Sanlam Investments: “A game changer in terms of accessing the next wave of green investment opportunities in Africa”

Exclusive interview with Todd Micklethwaite, Executive Head of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at Sanlam Alternative Investments. Sanlam Investments is returning as the title sponsor of the upcoming Africa’s Green Economy Summit (AGES) from 24–27 February 2026 in Cape Town for the third-year running. 

Interview Summary:
Sanlam Investments, through Sanlam Alternative Investments, calls on visionary partners and global investors to unite in driving Africa’s sustainable development – combining execution capability with long-term, commercially aligned capital to unlock the continent’s green economy. Backed by a parent operating across 27 African countries, the company emphasises three strategic priorities: aligned partners co-creating locally grounded solutions; platforms that align Africa’s needs with global investor mandates to purposefully direct capital at scale; and financial structures that retain and recycle capital so impact compounds over time. These are the practical levers most likely to turn intent into change. 

Its subsidiary, Climate Fund Managers, exemplifies this approach through blended finance vehicles such as Climate Investor One and Two—billion-dollar climate funds supported by global public and private sector capital—and through new energy transition initiatives now underway in Namibia and South Africa which will help galvanise Africa’s role in the emerging green hydrogen economy. 

Sanlam Investments’ vision for the upcoming AGES 2026 summit is to convert ambition into action by forming meaningful partnerships, moving from fragmented deals to scalable investment platforms, and attracting more global investment partners. The firm urges investors to view Africa’s green economy not as high-risk or concessionary but as an opportunity for diversification and yield – delivered through credible practitioners with proven institutional-grade governance and management.  

Innovation will be essential if Africa is to unlock investment at the scale that matters – and it is already proving possible. Working with Climate Fund Managers and the EU, Sanlam Alternative Investments enabled a ‘bridge-to-bond’ mechanism which creates a template to connect institutional fixed income capital with climate adaptation assets. Sanlam is also working with Ocean Finance Company to innovate in the blue economy, adapting principles from the Galapagos debt-for-nature swap into commercial instruments designed for African conservation. Looking ahead, Sanlam identifies digital infrastructure, green industrialisation and critical raw materials as key investment themes for Africa – and stresses that future investment must retain value, build resilience and drive inclusive development across the continent.

Q: Sanlam Investments has positioned itself as a leader in alternative and sustainable investing across Africa. What are the key strategic priorities driving your current investment approach in the green economy?

Our purpose as Sanlam Alternative Investments, the alternatives arm of the Sanlam Investment Group, is to create lasting value by unlocking potential in emerging economies. And Africa is core to this. 

Sanlam Group, our parent company, is present in 27 countries; a meaningful proportion of the group’s earnings are derived from Africa. And we are committed to investing in its long-term growth, its resilience and its prosperity.

There are three main principles driving our strategic priorities. First, we want to leverage Sanlam’s convening power, bringing aligned stakeholders to the table, using our collective platforms, our networks, our voices to promote the continent and its potential. And we really want to partner to structure real pathways to capital that flows into scalable solutions.  

The second principle: We are driving and building a pan-African investment platform, one that enables long-term institutional capital, specifically one that drives capital towards real economy projects and businesses at scale.  

The third principle is innovation. We want to design ways to attract and to retain capital on the continent, so not just bringing it here for the short term. And this isn’t necessarily in how we kind of put together investment strategies, but also we feel it’s important that practitioners package it to align with global demand and in particular institutional access.

If you think about our approach, historically, we’ve had a global pioneer in the form of our subsidiary business, Climate Fund Managers. One way that they’ve been able to drive investment into the green economy is by innovative structuring through whole of life financing to projects by blending public and private sector capital. So, delivering climate infrastructure in emerging markets faster, cheaper and at scale. Examples are Climate Investor One and Climate Investor Two which they’ve managed to scale and deliver two billion dollar funds, the latter being the largest climate adaptation fund in emerging markets to date that we are aware of. And close to home, two energy transition funds focused on green hydrogen recently launched in Namibia and in South Africa with meaningful support from the European Union. 

Q: AGES 2025 showcased an investment pipeline exceeding US$7 billion. What are you expecting from the 2026 summit?

In 2026, we want to turn ambition into tangible outcomes, really pathways to scalable platforms. So we would like to have more global investors at the table. We want a strong investment voice. We want to be able to align the opportunities in Africa with capital and with the mandates of those global investors. We want ambitious partnerships. It is pleasing to have the likes of the African Union and AfDB as sponsors of this event. 

We want to be able to partner on initiatives that create and unlock systemic solutions. We want to move from fragmented deals to scalable platforms. So, focus on scale, permanence and replicability. The bottom line is conversion, more MOUs moving to commitments, more global institutions interested in anchoring and supporting African platforms.

Q:What message would you share with institutional investors who are still hesitant about entering Africa’s green economy space?

To institutional investors who are hesitant, I would say Africa’s green economy is not a concessionary or an impact story. It’s a diversification and a yield story, and it’s underpinned by structural growth. That’s growth that’s built on global demand, which itself is driven by future technologies, sustainability and the associated resources that will drive those.

