Grace Ashiru
The Judith Neilson Foundation has partnered with the Million Lives Collective (MLC) to launch the African Cities Innovation Fund, a new grant program designed to support tech-driven urban solutions across African cities. Announced at the IDIA global summit in Nairobi, the fund will provide grants of up to USD 75K to collaborative teams focused on creating digital tools and infrastructure for addressing transport, climate stress, and basic services.
As Africa’s urban population is projected to double to 1.4 billion by 2050, traditional infrastructure is struggling to keep up, while venture capital for civic and climate tech has slowed. The fund introduces a novel approach: supporting collaborations between startups, civic organizations, and public agencies, rather than individual projects.
The selected teams will also receive technical assistance and access to global development funders, with the goal of evaluating not only the effectiveness of the ideas but also the scalability of these partnerships under real-world conditions.
