 62% of Africa’s GDP depends on nature. Yet enterprises that build the protection and restoration of nature into their business models often struggle to raise the money they need to grow.
Dorothy Maseke, Head of the ANCA Secretariat and Lead, Nature Finance and TNFD at FSD Africa, said NFIL is designed to close that gap. “A growing number of African enterprises reach technical feasibility and then stall because revenues aren’t sufficiently anchored, governance is not investment-grade, and documentation is incomplete,” she said. “It’s that gap between what grants and philanthropy will fund and where commercial capital begins that NFIL is designed to fill.”
She added that the five enterprises are already established and generating revenue, and that what they need now is support to become investment-ready.
Each enterprise will receive grants and help with financial planning, governance and measuring its impact on nature, along with introductions to investors. NFIL does not take equity. Its role is to bring enterprises to the point where investors can make a decision.
The first cohort focuses on regenerative supply chains. According to a 2025 estimate by BCG, regenerating the world’s 30 most valuable landscapes is a USD 310 billion opportunity for commercial investors.
Mr. Nyamboga, Founder and CEO of Acacia EPZ, called the selection a real milestone for the company. “It recognises what we’ve believed since day one: that keeping Kenya’s acacia woodlands standing and building genuine incomes for the families who harvest from them are the same task, not competing ones,” he said. “The world needs a source of gum arabic it can trust, one that isn’t tied to conflict, and that is exactly what we are building.”
Sven Verwiel, Co-Founder and CEO of ForestFoods, said the company wants to show that producing good food, restoring landscapes and creating meaningful livelihoods can go hand in hand with running a commercially successful business. “As we expand to Shimba Hills, NFIL will help us strengthen the business model that connects our farms and growers with processing, training and reliable markets,” he said, adding that he hopes the programme will unlock the investment and partnerships the company needs to grow.
