Kenya Uganda Adaptation Accelerator Launched to Unlock Investment for Adaptation SMEs

The Kenya Uganda Adaptation Accelerator (KUAA) was officially launched on 6 July 2026 at the Adaptation Investment Summit for Africa (AISA 2026) in Nairobi. Funded by the Adaptation Fund and implemented by UNIDO together with adelphi global, Kenya Climate Ventures, and Finding XY, in close collaboration with the Governments of Kenya and Uganda, KUAA is a four-year, USD 5 million programme designed to unlock investment for early-growth, gender- and youth-inclusive adaptation SMEs across both countries.

A Critical Gap in Adaptation Finance

Kenya and Uganda share a climate reality already reshaping livelihoods: rising temperatures, increasingly erratic rainfall, and more frequent extremes are compounding vulnerabilities across agriculture, water, and food systems. Entrepreneurs across both countries are already developing technologies and business models that help farmers manage drought, strengthen water security, and build climate-resilient value chains. Yet too many of these businesses face the same obstacle: they struggle to access the finance needed to grow and scale their impact.

This is the challenge KUAA seeks to address. Early-growth adaptation SMEs fall into a "missing-middle" financing gap – perceived as too risky for conventional debt and equity, while local financial institutions lack the tools and products to evaluate and finance adaptation business models. KUAA is designed to close this gap by addressing both the demand and the supply sides of adaptation finance simultaneously.

Accelerating Adaptation SME investments in East Africa

The official launch took place as a dedicated session at AISA 2026 – one of Africa's leading adaptation finance convenings – bringing together investors, policymakers, development partners, and climate enterprises from across the continent. The setting underscored KUAA's ambition to position adaptation SME investment as a regional priority.

Linet Luvai, Deputy Representative for UNIDO in Kenya, opened the session by calling for a fundamental shift in how adaptation is understood:

"Climate adaptation is not only about managing risks – it is also about creating new economic opportunities, strengthening industries, supporting innovation and generating sustainable jobs. Adaptation SMEs have enormous potential to become drivers of resilient economic growth."

Paul Kivanyuma, Climate Finance Officer at Uganda's Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) – Uganda's National Designated Authority to the Adaptation Fund – welcomed the initiative on behalf of the Government of Uganda:

"The KUAA initiative is both timely and strategic for Kenya and Uganda. By unlocking investments for adaptation-focused SMEs, this programme will help bridge the financing gap, strengthen the pipeline of bankable adaptation projects, and catalyse greater private sector participation in climate action."

Dr Joyce Kaino, Assistant Director for Climate Change at Kenya's Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, delivered closing remarks, noting that KUAA addresses the real barrier facing adaptation entrepreneurs:

"Innovation is not the challenge. Across Africa, entrepreneurs are already developing solutions that help communities adapt to climate change. The real challenge is ensuring that these innovations can grow beyond the pilot stage. That requires investment. It requires stronger links between entrepreneurs and finance. It requires an enabling ecosystem where innovation, policy and capital work together."

The session also featured a technical presentation delivered by Mirko Zuerker, Director of Green Entrepreneurship at adelphi global, who presented KUAA's project design, theory of change, and blended finance approach to the audience of investors, enterprises, and ecosystem actors. This was followed by a panel discussion in which Eddie Sembatya, CEO of Finding XY, and Victor Ndiege, CEO of Kenya Climate Ventures (KCV), shared insights on the on-the-ground implementation approach and the opportunities and challenges of building a functioning adaptation finance market in Kenya and Uganda.

How KUAA Works: Three Mutually Reinforcing Components

KUAA delivers its objectives through three interconnected components:

Component 1 – Regional Coordination Hub: A pioneering knowledge and convening platform for Kenya and Uganda on adaptation entrepreneurship. Governed by a multi-stakeholder Adaptation Action Steering Committee comprising representatives from government, finance, entrepreneurship, and vulnerable communities, the Hub connects actors across the adaptation and climate-smart finance ecosystem, promotes cross-border learning, and builds the evidence base on SME contributions to resilience outcomes.

Component 2 – Performance-Based Grant and Enterprise Support: At least 100 adaptation SMEs will receive cohort-based business acceleration support to develop investment plans, strengthen their business models, and demonstrate bankability. A subset of 30 SMEs – of which at least 15 are women-led – will receive performance-based grants of up to USD 50,000 disbursed against co-defined Adaptation Performance Targets, complemented by one-to-one post-investment advisory.

Component 3 – Financial Institution Capacity and Blended Finance Instruments: KUAA builds the capacity and appetite of at least 15 local financial institutions in Kenya and Uganda to understand, assess, and finance adaptation SMEs through the Adaptation Finance Academy and Climate Strategy Workshops. Innovative blended finance instruments will be co-designed with financial institutions and impact investors to facilitate long-term commercial finance access for adaptation SMEs beyond the project period.

Looking Ahead

With first calls for SME applications planned for November 2026 and the inaugural Adaptation Finance Symposium scheduled for February 2027, KUAA is transitioning rapidly from design to action. As Dr Kaino put it at the close of the launch: 

"Its success will not be measured simply by the number of enterprises supported or investments mobilised. It will be measured by the partnerships we create, by the confidence we build among investors, and by the demonstration that investing in adaptation is not only necessary – it is also a smart economic opportunity."