Climate KIC: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 29 August 2025:
In the tide-worn fishing villages of Zanzibar, where seaweed farming is both lifeline and legacy, Coastal Biotech is taking the tradition to uncharted waters. The Tanzanian start-up is working at the cutting edge of marine science and climate resilience to help Tanzanian farmers secure their livelihoods.
Their mission is simple: turn local seaweed into natural fertilisers and compostable materials to heal soil, replace chemical fertilisers and enable plants to grow in tough conditions. Coastal Biotech is also using the natural polymers to develop alternative biomaterials for industries addicted to plastic. This solution simultaneously secures livelihoods of local farmers and offers industries a cleaner way forward.
Solutions born in the field, built for climate survival
Like any good idea, the concept was validated in the field, not a lab. Coastal Biotech is one of the winners of the first cohort of the Adaptation & Resilience ClimAccelerator – an initiative that is part of the Climate KIC Adaptation Innovation Cluster. The cluster is designed to accelerate Tanzania’s efforts to tackle climate change, increase resilience and sustainable development by supporting locally developed adaptation solutions for rural communities in Tanzania.
Steven Sillah, Director of Business at Coastal Biotech (Photo), recalls: “it became clear during early field trials with smallholder farmers in Zanzibar. We saw firsthand how degraded soils and unpredictable rainfall were impacting productivity, and how our seaweed-based bio-stimulants helped improve crop resilience. That was our “aha” moment: we realised that we weren’t just building a biotech product, but a climate adaptation tool.” And any climate adaptation tool is also a survival tool.
Tanzanian adaptation is non-negotiable
Coastal Biotech’s approach is grounded in biology, but its potential promise of supporting smallholder farmers while addressing climate vulnerability taps into a systemic problem. This is because Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world – one of the least prepared for climate change but most susceptible to climate shocks.
A 2024 report by FSD Africa indicates that Tanzania is the 45th most vulnerable country to climate change (out of 185). And, according to the IMF journal 2023, Tanzania is the 58th least prepared to leverage investments to adaptation actions. Adaptation is critical in Tanzania as its reliance on agriculture (24% of GDP and 66% of employment) leaves the nation economically vulnerable to supply shocks.
The blue economy potential
According to the World Bank, the blue economy is: “the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem.” Furthermore, the OECD estimates that the sustainable blue economy, a sector of the ocean economy, is expected to be worth US$3.2 trillion by 2030.
However, large funding gaps remain – not only in the ocean economy but also in adaptation-based ventures. And they remain despite the fact that at COP29, US$1.3 trillion was pledged to climate financing by 2035.
Access to finance: a barrier after pilot production
Despite traction with farmers and early production pilots, Coastal Biotech currently faces a barrier common to African climate innovators: access to finance. On this point, Sillah notes: “we bootstrapped the initial R&D and pilot production using personal funds and small grants. Our early traction came from field demos and strong partnerships with farmers. As we scale production and formalise our supply chains, we’re seeking blended capital, comprising grants for R&D and risk mitigation, alongside equity or revenue-based finance for commercialisation.”
Adaptation is traditionally harder to invest in than mitigation
Tanzania sits at the crossroads of extreme climate vulnerability and untapped entrepreneurial potential, yet investment in early-stage climate ventures remains strikingly low.
Larry Ayo (Photo) is a Tanzanian innovation strategist and the business director of SmartLab – a Climate KIC partner organisation that offers mentorship and accelerators for Tanzanian start-ups.
According to Larry Ayo: “adaptation is often community-based, decentralised, and context-specific, making it harder to scale uniformly or yield predictable returns, unlike mitigation (e.g., solar, EVs), which benefits from carbon markets and global tech pathways. Investment trends still favour mitigation, but the tides are slowly turning. We see growing interest from impact investors seeking resilience metrics and co-benefits, though local channels remain underdeveloped.”
Grassroots climate solutions, global blind spot
It’s a contradiction rooted in how we define and measure value. Adaptation solutions, like those pioneered by Coastal Biotech, offer tangible benefits to farmers, ecosystems, and local communities, yet these impacts are often overlooked because they fall outside traditional investment frameworks.
Investors still gravitate toward the fast, scalable returns associated with mitigation tech, while adaptation (slow-moving, deeply contextual, and community-driven) remains sidelined and severely underfunded. What we need isn’t just more funding, but new language, new metrics, and new models. We need to be able to communicate the value of adaptation in terms that investors understand – be it resilience, social equity, or reduced climate risk.
Tanzania’s nascent start-up culture needs nurturing
We also need financial structures that reflect its nature – tools like blended finance that de-risk early innovation and support scale on terms that make sense for the people building these solutions. In Tanzania, this gap is especially stark.
The local innovation ecosystem is emerging, but without access to risk-tolerant capital, even the most promising adaptation start-ups struggle to survive, while investment flows elsewhere, to louder, better-funded markets.
Calls for an enabling policy environment
Investor optimism has increased in recent years as well as government efforts to improve the business environment in Tanzania. However, significant policy and regulatory challenges continue to hinder entrepreneurship, particularly in the climate adaptation space.
Businesses face bureaucratic inefficiencies, unfavourable tax policies such as pre-revenue taxation, and high transaction costs that deter equity investment. Bank lending remains highly restrictive – leaving early-stage ventures without viable financing options.
Systemic barriers hinder scaling opportunities
For companies like Coastal Biotech, these systemic barriers – combined with limited infrastructure, regulatory delays, and a lack of local financing – are not fertile grounds for scaling.
While climate investment often flows to more visible ecosystems like Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, Tanzanian innovators remain overlooked due to a lack of exposure, local champions, and platforms to share their impact. An enabling policy environment is essential to unlock the full potential of Tanzanian grassroots climate solutions.
Backing local climate start-ups builds real resilience
Supporting climate start-ups in Tanzania is a smart investment, but it’s also a powerful step toward building resilience where it truly counts. As Sillah underlines: “we have raw ingenuity, untapped coastal resources, and real community demand.”
But funding alone isn’t enough. Start-ups like Coastal Biotech need technical assistance to scale, support with certifications and regulatory hurdles, and access to markets that value climate impact. A dedicated climate innovation fund, backed by public-private capital and fast-tracked regulatory support, could unlock enormous potential.
Proof of impact
“Of course, we’re building a company,” Sillah says. “But we’re building resilience, dignity, and a new future for our coastal communities too.” Every time a seaweed or land-based farmer says one of their products helped them survive a drought or increase their income, the team knows they’re on the right path. But without early support, these homegrown, locally tailored solutions risk being eclipsed by imported fixes that rarely fit.
About Climate KIC
Climate KIC, along with its partner SmartLab is nurturing an Adaptation Innovation Cluster in Tanzania funded by Irish Aid. These clusters take a place-based approach to solving agricultural challenges while unlocking economic opportunities. This article is part of a series highlighting our learnings on adaptation and climate innovation in various regions of Tanzania.
Quotes in this article have been edited for clarity – Credit feature image: Coastal Biotech.
Climate KIC works with communities, regions, and partners to build climate-resilient societies and tackle the root causes of climate breakdown. Through systemic innovation and collaboration, we support local solutions that enhance the resilience of people, ecosystems and economies to the growing impacts of climate change. Our #AdaptationInAction series highlights stories from our global adaptation portfolio, real examples of resilience in action. This is one of them.
Read the 2024 Report by FSD Africa
Read the World Bank Blue Economy Report
Read COP29 – US$1.3 trillion pledge to climate financing by 2035
About SmartLab – a Climate KIC partner organisation
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