The private sector: a catalyst for sustainable change

Investing in climate finance

Enabel accompanies governments to integrate climate priorities into national planning, fiscal policies and financing strategies. In Mozambique, Enabel supports the Ministry of Finance in shaping policies on circularity and fiscal measures related to waste, and contributes to projects focused on waste management and recycling.

This kind of support strengthens local ownership, which is essential to advancing coordination across public and private actors and to achieving impact at scale. Public-private partnerships in waste collection and waste separation, supported by Enabel, can be linked to private initiatives in the field of recycling.

Enabel also supports the creation of policy frameworks allowing private companies to tap into carbon markets.

Improving local value chains

In Côte d’Ivoire, Enabel works with Puratos, a Belgian producer and supplier of industrial bakery products, to support cocoa farmers in improving fermentation and drying processes. Puratos’ share of the partnership involves investment in cocoa processing units and training of farmers. Enabel supports marketing and management and facilitates fair trade certification in line with EU regulations on deforestation.

Investment in processing and training grows both local and export value, and complies with EU sustainability rules.

“We are proud of our partnership with Enabel and our network of cooperatives to further expand our sustainable Cocoa Trace programme in Côte d’Ivoire. This quality-oriented approach creates added value not only for farmers, but also for our customers. The expertise of Enabel’s local team is indispensable here.” Raphael Audoin-Rouzeau, Global Cacao Trace programme manager, Puratos.

Sourcing innovation

To encourage innovation, Enabel posts calls for proposals from private companies or organisations. In collaboration with the NIDO innovation lab of the Belgian Federal Public Service Policy and Support (BOSA), Enabel launched a call for innovative ideas to support the dairy sector in Niger and Mali in terms of hygiene and quality standards and to strengthen the cold chain. In Niger, Leuven-based startup IKIC.cool tested a cold-chain technology to improve milk collection.

“For a Belgian startup like IKIC, this creative and flexible partnership with Enabel is essential in our product strategy and market exploration.” William Leclef, Head Partnerships – West-Africa, IKIC

Leveraging corporate philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility

Enabel can also receive funding through corporate philanthropy or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes. These donations can support both existing and new projects. In Niger and Burundi, the Gates Foundation funds Enabel to implement a project aimed at reducing the malaria burden in Africa: this project focuses on enhancing healthcare centres, scaling up effective tools, improving disease surveillance, and advancing data-driven decision-making for malaria control.

“Public private partnerships are increasingly important in an evolving development landscape, as the public and philanthropic sectors are able to de-risk projects and investments to help encourage private sector engagement in low-income contexts that may have previously been perceived as too risky.” Gargee Ghosh, President of Global Policy & Advocacy at the Gates Foundation