NovFeed, a Tanzanian enterprise that uses microbial fermentation to turn organic waste into protein-rich fish feed and natural fertiliser, is one of five African enterprises selected for the first cohort of the Nature-First Innovation Lab (NFIL).
The 12-month accelerator, run by FSD Africa with Systemiq and the African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA) and backed by UK International Development and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), will help the five get ready to raise investment, with a collective fundraising target of around US$10 million.
Co-founded in 2020 by Diana Orembe and Otaigo Elisha, NovFeed takes waste that would otherwise be burned or thrown away and makes it into two products: feed for fish farms and fertiliser for crops. It sells through more than 300 shops and distributors across Tanzania, a country that still imports most of its fish feed and fertiliser. Its fertiliser returns nutrients to the soil rather than stripping them from it, and its feed gives Tanzanian fish farmers a locally made alternative to imports.
Through NFIL, NovFeed will get help to strengthen its investor materials, plan how it hires and keeps key staff, and meet investors for its current raise, as it expands production and reaches larger commercial customers.
Diana Orembe, Co-founder and CEO, NovFeed, said: “Joining the NFIL cohort is a proud and exciting moment for the NovFeed team, as we continue building practical, nature-positive solutions that create value for farmers while contributing to more sustainable food systems. NFIL comes at the right stage as we prepare for our next phase of scale, allowing us to strengthen our investment readiness, refine our growth strategy, and connect with the capital, strategic partners, and markets we need to take our proven model from Tanzania to wider African markets.”
Part of a pan-African cohort
The four other African enterprises selected alongside NovFeed are:
- Acacia EPZ (Kenya), an exporter of gum arabic providing an alternative to supplies interrupted by conflict in Sudan.
- Forested (East Africa), which works with smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda to supply regenerative honey, beeswax, shea butter, and oils to international beauty brands.
- ForestFoods (Kenya), which uses a Brazilian method of agroforestry
- Savanna Agri Chains (Ghana), which sources and exports shea butter and baobab with more than 1,000 women harvesters across 22 districts of Northern Ghana.
What links all five is that their revenue depends on maintaining or restoring healthy land, forests and soils.
An estimated 62% of Africa’s GDP is dependent on nature, according to research by FSD Africa and McKinsey Sustainability. Yet enterprises that build the protection and restoration of nature into their business model often struggle to raise the funding they need to grow.
NFIL aims to help fill this gap according to Dorothy Maseke, Head of the ANCA Secretariat and Lead, Nature Finance and TNFD at FSD Africa.
She said: “A growing number of African enterprises reach technical feasibility and then stall because revenues aren’t sufficiently anchored, governance is not investment-grade, and documentation is incomplete. It’s that gap between what grants and philanthropy will fund and where commercial capital begins that NFIL is designed to fill. These five enterprises are already established and generating revenue. What they need now is support to get investment-ready.”
Each enterprise will receive grants, help with financial planning, governance and measuring its impact on nature, along with introductions to investors. NFIL does not take equity. Its role is to bring enterprises to the point where investors can make a decision.
The first cohort focuses on regenerative supply chains. Regenerating the world’s 30 most valuable landscapes is a USD 310 billion opportunity for commercial investors, according to one recent estimate (BCG, 2025).
