Our venture studio is where essential, low-tech solutions are conceived, built, and validated from scratch.
African coastal communities are at the frontline of the climate crisis, facing rapid fish stock depletion and coastal degradation.
This urgency demands a shift from passive support to proactive, regenerative innovation.
The Venture Studio is our strategic response—a dedicated greenhouse designed to shepherd Africa-rooted ideas from ideation to full market readiness. We fill the market gap by validating and rapid-prototyping accessible, contextually relevant solutions where conventional high-tech ecosystems often fail.
We go beyond traditional acceleration by identifying and filling critical market failures through active in-house co-creation.
By prototyping and de-risking ventures internally, we ensure every solution is engineered for local relevance and systemic impact.
Our portfolio of internal and collaborative disruption includes:
Developing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to provide small-scale fishers with critical environmental data.
This accessible, low-tech underwater drone is being co-created to democratize ocean data. Designed for operation by local fishers, it collects critical data to map biodiversity, monitor illegal fishing, and track environmental changes, thereby empowering communities with local environmental intelligence for sustainable resource management.
Engineering a solar-powered electric outboard engine for sustainable, carbon-free fishing vessel propulsion.
This is a clean, solar-powered alternative to polluting fuel-based motors used on small fishing vessels. Its simplified, low-component design makes it easy to maintain and repair in remote coastal settings, eliminating diesel leaks while reducing operating costs and providing health benefits by removing toxic exhaust fumes for local users.
Providing a specialized facility for external bold ideas, currently piloting a plastic circularity program in partnership with The Coca-Cola Foundation.
Engineering a solar-powered electric outboard engine for sustainable, carbon-free fishing vessel propulsion.
This is a clean, solar-powered alternative to polluting fuel-based motors used on small fishing vessels. Its simplified, low-component design makes it easy to maintain and repair in remote coastal settings, eliminating diesel leaks while reducing operating costs and providing health benefits by removing toxic exhaust fumes for local users.
As the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 shines a spotlight on Disruptive Innovation and the transition to nature-positive economies, venture building is emerging as a bold response from Africa’s coastal frontlines. This article explores how OceanHub Africa (IUCN Member organisation) is nurturing regenerative, low-tech ocean solutions – from underwater drones to solar-powered engines – that are restoring ecosystems, empowering communities, and putting the principles of a regenerative Blue Economy into practice.
