28 Apr 2023
The Green Economic Transition Facility (GETF) Launch, Wednesday April 26, 2023
Over 70 business captains from Malawi’s private sector on Wednesday April 26, joined the launch of the Green Economic Transition Facility (GETF), where they got a glimpse of the facility aimed at catalysing private sector led investments in the green business solutions.
The GETF will provide matching grants of between $40,000 and $300,000 and on-demand technical assistance of up to $35,000 to boost private sector investments in green products, technologies, services, and related business solutions to help urban and peri-urban residents transition into adopting usage of green solutions.
These green business solutions, said Seamus O’grady, Irish Ambassador to Malawi, “have been perceived to be too risky, behaviourally difficult to pursue by private sector, or as having too low a financial return to go ahead on purely commercial terms, but have potential to deliver, not only environmental impact, but also significant social impact- in the Malawian economy, if successfully delivered through commercially driven projects.”
The Irish Aid is supporting Window 1 of the facility which will see successful projects receiving matching grants and technical assistance to catalyse investments in alternative sources of energy and fuel efficient solutions whose first round call for application to submit expression of interest closes on 19th May, 2023.
According to the UNDP resident representative, Shikegi Komatsubara, central to the concept of the GETF is the “de-risking and accelerating growth of innovative ideas in green business solutions.”
During the event, that was also attended by banking executives, the GETF’s Project manager Tambulani Chunga unpacked the GETF to help would-be applicants understand, among others, the criteria, and the application process.
"At GETF, we're committed to partnering with entrepreneurs with the appetite to fully realize the benefits of green business solutions," says Chunga.
While emphasising the government’s support, Alfonso Chikuni, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, urged private sector players to take advantage of the GETF opportunity and apply for the funding opportunities.
“As government we will always be available to support any request to process legal and regulatory applications by private sector companies to comply with the requirements of realising their green business solutions,” he said.