Founding Director Jo Opot Leads Rihanna-Backed Gather Ventures, Which Is Investing In African-Led Businesses Building Climate Resilience

When Jo Opot was just 13 years old, she spent her school holidays managing her family’s small roadside food shack in Nairobi, Kenya.

She’d start her days before sunrise cleaning vegetables and end them late, balancing the books and paying workers. “I have never worked so hard and earned so little,” she said in an interview with AFROTECH™. Those early days taught her about grit, resilience, and the struggles that small business owners face, especially women trying to make ends meet with limited support.

Fast forward to today, and Opot is Founding Director of Gather Ventures, an impact fund with a mission close to her heart: investing in “ventures that both create climate resilience and drive asset creation for women and girls across Africa.” With a background that spans the United Nations, social innovation fellowships, and roles at TerraCycle and Acumen, she’s combining global experience with deep local understanding to make a difference.

Why Climate Action And Women’s Empowerment Go Hand in Hand

Gather Ventures, backed by singer Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation, is focused on sectors that matter most for women’s economic future: agriculture, construction and technology, education, and workforce development. Since launching in 2021, the firm has invested mainly in women-led businesses (86%) that offer climate-smart solutions (100%).

What makes Gather Ventures stand out is how flexible it is, offering everything from grants to equity or loans depending on what each business needs. And it doesn’t just invest money — the team walks alongside these entrepreneurs every step of the way.

Opot points to some powerful research that shaped their approach. She said that seminal research from Project Drawdown showed that investing in women’s agency and girls’ education is one of the top ways to reduce carbon emissions, more than tech solutions like better refrigeration or cutting food waste. Per the research, these efforts could reduce up to 119 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050. Other studies show that the longer girls stay in school, the better a country can handle climate disasters. And in places where women have more influence, carbon emissions tend to be lower.

But it’s not just about money coming in — ownership matters too.

“In Kenya, women’s constitutional right to inherit property was only legally recognized in 2012,” Opot tells AFROTECH™. “Many women build assets with their partners or families, but if their partners pass away, that wealth often goes to the man’s family, not the woman who contributed. We want to move beyond income to real asset ownership for women, so they can build intergenerational wealth.”

Real Impact Through Innovative Businesses

Take Giraffe Bioenergy, for example. Opot said the company, led by Kenyan Dr. Linda Davis, turns cassava — a hardy, drought-resistant feed crop mostly grown by women — into clean ethanol cooking fuel.

“Cassava used to spoil fast and had little market value, but now Giraffe Bioenergy engages smallholder female farmers, boosting their incomes six times. Plus, it creates new jobs for women in processing plants and provides a cleaner alternative to charcoal and firewood for cooking,” she said.

The company anticipates increasing production capacity to 45 million liters of ethanol cooking fuel by 2028 and improving food security to meet the needs of 9,000 community members within that same time frame.

Opot also stresses the importance of understanding women’s real needs. For example, in recent years, there have been many electric vehicle companies that offer women electric motorbikes, but many women don’t want this solution because they can’t effectively carry kids or groceries. So Mobility for Africa, one of the firm’s portfolio companies, makes tricycles designed for women’s daily lives. Opot says it’s crucial that financial returns don’t just benefit investors and executives but also everyone along the value chain. The firm was able to deploy 400 electric trikes by the end of 2024 with 70% of drivers being women. Another goal includes reaching deployment of 4,000 electric trikes by 2028.

A Vision For A More Inclusive, Sustainable Future

Looking ahead, Gather Ventures is supporting projects like women-owned fruit drying microprocessors that help farmers process and preserve their crops locally, adding value and keeping profits in the community. Opot says she imagines a future where women across Africa own green assets, increase their incomes, and pass that wealth on to their daughters.

“More capital needs to go to climate adaptation and resilience, not just mitigation, she said. “Low-income communities facing drought didn’t cause it, but they suffer the most. Second, gender needs to be mainstreamed in climate finance because investing in women is proven to be highly effective.”

Advice For Investors And Changemakers

For anyone wanting to make a difference in climate justice but unsure where to start, Opot’s advice is simple: “Don’t overcomplicate it. Listen and learn from those embedded in the communities you want to engage. Gather Ventures is led by African women solving African problems, which matters. Also, investment or grant committees should trust and empower local experts. Often, people on the ground have to adapt their approach to fit committee expectations — that dynamic needs to change.”

She also reminds investors that this is a long game.

Opot added, “Entrepreneurs and investors feel the pressure of making quick wins, but this market needs 5 to 10 years. We’re instrument agnostic, providing grants, working capital, equity, or debt as needed, helping entrepreneurs avoid taking the wrong capital for the wrong reasons. We focus on agriculture — the largest employer of women — and also on construction and tech, the fastest-growing sectors with the fewest women. To improve gender equity, we must get more women into growing sectors to ensure long-term, viable careers.”