At the recent Digital and Green Innovation Launch convened by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, one key insight stood out: “The most sustainable form of funding is revenue.” This reflection emerged from a robust conversation around the state of green innovation and financing, particularly within the African context.

In countries like Uganda and across many Least Developed Countries (LDCs), governments have emerged as the largest customers of green technologies. This is often driven by noble intentions: increasing public awareness, accelerating adoption, and steering national development toward sustainability. Alongside this, governments lead in financing sustainable development and shaping regulatory landscapes developing policies, principles, and taxonomies aimed at reducing greenwashing, ensuring compliance, and measuring progress.

However, in trying to solve the funding gap with a policy-heavy, donor-backed approach, we sometimes risk missing the core engine of sustainable innovation: the market.

When Policies Precede Innovation:

The influx of money into the green tech space while essential has also created an unintended dynamic. In many cases, private sector solutions evolve into fundraising models, rather than customer-centric businesses that are fit for purpose. This model discourages local innovation, slows product-market fit, and leaves LDCs dependent on importing technologies, business models, and even financing structures.

The consequence? Green technologies become expensive, innovation slows, and scalable markets fail to emerge. For countries operating in free-market economies, this is a significant roadblock to real progress. Without domestic innovation and repeat use (i.e., sales), the green transition becomes donor-reliant, policy-heavy, and unsustainable.

Innovation First, Then Policy:

When local entrepreneurs and niche sectors are supported to build solutions that customers buy and repeatedly use, we create demand-driven disruption of brown technologies. These market signals attract investment organically. Policies can then come in not to start change but to support, scale, and regulate an already transforming economy. This bottom-up approach ensures sustainability and resilience. Revenue not grants should be the long-term engine of impact.

A Medieval Reminder from Estonia:

While attending the event in Estonia, I also made a detour to the Torture Museum out of curiosity and a desire to reflect on human history and resilience. Let’s just say, the museum did not disappoint. It’s a brutal, honest chronicle of what societies are capable of when systems are designed without empathy or foresight. A humbling, if not chilling, reminder of the importance of designing for transformation, dignity, and human progress.

Final Thoughts:

As we build Uganda’s green and digital economy, let’s remember: true sustainability is not in the size of the grant, but in the strength of the customer base. Let’s invest in innovation that sells, scales, and shapes policies not the other way around.