Grant Funding Landscape in Africa: Part 4
This is a four-part series, where we engage Irene Ikomu, The Muyi Group’s CEO (Chief Executive Officer) on her insights and thoughts on funding in Africa with a special focus on Grant Funding. Check out our Insights page for other parts.
Question: What are the long-term benefits of an organization partnering with grant making organizations?
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The biggest benefit comes from just the fact that it is patient capital. One, it does not need to be repaid. It is more about addressing the problems that do not need to have a quick return immediately. If you are trying to change behavior, if you are trying to change community, that takes a while, and grant funding does not need to see an immediate impact.
More than any other type of money that’s available, grant funding is focused on impact. What is the impact you are trying to have? It does not force but allows you to really think through who you are trying to change, and it helps a lot of organizations transition from a kind of ambition to more purpose. The Impact would be the best long-term benefit for most organizations.
Question: For grant making organizations, which type partners should they look out for when looking for the right causes to fund?
A good place to start for a lot of people looking for partners is with the mission and the values. What are they trying to do and how are they trying to do it?
You find a lot of partners will naturally gravitate towards, for example SDGs are people solving because that is something that globally everyone is collectively working towards.
For grant making organizations, you should also really think through the impact. Sometimes we have a focus on grant making on the turnover of the project and the numbers that benefited. But impact is less visible, and impact takes a while. The question is also what does impact look like and how can you tweak that beyond the numbers?
Who is leading this organization? Are they passionate about what they are trying to do? And if things get hard, and it always does when you are trying to solve problems like poverty or development issues, do they have the resilience to stick through it and to lead the organization through challenges?
Looking more towards younger people as well because sometimes that blind energy that youth comes with a lot of creativity. Making space in your portfolio for creative ideas that may not be structured, but that could offer a new perspective on a problem that you are trying to solve and the opportunity for collaboration among the people that you support.
For grant makers that come from outside the continent, being open to working with partners like the Muyi Group can help give you a localized perspective of what works and what does not. Helping you find those ideal partners that you could support is another thing that grant makers should consider as they grow their portfolio and work towards impact.