Mélanie Keïta, a French-Senegalese entrepreneur, is the co-founder and CEO of Melanin Kapital, a fintech startup based in Kenya that aims to address the financing gap for African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) pursuing climate-conscious business models.
Founded in 2020, Melanin Kapital started as a crowd-lending platform but has since evolved into a broader ecosystem offering green credit and carbon offset services. The platform is aimed at SMEs in sectors such as clean energy, agriculture, and waste management, where traditional financing is often limited despite their environmental significance.
Keïta’s entry into impact finance stems from her professional background, including experience at the United Nations and development investment. Alongside her co-founder Ian Minjire, who brings expertise in sustainability engineering, she identified a systemic issue: the lack of accessible financial tools for African entrepreneurs integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices into their operations.
“We aim to bridge the SDG financial gap by channelling investments toward early-stage African entrepreneurs who are addressing critical social and climate challenges,” Mélanie Keïta tells Africa CEO Voices.
Melanin Kapital assesses SMEs using ESG standards and integrates climate data into its risk analysis. It has supported over 500 businesses and processed more than $1.5 million in green financing applications to date. The company has set an ambitious target to facilitate $1 billion in green financing and support one million SMEs by 2030, with a projected reduction of 50 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions.
In late 2023, Melanin Kapital secured a pre-seed investment of approximately €200,000 from Adaverse Accelerator, a venture capital initiative focused on supporting blockchain and impact-driven startups across Africa. The funding facilitates the expansion and development of climate-focused financial solutions for SMEs. Backed by a network of climate-conscious investors, the company is utilising the capital to scale its operations, enhance its ESG-driven credit evaluation tools, and expand its footprint in emerging African markets.
The businesswoman’s work has earned her recognition on platforms such as “Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe in Finance,” and Melanin Kapital has been spotlighted at innovation forums including “AfricArena” and “GITEX Africa.” Still in its pre-seed stage, the company is backed by climate-focused investors aiming to grow Africa’s green economy from the ground up.
Beyond the numbers, Mélanie Keïta represents a growing generation of African and diaspora entrepreneurs seeking to make climate stability central to the continent’s economic growth.