I would also add that the opportunities are attractive and plentiful. They span the full asset class spectrum: infrastructure, private equity, real estate, credit and nature-based assets. And you will find trusted partners with strong governance. Africa’s investable when it’s backed by managers and institutions that are based in-market and have institutional-grade oversight and transparency. These partners are available.  

I would also say it’s around institutional vehicle level access, the ability to find and invest into diversified pools of assets, particularly at scale with palatable liquidity. These are elements that we know that institutional investors globally demand. And it is definitely something that is able to be delivered.  

Finally on this point, I would say that perception is not reality when it comes to risk. Risk is often overestimated or misunderstood.  Where risk is mispriced, it actually creates an opportunity for investors, particularly those who want to engage early, that want to understand the context and want to structure accordingly.  

So, come on the journey with us, engage, understand actual risk, gather data or even co-create solutions that fit your mandates. Just build conviction in the jurisdictions, because you will be rewarded and you will be helping with the development of the continent.

Q: You referenced Ecuador’s debt-for-climate deal recently, tell us more about it, and are there similar innovative financing mechanisms being considered or piloted in Africa through Sanlam’s partnerships?

The debt for nature swap in Galapagos was really exciting because it was the largest ever debt for nature swap of its kind globally. Around $1.6 billion in debt was restructured, but also because it secured long-term perpetual funding for marine conservation.

We’re very focused on trying to bring some of those principles from that model into structured solutions that are fit for purpose for the continent, and in particular, where we can look to implement them through the private sector. So I’d say there are three focal areas for us: We want to create scalable platforms and programmes, not one of subscale transactions. We want perpetual impact. These are instruments that can build sustainability and conservation over the long term. And we want to find ways to support profitable, resilient businesses in the blue economy, so, in the ocean and coastal sectors.  

Africa should be a natural partner to help achieve the global goals for climate and biodiversity. Obviously abundant natural capital, but also an innovative and willing private sector. At Sanlam, we think we have a role to play in convening partners, designing instruments, and creating platforms that deliver both conservation and commercial returns.

Q: What role do blended finance models and partnerships with DFIs play in unlocking capital for Africa’s green transition?

I think there are many elements where it’s well-known what role blended finance and DFIs play in terms of galvanising investment into Africa. Ways like helping to turn unpalatable frontier risk into investment grade exposure, whether that’s using guarantees or subordinated layers or hedges and the like. We know that DFIs help validate new sectors, more recent examples being green hydrogen, the blue economy or other nature-based solutions. But increasingly, I think the role is to help structure tools and vehicles that unlock scale, bring in private sector capital at scale and also enable access to the broader capital markets. I think there are some good examples out there which are innovative, more recent, have been applied in other jurisdictions and can definitely be brought closer to home. 

A good example would be Climate Fund Managers which, in the recent final close of their second fund, Climate Investor Two, introduced a bridge-to-bond mechanism. The purpose of that is to open up climate adaptation infrastructure assets to bond investors. The structure is effectively a loan provided by Sanlam Alternative Investments, which is backed by a guarantee from the European Commission that will allow institutional fixed income investors to be able to access the underlying assets in a format that they can hold. And that will effectively be when that bridge loan is refinanced by a climate bond issuance. Why it matters, is that it transforms early-stage climate adaptation assets into mainstream investible instruments, and it aggregates high impact projects into a bond-ready portfolio.  

So, it’s really exciting the ways in which DFIs can help unlock private capital at scale and really support the development of the African continent.

Q: Looking ahead, what emerging trends or technologies do you believe will shape the next wave of green investment opportunities in Africa?

First and foremost, it’s important for us to better understand global mandates, not in order to change the underlying investments, but to package them in ways that align with how institutional capital assesses and accesses opportunities. And that for me is the game changer in terms of the next wave of green investment opportunities in Africa.

I think we have to also ensure that what’s investable for global capital also drives Africa development – whether that’s industrialisation or intra-regional trade for example – that value is retained on the continent, and that there is an emphasis on job creation and long-term resilience. These need to underpin the next stage in the development of the green economy.  

If I was to pick three specific themes, I would want to base them on scalability, on the return potential and alignment with global trends. So the first would be critical raw materials. Africa holds key reserves for green technologies like electric vehicles and solar panels, batteries and the like. And these are all foundational to the green energy transition. They are important for Africa’s development and they offer a strong export potential.  

The second would be digital infrastructure, such as data centres and edge computing. That’s based on the rising demand from AI, fintech and cloud computing. And energy efficient builds are going to be green and they’re going to be investable.  

The third would be green industrialisation. For investors the opportunity is going to be in financing enabling infrastructure, industrial parks and the like that underpin the growth of local economies and also will enable value chain integration for global corporates.  

While each of these are compelling investment opportunities in and of themselves, we must ensure that we build in ways that retain value in Africa. Growth needs to fuel local development and it needs to fuel long-term prosperity for our people, not just exports.