By Eddy Ashioya
What you need to know:
- From the comfort of his office in Frankfurt, he manages Melanin Kapital, which connects start-ups with strategic partners
- Melanin Kapital has partnered with blue-chip government institutions such as GIZ, USAid and the Africa Guarantee Fund to provide affordable financing to SMEs in eastern Africa
Is there anything Ian Minjire can’t do? To answer that question, maybe let’s start with the things he can do.
For instance, he is the co-founder and Project Manager of Melanin Kapital, based in Frankfurt, Germany. Then, he is also a coach. He played rugby for Kenya, representing the country in the Hong Kong Finals in 2018, a moment he describes as his proudest, before going off in 2020 to get his coaching badges.
He had the ability to play high-level rugby with a resting heart rate, so much so that he won the German Bundesliga with Frankfurt 1880 while pursuing his Master of Urban Planning degree at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences on a sports scholarship. He drew the curtain on his rugby career after the 2018 Commonwealth Games and turned to coaching.
Ian Minjire is the co-founder and Project Manager of Melanin Kapital, which supports start-ups to improve their business models and also connects them with strategic partners to grow and achieve social impact.
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Ian doesn’t take credit for his mentees’ performances. “A coach taking credit for a player is like a cockerel taking credit for the sun coming up.” He is also a co-founder and the CEO of Tuungane Foundation, leading a team of 15 to build government and corporate partnerships in Germany and Kenya.
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In 2021, he was awarded the Forbes Top 30 Under 30 in Europe. He he has just turned 31, and the fire in his belly burns with the verve of an Old Testament prophet.
So what’s all the furore about Melanin Kapital?
At Melanin, Ian supports start-ups to improve their business models and connects them with strategic partners to grow and achieve social impact.
In addition, Melanin Kapital helps small businesses access solar equipment or electric mobility solutions in Kenya. It also leverages both blockchain and AI technologies to track financial and CO2 (carbon dioxide) data, which it uses to provide green loans and carbon credits in real time for small African businesses.
Samuel Oliech (with the ball) charges past teammates Ian Minjire and Michael Okombe during their training session for Africa Cup Rugby Group A1 match against Namibia on August 5, 2015 at RFUEA grounds.
File | Nation Media Group
Ian says the venture has three verticals: Kijani Farm, which provides financing for solar irrigation, solar water pumps and solar greenhouses; Kijani Power, which focuses on small retail shops located outside urban areas, providing them with solar panels and fridges to help them store food and fresh produce; and Kijani Move Green Mobility, which focuses on e-logistics.
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The start-up has been UN-certified to lead green energy transition efforts. It calculates carbon credits through its AI algorithms “because all the equipment that we finance is IoT-connected”.
Since inception, Melanin Kapital has partnered with blue-chip government institutions such as GIZ, USAid and the Africa Guarantee Fund to provide affordable financing to SMEs in eastern Africa.
“Currently,” says Ian, “we are working on a pilot with ABSA Bank Kenya to support 1,500 women-led SMEs to go green and $1.5 million access green credit digitally.” Their pound of flesh? Melanin Kapital charges a monthly subscription fee of $5 to $15 per month per SME, and charges the financier a revenue share of 30 per cent to access its data and finance its SMEs.
Ian looks cosmopolitan but professional, business rather than glitz. Was it always like this for this civil engineer-turned-entrepreneur? “I realise I was a very impact-oriented individual. I had to help other people, and I wanted to know what I could do, thus my move to clean transportation and sustainability.
I wrote a thesis on the efficacy of public transport for Nairobi and how we need to go green. The issue was financing. So, we decided to build a fintech company that gives business access to green finance. This was in 2020..”
Ian Minjire (left) turning out for Kenya Sevens together with Daniel Koech last year. Minjire was named in the Kenya Simbas squad on July 28, 2016.
File | Nation Media Group
Playing rugby at international level enabled him to build a wide network globally and in Kenya, both in the private and public sectors. Education added silk to his rugby silk, and why not?
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It is through rugby that he won his academic scholarships – first to Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology to study civil engineering through the Impala Saracens, then to Germany on a DAAD scholarship for his internship, and later, for his masters, the Frankfurt Rugby Club.
The dream, he says, is to be the largest private fintech platform in Africa with over one billion assets in management. “My background in engineering pushed me towards transport engineering, which led me to sustainable transportation, in other words, transport that emits little carbon,” he says.
“If Nairobi used more public transport, we would use less cars; this which was at the crux of my thesis. My study was on how to get people to transform to more sustainable transport hoods. We want to be eco-warriors.
But electric bikes are more expensive than fuel bikes, which is where we come in, offering finance for businesses for green assets. For anything that makes you go green or assets that require you to use less carbon, we will finance you – from solar irrigation to fridges.”
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Ian’s co-founder is Melanie Keita. He brings the passion, Keita the finance expertise. He tells me their biggest achievement – apart from the numerous accolades – is the model that they have come up with.
“Our programme helps businesses come on board. There are donors who have funded businesses to go through it, like ABSA d the Africa Guarantee Fund, which provided financial support for 660 businesses. But this is not yet in the open market.”
The open version, he says, will be released in the next five to six months.
He points out that Africa is not the biggest carbon emitter. “But that does not stop us from benefitting from the money the other big emitters make. There have been regulations all over the world to reduce it, and if you have to emit a certain level of carbon, you have to pay for it.
This is called carbon offsetting – a certain amount of money that you have to pay. This money is collected in a pool of “green finance” to fund green projects that absorb carbon from the world. These are called carbon credits. You can be paid by carbon offset for your carbon credits through the carbon market.” It is what you would call an Uncle Monty deal: very expensive to those who can’t afford it; good business for those who can.
Pearls, they say, do not lie on the seashore. If you want one, you must dive in. Ian, seemingly, has been diving since he was born. “I was always trNing to buy things from outside [the country] to sell them in Kenya. I wanted to see how to get value out of something. One time, I was wearing some nice fresh boots and someone offered to buy them. I sold them, of course. It’s what a good businessman would do.”
Ian is always watching and observing. Even those who decry his laidback nature cannot deny the scale of his ambition. “My work as an engineer is to innovate. It burns within you, and you are designed to solve problems. The innovation led me to green financing and we built a tool, and what better way to do it than with tech? Plus, when I got to Germany every solution I heard about was based in Europe. Why were we as Africa being left out? As Kenya?”
What is the one lesson that guides him? “It’s more of a collection of lessons. Most people see failure as a reason to stop doing something. But failure is the journey toward success. It improves you. You have to try and be willing to fail and switch the parts that do not work.” But what is success? “Success (for me) is managing to get the last mile in the delivery of finance to people and give them the ability to reduce their carbon footprint.”
Have things turned out the way he expected at 31? “God has put me exactly where I was supposed to be. If my five-year plan does not work, I will restrategise and get another plan. I do not take it as a problem, but more of a realignment. I am exactly where I am supposed to be.”
So, is he smart or lucky? “Actually, I am blessed. My life is a combination of hard work, resilience, discipline and great mentors. I believe in opportunity and hard work.” And he already knows what his epitaph will read: “Family man, lover of life, and traveller. The man who never gave up.”
Maybe that is why he fears not delivering on his promise. It is what drives him. Failure, like fear, fuels him. Green fuel, of course.