PROJECT SAFFAL
5TH MARTH 2026
SINGAPORE
investor And donor SUMMIT
High-level convening bringing together donors, DFIs, impact investors, and ecosystem partners to co-design a $12M+ blended finance facility for women-led climate enterprises across South Asia. The roundtable catalyzes capital commitments, strategic partnerships, and pipeline development.
Last date for registration: 15th February, 2026
PROGRAM PARTNERS
Our program thrives on the support from our diverse network who share our mission to enable high-potential startups to deploy low-carbon solutions at scale.
ABOUT INVESTOR AND DONOR SUMMIT - SINGAPORE.
A half-day, invitation-only convening in Singapore, co-organized by the Massive Earth Foundation (MEF), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and UN Women, focused on accelerating gender-inclusive climate finance across South Asia.
The convening will bring together Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), donors, impact investors, corporates, technical partners, and women-led climate enterprises to collaboratively design blended finance solutions. The discussions will focus on addressing critical financing, risk-sharing, and market deployment gaps faced by women-led climate SMEs and startups across the region, with the objective of mobilizing capital, aligning partners, and advancing investible pipelines.
SAFFAL (South Asia Finance Facility for Acceleration and Leverage) is dedicated to empowering women-led SMEs in South Asia to scale clean energy and low carbon technology solutions, driving both environmental impact and gender equity.
OBJECTIVES
The Investor and Donor Summit will aim to
FOSTER ECOSYSTEM COLLABORATION
FOSTER ECOSYSTEM COLLABORATION
Encourage dialogue and partnership between investors, founders, corporates, and policymakers to strengthen the support ecosystem
DRIVE COLLECTIVE
ACTION
DRIVE COLLECTIVE
ACTION
Convene stakeholders from across the value chain to co-create a roadmap aimed at eliminating plastic pollution by 2030
INNOVATION
CONNECT
INNOVATION
CONNECT
Connect with leading startups developing innovative solutions to combat climate change from across APAC region
CONNECT WITH SECTORAL EXPERTS
CONNECT WITH SECTORAL EXPERTS
Network with leading experts across clean air, sustainable mobility, plastic pollution, agri-food, renewable energy, and more
CAPITAL
CONNECTIONS
CAPITAL
CONNECTIONS
VC Fund, Family Offices, Impact Investors, Donors, Fund of Funds, LPs, Philanthropic Organisations.
PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS
The Investor and Donor Summit will bring together leadership from leading institutions. Their presence ensures a high-quality, practical conversation focused on driving capital toward impact.
agenda
05 March, 2026
02:00-02:30 PM
Registration
Delegate registrations for Investor and Donor Summit will commence at 2:00 PM.
02:30-02:45 PM
Welcome Address & Opening Remarks
An introduction to Project SAFFAL’s vision to catalyze women-led climate enterprises across South Asia through innovative financing and ecosystem support.
02:45-03:00 PM
Keynote Address
Highlighting the gender and climate finance landscape in South Asia and the urgent need to unlock capital for inclusive climate innovation.
03:00-03:40 PM
Panel Discussion: Why Women-Led Climate SMEs Are the Missing Link in South Asia’s Climate Transition
This panel will examine why women-led climate SMEs, rather than early-stage startups or large-scale infrastructure projects, represent the most undercapitalized yet critical segment in South Asia’s climate transition. The discussion will move beyond the moral and traditional argument for gender inclusion to build a clear investment rationale, highlighting how these enterprises sit at the intersection of climate impact, job creation, and economic resilience.
03:40-04:20 PM
Panel Discussion: From Grant to Scale – How Blended Finance Can Unlock US$100M+ for Women-Led Climate Enterprises
This panel will explore how strategically deployed concessional capital can move beyond standalone grants to mobilize large-scale private investment into women-led climate enterprises. Framed around donor priorities of leverage, additionality, and capital mobilization, the discussion will examine how first-loss capital, guarantees, and risk-sharing structures can unlock institutional and commercial capital at scale.
04:20-04:40 PM
TEA BREAK
04:40-05:20 PM
Panel Discussion: Constructing Climate-Tech Portfolios – Risk, Returns, and the Strategic Role of Fund of Funds
This panel will explore how Fund of Funds approach climate-tech investing, balancing risk-adjusted returns while gaining diversified exposure through specialist managers. The discussion will examine portfolio construction strategies, allocation to emerging markets—particularly India—and the role of thematic and specialist funds in scaling climate innovation.
05:20-05:40 PM
Presentation: The Pooling Gap — Challenges in Creating Effective Pooling Structures for Climate SMEs
This session will examine the structural and operational challenges that limit the creation of effective pooling mechanisms for climate-focused SMEs in South Asia. While pooling is widely recognized as a solution to overcome small ticket sizes, high transaction costs, and perceived risk, its implementation for SMEs, particularly women-led enterprises, remains fragmented and underdeveloped.
05:40-06:40 PM
Closed-Door Roundtable (Chatham House Rule): What Would It Take for You to Commit? Designing a Facility That Donors and Investors Will Actually Fund
Moving beyond concept validation and high-level alignment, the discussion will focus on the concrete conditions under which donors and investors would be willing to commit capital to a women-led climate SME facility. Participants will engage in a candid, off-the-record exchange on risk tolerance, ticket sizes, return expectations, governance requirements, and decision-making timelines. The conversation will surface non-negotiables, design trade-offs, and practical constraints from both public and private capital provider, inputs that are rarely captured in open forums. Rather than presenting a finalized structure, the session will invite participants to actively shape the facility by articulating what would make it fundable, scalable, and institutionally credible from their respective perspectives.
