Africa has a tremendous opportunity to shape the next century and play a leading role in addressing global challenges. Our region has huge potential to have a positive impact on food systems, energy transition, climate change mitigation, aging populations around the world, and much more – and to do so as part of our own story of growth.

Sunru is a Partner at Dalberg based in Nairobi and brings expertise in inclusive business growth and investing for development. His multifaceted background spanning agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, the energy transition, and private equity positions him to help drive Dalberg’s vision of impact and innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. His clients range from major foundations and NGOs to impact investors and social enterprises.

Prior to joining Dalberg, Sunru was the COO of Mobius Motors, a venture-backed automotive start-up working to design and manufacture affordable cars for the East African market. In addition to overseeing Mobius’ operations and the development of the next-generation model, he also spearheaded the company’s key strategic pivots: setting up a micro-factory for local manufacturing and brokering an OEM partnership to launch the Mobius 3 to transform the business’s economics. Previously, Sunru also headed strategy in the design and incubation of the Ghana Commodity Exchange, raising capital from government, private investors, and DFIs, building ecosystem partnerships, and developing the GCX’s business plan.  

Previously, Sunru worked at Bain & Company in Boston where he focused on strategy and private equity and advised clients in a broad range of industries, including consumer products, industrial goods, healthcare, technology, and telecommunications. He has authored numerous cases and developed primer texts on strategy, game theory, and operations for Harvard Business Publishing. Sunru holds a BA in History and an MA in International Affairs from Washington University in St. Louis, as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.

What is a current problem statement you are working on that inspires you?

The urgency of climate change weighs on all of us, but I am inspired by the innovations being tested now and excited about the prospects of the African continent playing a leading role as part of the solution. There is so much we can do with our renewable energy potential and natural resources, and these can be part of the continent’s growth story in the coming decades. 

 In addition, I am always excited to work with social enterprises that are testing scalable ways to deliver critical goods and services in healthcare, electric vehicles, regenerative agriculture, and more. I love seeing entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers take on the challenge of serving a different customer segment, introducing an untested value proposition, challenging a conventional business model – or some combination of all three.

You have an extensive background in driving innovation. How important is innovation to the needs of the region today?

Innovation is not really a choice – even tried and true ideas cannot simply be copy-pasted because they do not quite fit local contexts or there is some adverse environmental impact that we are just now starting to understand. And I think that really moving the needle – whether you’re working on carbon removal or expanding universal health coverage or EV (electric vehicle) mobility – requires us to take some big swings to figure out what works.

How does your experience across agriculture, energy, healthcare, inclusive finance, and investing position you to further Dalberg’s vision of impact?

Our clients often turn to us because they possess a vision and an unwavering commitment to tackling complex challenges comprehensively. They seek partners who can not only understand the nuances of their specific sector but also can also transcend those boundaries to develop innovative solutions. One of the big value propositions of a global firm like Dalberg with a holistic approach to the development sector is that inbuilt in the model is the understanding that many of the impact challenges we face are connected – sometimes in obvious ways, but not always – and we may not be well-served by thinking about them in silos.

Second, quickly diagnosing what doesn’t work comes with pattern recognition, and I think that can be developed by spending time working across different sectors while always thinking rigorously about the same key questions: Is this designed right? How will real humans behave and make choices? Does that make this a viable model? Even as context changes, many of these underlying elements will stay consistent. And being able to think in that way positions us to start to get to solutions – whether that means simply fixing a discrete issue or stepping back and saying a fundamental rethink is required. 

Dalberg emphasizes the importance of inclusive business growth. What are the unique challenges and opportunities that Africa provides in this respect when it comes to green energy in the region? 

The potential for renewable energy is well understood, I think. Obviously, this can serve a huge basic need in energy access. But beyond this, Africa has opportunities in carbon removal, green manufacturing, and green hydrogen, for example, where the continent can pursue a growth agenda and also start to meet critical global needs. We know the interest is there. The recently concluded African Climate Summit secured $23 billion in green project pledges. We are also part of a shift today from Africa being perceived as a victim of climate change to being seen as an essential part of the solution. The more we come together and collaborate, and the more diverse perspectives we bring the better equipped we are to work together on this issue. 

Agriculture plays a significant role in sustainable development. How do you approach designing strategies that foster inclusive agricultural transformation and market growth?

We all know that there is much to improve in our food systems – what we eat, how we produce it, how it gets to us, and so on. We always keep the macro, systemic objectives in mind, which may be sustainable agriculture, food security, nutrition, or climate adaptation, when working with organizations. But then we really invest the time to drill down into the specifics. The devil is always in the details, particularly when trying to introduce something different that requires farmers or traders or consumers to do something different. This could be behavior change around the perceived value of biofortified beans or the business case for solar-powered irrigation or the gender dynamics of women collecting shea nuts from trees they don’t own. Our approach is always to try and get to the right level of specificity and nuance so that the solution design really fits with on-the-ground realities. 

Collaboration and partnerships are often critical in the development sector. What are promising trends that you are seeing in the region and where would you like to see more growth?

I am encouraged by the testing and growth of different blended finance tools which bring catalytic capital from the public sector or philanthropy to help unlock private sector investment. There are too many impact opportunities that have potential to scale, but only if we can get the right actors to take on the right levels and types of risk. Over the past decade, we’ve seen transaction volume grow 12 to 14% every year and there’s an estimated $200 billion of capital mobilized. This is not enough, but it’s a great start. Climate financing is getting a lot of attention, and rightly so, but we are also seeing transactions in financial inclusion, agriculture, education, and health. I am excited about some of the opportunity in EV public transport that I have helped evaluate, as this could really impact the emissions and quality of life issues of urban transport today.