The Global South Doesn’t Need Your HQ. But It Might Need Your Business Model
Ripple Hosts
Serhat Aydogdu
LeapFrog Investments
Rafael Mace
Just Climate - Generation IM
TL;DR
This Ripple explores how to maximize both climate impact and returns in emerging markets by aligning global business models with local realities. It’s a session for investors, founders, and ecosystem builders to exchange ideas on scaling solutions responsibly across geographies—bridging global innovation with local context to unlock meaningful, equitable outcomes.
Topic overview
Why is the topic relevant?
As climate tech investment accelerates, most capital still flows to companies based in developed markets. Yet the most severe climate risks, and in many cases the most scalable decarbonisation opportunities, lie in the Global South. This creates a strategic and moral tension: should we back global companies operating in or expanding into emerging markets or fund locally rooted ventures? Isn’t there an option to do both?
This Ripple is for anyone who has wrestled with how to create real, equitable, and scalable impact, whether as an investor, founder, policymaker, or operator. It will explore how business models scale across borders, how impact can be measured when headquarters are distant from the people affected, and what frameworks help us make better decisions in this global-local paradox.
Join if you're looking to challenge assumptions, share examples, and uncover new models of funding and partnership that bridge geographies and do so responsibly.
What’s up for discussion?
Can companies headquartered in developed markets create meaningful climate impact in emerging markets, or are they inherently extractive?
What makes a global business model genuinely adaptable and relevant in local contexts? What are the examples?
When is it better to back local ventures rather than scale global ones into new geographies?
How do different financing models, from venture to infrastructure to blended finance, affect the type of impact delivered?
How do we measure and validate impact when the beneficiaries are geographically and culturally distant from where decisions are made?
Who decides whether the impact is sufficient or equitable? Investors, founders, local communities, or someone else?
Dream outcome
That we leave the session with sharper questions than we came in with, but also with a clearer sense of what “good” can look like when investing across geographies. I’d love for attendees to walk away with new mental models, real-world examples, and perhaps even new partnerships that challenge how we think about scaling climate impact.
For me personally, the dream is to connect with others who are navigating this same dilemma and to co-create better approaches for aligning global capital with local climate priorities.
Who should attend?
This Ripple is for investors, founders, and ecosystem builders who are actively navigating the global-local dynamics of climate impact. I’d particularly welcome:
Climate investors allocating capital to global or emerging markets strategies
Founders scaling climate solutions across geographies, especially into the Global South
LPs or catalytic capital providers who think about additionality and impact measurement
Development finance or blended finance professionals
Policy and NGO leaders who see the real-world outcomes of climate investments
Having voices from both global capital and local implementation, especially those with lived experience in emerging markets, would deeply enrich the conversation.