ScaleUp Africa is a signatory to the #NotWaiting campaign led by Africa No Filter (Moky Mokura). Africa is making progress and has a number of compelling, dynamic stories to tell the world in ways that challenge traditional media and dominant narratives about Africa. Africa has the most youthful population in the world, projected to be the continent most able to support the rest of the World with its ageing populations and demographic issues. Africa is an undervalued market and region that has been extracted from rather than engaged as a partner. Africa based investors and venture capital or private equity firms have successfully invested and created over 300 Unicorns – dynamic businesses worth over $1bn; successfully creating jobs for the youth. Despite this progress and immense opportunity, Africa remains underfunded, exploited and excluded. According to The Global Philanthropy Report: Perspectives on the Global Foundation Sector by Paula D. Johnson and Harvard Kennedy School, a stark systemic disparity persists: less than 1% of formal global foundation grants are directed to Africa. Philanthropy needs to be more intentional about enabling new investments by being more catalytic and risk absorbing in order to drive investment and innovation in under-resourced, historically disadvantaged regions like Africa. Philanthropy needs to be more bold and diverse in terms of grantee bases, gender, climate and geographical reach given the fact that these issues and regions are disproportionately affected by the biggest challenges affecting human flourishing and planetary well-being.

“With the largest, youngest workforce, Africa has the capacity to feed the planet, power renewable energy solutions…”  The World Bank

 “Ignoring Africa is like ignoring the future ...” Ajay Banga, President, World Bank

For globally-focused progressive, forward-thinking High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs), family offices, private foundations, and next-generation philanthropists, this data is a critical call to action to address the acute inequality in global development resourcing.

At ScaleUp Africa, we guide progressive grantmakers and philanthropic investors in closing this structural funding gap. To drive sustainable social impact and actively amplify communities from which historical wealth was extracted, next-gen funders are moving away from traditional top-down models and adopting five transformative strategies. These strategies help philanthropists, advisors and practitioners learn how to be more effective and impactful with their philanthropy / philanthropic practices:

• Direct Asset Allocation: Shifting control from the Global North to the Global South, enabling locally-led institutions in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean to self-determine their own systemic solutions. E.g: community industrial processing hubs and cold chain logistics centres to reduce post-harvest losses for farmers and women in farming. 
• Strategic Joint Ventures and Partnerships with local intermediaries: Launching collaborative funding initiatives in systemically under-resourced regions to build resilient, localized grantmaking ecosystems.
• Proximate Decision-Making: Partnering with local African team members to ensure grantmaking decisions are deeply proximate to real-time challenges and opportunities.
• Flexible Funding Mechanisms: Utilizing intentional spend-down models and establishing permanent endowments to secure the long-term viability of diverse, underfunded African nonprofits.
• Empowering True Local Leaders and Institutions: Directing capital straight to local visionaries and institutions who possess the lived experience and trust required to scale real change.

The Future of Grantmaking is Proximate. By aligning your family office, foundation, or philanthropic portfolio with ScaleUp Africa, you don’t just fund projects, you actively rebalance the global development ecosystem, championing the next generation of locally-led African transformation.