As the year’s final quarter begins, let’s take a look at the stories the Goodwell team has been sharing in the company chat and during our lunch break.
Vatican mandates impactful investing
With over a billion Catholics worldwide, the Catholic Church wields massive influence across the globe. Africa has experienced significant growth in its Catholic population, making it an increasingly powerful player on the continent. Recently, Pope Leo XIV published his first apostolic letter, restructuring the Vatican’s approach to its financial management. Vitally, he stipulates that from now on, the Vatican’s future investments must adhere to an impact investment strategy – one of “prudence, sustainability, and moral coherence”. With a renewed vigour for meaningful investments, how might the Church further deploy its wealth into Africa’s impact investment space?
Fintechs and crypto are re-wiring Africa’s banking system
A new report from the Standard Bank CIB finds that fintechs are shaking the very foundations of African banking. In 2024, over 80 billion mobile money transactions took place in sub-Saharan Africa, with cryptocurrencies experiencing a massive 52% surge in on-chain activities in the region. These rapid changes, the boom in mobile money, and increasingly complex regulations offer valuable opportunities for traditional banks and rising fintechs to collaborate on building resilient compliance structures and furthering financial inclusion.
2025 investors regaining confidence: African start-ups raise USD2.2 billion so far
Q3 closed strong for African investments, with start-ups raising USD785 million, outperforming the same period in 2024 (USD649 million), 2023 (USD496 million), and 2022 (USD612 million). The continent’s start-ups have raised $2.2 billion so far this year – just USD 40 million shy of 2024’s total funding. From fintech to healthtech to edtech, investors are steadily regaining confidence in Africa’s innovation after the 2022 high.
At Goodwell’s Amsterdam office, we’re always interested to hear about other Dutch impact investments. We read Business Day’s recent interview with Mohammed Salasi Idris, programme director of HortiNigeria, a nearly completed four-year horticulture development program funded by the Dutch embassy in Nigeria. The initiative aimed to build a more sustainable and inclusive horticulture sector, strengthening food security in Nigeria. One of our portfolio companies, Tomato Jos, participated in the program as a “female business champion”, and we’re excited to learn more details about the outcomes of this initiative.
Looking to the continent for climate leadership
The Gulf Times’ recent opinion piece on the future of climate action gave us plenty to discuss over coffee. As global political powers are reshuffled and the economy balances on a knife’s edge, Africa’s plentiful resources and growing population have the potential to make the continent a leader for climate action. The Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) is stepping up its investment in African sustainability, and – convincingly – encouraging others to do the same.
