The Rallying Cry

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time.
But traditional leadership models are failing our planet.
More of the same will not work.

The Rallying Cry is about catalysing new leadership and investment approaches to scale private sector climate and gender solutions in Africa.

The Initiative

The Initiative

The Rallying Cry launched as a non-profit initiative in 2020 with funding from FMO and Building Prospects, supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Our early research publications and participation in events like COP26 and COP27 helped amplify the wisdom of Kenyan and Zambian women business leaders to inspire global change and drive real climate action.

From our beginnings as a non-profit focused on female-led agribusinesses, we have expanded our focus over the years. We have evolved to support gender-responsive climate innovators across the whole bioeconomy and African continent, bringing local solutions to global challenges.

To ensure our survival within a challenging funding landscape, in 2023 we adapted our business model. We now deliver for-profit Advisory services alongside our continuing grant-funded non-profit Initiative.

The Rallying Cry Flywheel

Scaling local solutions to tackle global challenges

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Growing & Scaling Local Expertise

Frontline climate/ gender-smart enterprises grow and scale, inspire others, and deliver more and better mitigation and adaptation solutions

Elevating Frontline Innovators

African innovators gain recognition and influence with success stories and data from lived experiences

Advancing Inclusive Climate Leadership

Global climate leadership involves more diverse voices which catalyse policy and funding commitments

Unlocking Capital for Climate-Gender Solutions

More international climate and development finance is channelled towards climate-and gender-smart enterprises

  • Growing & Scaling Local Expertise

    Frontline climate/ gender-smart enterprises grow and scale, inspire others, and deliver more and better mitigation and adaptation solutions

  • Elevating Frontline Innovators

    African innovators gain recognition and influence with success stories and data from lived experiences

  • Advancing Inclusive Climate Leadership

    Global climate leadership involves more diverse voices which catalyse policy and funding commitments

  • Unlocking Capital for Climate-Gender Solutions

    More international climate and development finance is channelled towards climate-and gender-smart enterprises

Activator Program

The Rallying Cry Activator Program is a gender-smart climate acceleration initiative implemented under the Resilient Futures Fund to unlock catalytic private capital for women-led climate enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through a three-pillar resilience framework, the program strengthens women entrepreneurs as scalable drivers of solutions across renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, climate-smart agri-processing, and sustainable aquaculture. These enterprises generate a triple dividend of climate mitigation and adaptation, gender equity, and improved community health outcomes.

  • Founder resilience – strengthening leadership, confidence, decision-making, delegation, and personal resilience.
  • Business resilience – strengthening financial management, governance, strategy, operations, and investor readiness.
  • Climate resilience – helping enterprises measure, communicate, and strengthen their climate and gender impact.

For more information, see our Activator Program FAQs 

The Challenge

There is an urgent need and widespread demand for more inclusive action to address climate change. This should be led by those experiencing and adapting to it first.

Rural entrepreneurs across Africa, especially women, are disproportionately impacted by climate change and are already driving solutions in their businesses. 

However, they are underrepresented in decision-making and economic participation and are significantly less likely to access the investment needed to scale their enterprises.

How the Activator Program works

Diagnose

Enterprise assessments identify business, leadership, climate, gender, and capital needs.

Strengthen

Tailored technical assistance, coaching, peer learning, and resilience-building strengthen enterprise foundations.

Prepare

Financial models, governance, pitch decks, data rooms, and impact measurement are strengthened for investment readiness.

Connect

Investor engagement, ecosystem events, and investor showcases connect enterprises to potential capital and strategic partners.

Catalyse

Targeted catalytic grants address critical gaps and help enterprises translate readiness into growth.

Over six months, participating SMEs received a combination of tailored technical assistance, one-on-one advisory support, peer learning, investor readiness support, and catalytic grants.

Impact

The Activator Program has supported meaningful shifts in founder leadership and resilience, business maturity, and climate and gender impact.

15
SMEs participated across Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
10
SMEs progressed into the capital linkages phase
8
SMEs secured capital through grants, debt, equity, and convertible instruments
10

SMEs completed carbon accounting for the first time

7

SMEs quantified avoided emissions and/or carbon removals

21%

increase in women in full-time employment across the cohort

25%
of senior management comprised of women in 14 of 15 businesses
14

field visits strengthened operational and investor due diligence

>80%

cumulative attendance in peer learning and coaching activities across the cohort

Beyond these numbers, founders reported greater confidence, stronger delegation, improved financial governance, clearer capital strategies, and more structured approaches to climate and gender impact.

Participating SMEs

“Our shared future depends on every agribusiness finding ways of providing high-value, nutritious and safe fruits and vegetables for generations to come. How we treat the soil will impact all of us, so we better start now. There is no time to waste. I am playing my part. It is time global leaders played theirs.”

– Mulenga Lusafya-Mwitwa

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