Climate Finance Student Guy Ningabo Believes Better Impact Finance Can Transform Renewable Energy in Africa

Guy Ningabo was born and raised in Burundi, East Africa, one of the poorest nations in the world, during a civil war that lasted over a decade (from 1993 to 2005). The country entered a political and human rights crisis in 2015 that claimed hundreds of lives and drove teenage Ningabo and his family to neighboring Rwanda. Amid this turbulent backdrop, Ningabo saw education as a beacon of light.

After receiving a scholarship to study actuarial science as an undergraduate in Kenya, Ningabo landed on climate finance as a career path that could help his home country and continent.

Now, Ningabo is one of three students to receive the prestigious Stanley Park Climate Finance Scholarship for the M.S. in Climate Finance at the Columbia Climate School, offered in partnership with the Columbia Business School. Read more about his journey and what has kept Ningabo motivated below.

Can you tell us about your background and how you became interested in climate work?

I was born in Burundi. But at age 15, in 2015, my family and I were forced to flee because of political wars to Rwanda, where I finished high school. They sent intelligence units and militias to pursue us and bring us back or even kill us, because they were searching for military families who had gone abroad. So we were forced to look quickly where I could go, and that’s how I came to study in Kenya.

I received a scholarship to Strathmore University, where I studied actuarial science. While working on my bachelor’s, I wrote a paper looking into weather-related insurance premiums for smallholder farmers. When I was analyzing the rainfall data for that project, I saw a recognizable difference between the rainfall averages from 1961 to 2000 and the rainfall average between 2005 and above. This made me want to read more about climate change.

What inspired you to focus on climate finance?

After my bachelor’s degree, I got the chance to work with SIMA funds, which are impact asset manager funds, on various projects. In West Africa, they were funding renewable energy. They focused on the most developed countries in Africa because other poorer countries like mine didn’t have the data to back up any repayment of loans, so they would be deemed too risky. I found it a bit harsh, to be honest, because those were the countries were most in need among African nations.

I felt we needed to change this. That’s when I came across this M.S. in Climate Finance at Columbia. While I was looking into information sessions, I got the opportunity to listen to Lisa Sachs. I became very interested because I felt she was talking the same language as me, and I applied. If not for this Stanley Park scholarship, I’m not sure I would be able to attend this program.

Have you had mentors who helped guide your way?

I’ve done my best to surround myself with great people who can advise me, but I think mostly it’s because of my family. When I was growing up, my father would tell us that the only way out is through studies. Success is objective, but even if you end up being an entrepreneur and doing other things, it’s very important that you succeed in class, because it will show hard work and discipline, and that will build other skills.

I would also like to thank institutions such as Columbia University, who go above and beyond looking for students who have overcome significant obstacles, students who don’t have access to the same kind of education as other people due to different circumstances. I think if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am.

What skills or lessons do you hope to learn from the M.S. program?

One of my hopes during this program, or even after, is to be able to talk to the people who are dealing with these private credits to the renewable energy sector or credit rating agencies who are rating African countries back on my continent. I want to help them understand that they are holding us back by giving us bad rates; that it’s not necessarily true that their rates reflect how good our African economies are. If you compare France’s economic growth rates and average debt-to-GDP ratios these last 10 years with the Kenyan or Ethiopian or Ivory Coast economies, you will see that although France is rated higher by credit rating agencies, these economies in Africa are actually doing much better. My hope is to change those views, or maybe the financial models that they are building.

Which classes are you looking forward to taking?

I am excited to take Climate Change Adaptation. So far, we’ve been working on mitigation, but it’s time we start adapting to climate change. I also look forward to International Climate Finance to understand how this global network works together. And I’m interested in an elective on financing renewable energy.

In the future, where do you see yourself within the climate space?

I definitely want to be in impact finance, credit finance and renewable energy. If you look at Burundi, the electrification rate is just below 10% for the whole country, so we have miles to go. More recently, I’ve also been interested in the mining sector. With climate change, especially in African countries that have great natural resources, there are questions of how to use those resources, while also making sure they are not hurting our advancements against climate change. Which tools and innovations can we bring to balance that?

What keeps you motivated?

It’s not really about me anymore. It’s about my family, the sacrifices they made for me to be where I am today. I believe that despite, or maybe because of, what I’ve been through, I have a higher calling, and that is to help the African continent. If it is through the climate or climate finance space, then I’m more than happy to do that. I want to represent my family and my community.

I find it important to remember: Whatever you’re going through, at the end of the day, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Just keep pushing. Sometimes our ego can get in the way and we don’t see the blessings in front of us. It might take some time, but I believe the best is yet to come.