BIRA

Africa holds extraordinary biodiversity, yet nature-positive enterprises and conservation projects struggle to access the capital they need. Investors face small and fragmented pipelines, uneven measurement and unfamiliar risks. Communities and project developers face financing processes that were not designed around the time horizons or realities of nature.

BIRA is a coalition building the market infrastructure between high-potential nature-positive work and capital. It combines venture acceleration and investment readiness, ecosystem support, funder and buyer engagement, practitioner learning and executive training. The aim is not simply to prepare individual projects; it is to strengthen the conditions for a credible, inclusive African nature-finance market.

BIRA is a coalition including the African Leadership University School of Wildlife Conservation, Axum, CreditNature, Xilva, and Newt Capital.

• Accelerator - builds the commercial and investment readiness of nature-positive enterprises.

• Funders’ Circle - helps catalytic funders coordinate around pipeline and market gaps.

• Buyers’ Club - connects demand for credible nature outcomes with project developers.

• Communities of Practice - shares practical knowledge across forests, agroforestry and the blue economy.

• Executive learning - builds institutional capability to mobilise capital for nature.

SITU provides BIRA with an institutional and operating platform that supports financial management, partnership coordination, resource mobilisation and program delivery. This shared infrastructure enables the BIRA coalition to direct more attention towards building a credible pipeline of African nature-positive enterprises, strengthening investment readiness and developing the wider market mechanisms needed to connect biodiversity outcomes with capital. SITU works alongside the coalition and does not replace the specialist roles of its research, conservation, investment and technical partners.

BIRA is supporting a pipeline of 46 enterprises across agroforests, forestry, and the blue economy on the continent. Through support and facilitation, the accelerator has unlocked over 2 million dollars in funding for these nature-positive enterprises and instruments.