Innovation Fund

The ChuiChui Mamas explore the Bambara groundnut and Bambara milk as a new income opportunity and step toward greater food security.
The ChuiChui Mamas explore the Bambara groundnut and Bambara milk as a new income opportunity and step toward greater food security. / Photo: Fiona Stappmanns

Innovation Fund

  • Our Objective

    The Innovation Fund supports early-stage ventures that develop nature-positive business models within the Wyss Academy’s Solutionscapes. It leverages private sector innovation and tailored financial instruments to drive systemic change, strengthening both ecosystems and local livelihoods.

  • Figures

    The project was launched on December 1, 2024 and is currently in progress.

Summary

The Innovation Fund is a catalytic financing mechanism that identifies, supports, and scales innovative ventures addressing key challenges in our Solutionscapes. It operates in contexts where traditional financing is often unavailable, providing flexible, impact-first instruments such as sustainability-linked loans or equity to enable experimentation and early growth.

The Fund works closely with regional hubs, local partners, and entrepreneurs to build a pipeline of investable solutions rooted in the local context. Its approach emphasizes systemic impact by supporting ventures that transform value chains, strengthen conservation-compatible livelihoods, and align economic incentives with nature stewardship.

Project Connections

Timeline

  • OnlyPlants x Chui Mamas: A bambara groundnut pilot

    Project Update March 19, 2026

    At the Wyss Academy for Nature, our Innovation Fund was created with a simple ambition: to support entrepreneurs who build nature-positive solutions together with local communities. We believe that lasting landscape restoration depends on business models that strengthen both ecosystems and livelihoods. Through the Fund, we back early-stage ventures that are willing to test new approaches in complex environments.We are therefore very pleased to share that we are investing in and partnering with OnlyPlants to pilot Bambara groundnut cultivation in Northern Kenya.Last year, the Wyss Academy and OnlyPlants teams spent time with the Chui Mamas, a women’s group in Laikipia, to introduce them to Bambara groundnut. The women have acquired their own land and are building independent income streams through farming. What stood out was not only their entrepreneurial spirit, but their curiosity. When introduced to Bambara, they immediately began asking practical questions. Could this crop thrive here? Could Bambara milk serve as a reliable source of nutrition during dry periods when livestock produce little milk?

    Chui Mamas

Team

  • Project contact

    Julia Cunha
    Fundraising & Business Development Expert

    Portrait of Julia Cunha
    Project contact

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