Closing Date: 17 August 2026
Apply now to join ASIF Ignite Africa Cohort 1 for early-stage startups
What is ASIF?
ASIF (Adaptation SME Innovation Facility) is a 5-year facility that supports 100+ SMEs across Africa, Latin America, and Asia in developing, deploying, and scaling climate adaptation solutions. It’s a sub-program of AFCIA (the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator), funded by the Adaptation Fund, implemented by UNIDO, and delivered in collaboration with BFA Global.
While ASIF uses the term SMEs, it means early-stage startups from founders still validating a prototype to ventures with a product in market, actively looking to scale.
ASIF Ignite Africa
A fully remote 8-week cohort-based program for founders with a prototype who need to put it in front of real users and come out the other side with credible proof points.
Who is Ignite for?
Founders building climate adaptation or resilience solutions for vulnerable communities, who have built something concrete (an app, device, data model, service protocol) but haven’t yet tested it with real intended users.
Ignite aim for cohorts with at least 40% women in leadership positions (ideally women-led or women co-led), and split roughly 50/50 between AI-first companies (where the model is the product) and AI-embedded companies (where AI sharpens an otherwise traditional solution). You don’t need deep AI experience to apply, just curiosity and willingness to learn and use AI tools during the cohort.
What you’ll get
- Weekly group workshops on AI methods and application, customer discovery, lean experimentation and impact measurement
- 1:1 office hours with specialists in AI, product and sector
- Subscriptions to select tools during the program
- Playbooks for testing in low-income, climate-vulnerable markets
- In-depth feedback on your onward journey from industry experts and investors
What you leave with
A refined, AI-enabled business model, evidence of impact and demand from real users, and a credible pitch to external stakeholders. Strong graduates are flagged for future Propel cohorts but Ignite doesn’t auto-progress companies.
ASIF Ignite Africa Cohort size and format
13-14 founders per cohort. Fully remote. 2 workshop sessions per week, plus asynchronous work between sessions. Content-based workshops can be recorded to support asynchronous participation for founders managing caregiving or business demands.
What are the focus areas, and why do they change per cohort?
ASIF has five focus areas: food and agri value chains, financial services for resilience, blue economy, urban adaptation and resilience, and health. Each cohort focuses on one of these areas, chosen based on what’s most critical for that region at the time the cohort runs. This lets ASIF provide deeper, more specialized support during each 8-week (Ignite) or 6-month (Propel) cohort. Focus areas for each cohort are confirmed about one month before the application window opens
What types of solutions does ASIF not support?
ASIF does not support: fossil fuel power plants or extraction; coal, oil or gas exploration, production or distribution; nuclear energy; hybrid systems co-firing fossil fuels; production of nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, or ozone-depleting substances; weapons and munitions; tobacco; gambling; alcoholic beverages (excluding beer and wine); harmful or exploitative labour including child or forced labour; trade in endangered species; and any activity expected to cause significant negative environmental impact or increase greenhouse gas emissions. You will be required to acknowledge that you don’t meet any of these criteria before you can submit your application.
ASIF also does not currently support solutions focused solely on mitigation without an adaptation angle.
Ignite Journey
MONTHS 1-3
Cohort selection
Active call window, application reviews, selection.
MONTHS 4-5
Onboarding & Workshops
Group sessions, 1:1 office hours, AI tools, building.
MONTHS 5-6
Close & Graduation
Evidence building, positioning, showcase & feedback forum.
Apply to Ignite
Expression of interest forms are open year-round. Those who express interest are notified and invited to apply when the application window for their region opens.
Click Here To Apply
Follow Opportunities For Everyone on Social Media
