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Building the restoration economy: Kenya unveils its first land restoration enabler award

Author: Fabiola Nava, UNCCD G20 Global Land Initiative, in collaboration with the Association of Startups & SMEs Enablers of Kenya (ASSEK)   |   March 11, 2026

A woman hands an award to another woman at an event, in Kenya

Association of Startups & SMEs Enablers of Kenya (ASSEK)

In Kenya’s fast-growing innovation landscape, it is often young ecopreneurs who capture the spotlight — pitching new ideas, building regenerative business models and inspiring the next wave of climate leadership. But behind every successful founder, there is an ecosystem. The accelerators, incubators, hubs and networks that walk with them from idea to impact. Last year, for the first time, those unsung ecosystem builders took center stage.

During the 7th ASSEK Annual Conference and Awards 2025 in Kenya, UNCCD’s G20 Global Land Initiative joined forces with ASSEK – the Association of Startups and SMEs Enablers of Kenya – to introduce a brand-new category: the Land Restoration Enabler Award. The award recognizes, and is dedicated to, the organizations empowering the entrepreneurs restoring the country’s landscapes.

The story of this award started months earlier, during G20 GLI’s mission to find and engage with Kenya’s Startup community. We gained an important insight from our meetings with accelerators, universities, youth networks and policy actors:  Kenya’s restoration economy cannot grow without the institutions that support entrepreneurs every day.

Whether by offering training, mentorship, community outreach, investment readiness or policy dialogue, Business Support Organizations (BSOs) shape the pathways for young innovators. More so, for those working on land, soil, water and biodiversity solutions. Yet this contribution was rarely recognized at a national level.  

Here was an opportunity for action. And so, together with ASSEK, we set out to make a change.

The Land Restoration Enabler Award is Born

The Land Restoration Enabler Award honors organizations advancing Kenya’s restoration agenda through innovation, capacity building, market facilitation or policy influence. In a country committed to restoring 5.1 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, these efforts matter now more than ever.

Following a rigorous jury review and an enthusiastic public voting round — with more than 500 votes cast — three exceptional finalists emerged.

E4Impact Entrepreneurship Center – the first runner-up – is known for supporting entrepreneurs working at the intersection of business and sustainability. Through its acceleration and incubation programs, E4Impact helps ventures in sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and eco-inclusive value chains (such as agroecology, community-based tourism, non-timber forest products) and supporting grassroots restoration-linked enterprises. 

The second runner-up, Sustainable Business Consulting (SBC), is a sustainability consulting and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards advisory firm that helps businesses integrate environmentally restorative and socially just practices. SBC supports companies to reimagine their operations with sustainability at the core — including land, resource and supply-chain management, circular economy approaches and sustainable investment strategies.

Jacob’s Ladder Africa, the winner of the 2025 Land Restoration Enabler Award, is a pan-African non-governmental organization focused on building a green workforce and unlocking climate-smart livelihoods. Through green-skills training, climate entrepreneurship support and youth-focused green-job pathways, Jacob’s Ladder Africa is helping to shape a new generation of restoration-conscious professionals — bridging youth employment, climate resilience and environmental stewardship.

Making the Invisible Enablers, Visible

The energy around this award was unmistakable. For many, it felt like a long-awaited moment: a chance to highlight the organizations that quietly cultivate Kenya’s restoration economy from the ground up.

“From our perspective, this award highlights not only individual achievement but also the collective progress we are making toward restoring our environment through innovation. It reaffirms our commitment to fostering collaborations that bring together entrepreneurs, policymakers and funders to scale nature-based solutions for a sustainable future.” — Mercy Kimalat, CEO, ASSEK. 

These words resonated deeply with the audience because they captured the heart of this initiative: restoration requires community, collaboration and long-term ecosystem building. Jacob’s Ladder Africa’s win reflected this spirit of collaborative impact. Their model is more than a program — it is a blueprint for how innovation can restore land while empowering people.

Kenya, one of G20 GLI’s first national engagements, offers fertile ground for this vision. With strong startup energy, youth dynamism and significant restoration needs, the country is poised to become a continental leader in restoration entrepreneurship.

The launch of the award is not the end of a journey; it is the beginning of a new chapter. A chapter where: 

  • BSOs are empowered to lead restoration-ready innovation 
  • Young entrepreneurs find supportive pathways to scale their ideas 
  • Investors and policymakers identify proven ecosystem actors 
  • Restoration is recognized as both an environmental and economic opportunity and  
  • Kenya’s commitment to healing land becomes a shared, community-driven mission.

As Kenya continues to advance its restoration commitments, a key focus will be deepening collaboration with universities, hubs, accelerators, youth networks and public institutions.

Together, we can expand the national ecosystem that supports land-linked enterprises, bring visibility to youth-led solutions and grow the restoration economy across the country.

To all the nominees, finalists and the 500+ community members who voted: thank you for shaping this milestone with us.

And to Jacob’s Ladder Africa, congratulations on making history as the first-ever Land Restoration Enabler Award winner. Your leadership lights the path for many more to follow.