By Jacob Winiecki

Africa stands at the forefront of a global green transition, uniquely positioned to address two pressing challenges: unemployment and environmental sustainability. Green jobs—roles that actively contribute to preserving the environment, mitigating climate change, and promoting sustainability—offer a dual impact: they can create dignified employment opportunities while addressing critical environmental challenges. At the Jobtech Alliance, we believe that green jobtech platforms—digital tools that connect individuals to green jobs, facilitate skills development, and promote sustainability—are at the heart of unlocking this potential.

This landscape study marks the beginning of a series of sector deep dives that we’ll publish throughout the first two quarters of 2025. These reports aim to articulate our investment thesis, showcase our analysis of platform opportunities, and inspire more investors to build and support businesses that will shape Africa’s workforce. This study involved extensive desk research, expert interviews, and a detailed review of over 50 platforms, with 25 analyzed in depth. We focused on identifying platform models with the greatest potential to scale employment opportunities in the green economy. 

What are Green Jobs? Unpacking the ecosystem

Green jobs are more than just employment opportunities—they are critical roles that drive environmental sustainability, combat climate change, and promote socio-economic resilience. At their core, green jobs contribute to preserving or restoring environmental quality by reducing resource consumption, minimizing waste and pollution, and protecting biodiversity. These roles can be found in emerging sectors like renewable energy, e-mobility, and waste management, as well as in traditional industries undergoing sustainable transitions through roles in carbon finance, ESG reporting, and environmental compliance.

The green job ecosystem is diverse and includes a wide range of skill levels and sectors. For example:

• Unskilled roles require minimal formal education or training and involve basic manual labor or simple tasks. Examples include waste collectors, tree planters for ecosystem restoration, and entry-level recyclers handling raw material sorting.
• Specialized roles require vocational training or certifications and involve some technical skills and expertise. Examples include solar installation technicians, EV maintenance technicians, and specialists operating solar irrigation systems.
• General and Administrative roles involve managerial and support functions that require organizational, communication, and administrative skills. Examples include project managers for solar projects, logistics coordinators for waste and recycling platforms, and customer service representatives supporting green product platforms.
• Advanced roles demand high levels of education, specialized knowledge, and significant expertise in a particular field. Examples include renewable energy engineers, carbon finance analysts, and ESG reporting specialists. 

By focusing on digital platforms that support access to these roles—whether through training, accreditation, or job matching—we believe that green jobtech can play a transformative role in enabling Africa’s workforce to lead in the global green transition.

What we explored and why we’re excited

Our research focused on five high-potential green sub-sectors: Energy & Power, Mobility & Transportation, Waste & Recycling, Agriculture & Nature, and Global Green Services. These sectors represent areas where digital platforms can make the greatest impact by creating pathways to sustainable work.

Energy and Power is the largest green job employer, with the solar sub-sector alone projected to generate up to 1.7 million direct jobs over the next five years, driven by residential and small business solar installations and the growth of commercial and industrial-scale solar projects. Platforms like Instollar focus on training and matching technicians for solar installations, PVGreeenCard trains and provides certifications to solar technicians, while other platforms are emerging to re-skill traditional electricians for renewable energy roles, creating a versatile and growing workforce.

Beyond energy-specific roles, we’re particularly excited about green product agent models, which empower individual entrepreneurs to sell and earn from green products and services. Platforms like MPower, Baobab+, and BrightLife exemplify this model by equipping agents with renewable energy products such as cookstoves and solar portable lights, while also aggregating additional services. For instance, agents often earn from selling electric bikes, productive use appliances like irrigation kits, or even digital financial services. These platforms provide entrepreneurs with the products, training, and digital tools to act as the face of sales, distribution, and financing for green solutions, creating scalable and localized opportunities that extend the reach and impact of green technologies across the continent.

Agriculture and Nature are expected to generate 20% of Africa’s green jobs, largely through climate-smart technologies like solar irrigation, aquaculture, and cold storage, alongside ecosystem conservation and restoration efforts. We have chosen to prioritize areas where individuals in agriculture and nature value chains can earn from complementary activities, such as equipment rental, seasonal labor, or ecosystem restoration, which are often overlooked by conventional ag-tech platforms. Platforms like Hello Tractor and TROTRO Tractor enable farmers to hire equipment and labor, while others focus on connecting individuals to seasonal farm work (AgriShare) or paid activities like tree planting (Veritree) that can be monetized through environmental finance markets.

The waste and recycling sector is projected to create over 200,000 jobs in the next five years, primarily in waste collection, sorting, and materials handling. Platforms such as Scrapays and Wecyclers support independent workers in collecting and processing materials, creating income opportunities within recycling value chains. We also see potential in sustainable e-commerce platforms sourcing products from recycled materials, though this is an area we plan to monitor for future investments.

Electric mobility is nascent but growing rapidly, projected to create just under 100,000 jobs by 2030 in EV sales, maintenance, and charging infrastructure. Platforms like GreenWheels Africa offer ride-hailing and delivery services exclusively using EVs, matching drivers with demand while supporting them in accessing green mobility. There is significant potential for platforms to train and match technicians for EV maintenance, which we will watch as the sector evolves.

Global green services represent a transformative opportunity for connecting Africa’s workforce with global demand for green jobs and climate-focused services. These platform models enable Africans to access work opportunities driven by international markets, whether through migration platforms that prepare and place workers in high-demand green roles abroad, or digital platforms that link individuals with remote work opportunities in global climate action, ESG compliance, and carbon finance. By bridging the gap between African talent and international needs, these platforms unlock scalable income opportunities while contributing to global sustainability goals, positioning Africa as a key player in the green transition.

Calls to Action: What we think needs to happen next

At Jobtech Alliance, we see green jobtech as an extraordinary opportunity to align economic growth with environmental sustainability, and we invite you to join us in shaping this space:

• To Existing Jobtech Platforms and Aspiring Entrepreneurs: The potential for green jobtech is immense, and we encourage you to build solutions that address workforce needs in green sectors. Whether you’re innovating in renewable energy, e-mobility, sustainable agriculture, or waste management, we’d love to connect, share insights, and explore opportunities to collaborate.
• To Funders—Donors, Impact Investors, and VCs: Green jobtech platforms are tackling critical workforce constraints in sectors essential for economic growth and climate action. For funders already focused on renewable energy, e-mobility, or other green sectors, we encourage you to integrate jobtech platforms into your investment thesis. These platforms are not just enablers—they are catalysts for scaling the green economy and delivering impactful, sustainable outcomes.
• To Ecosystem Players: Jobtech platforms are an essential part of advancing green sectors, and we invite ecosystem players to collaborate with us. Whether through joint research, sharing successful business models, or co-developing solutions, there are many ways to support this growing space and drive meaningful progress together.
• To Startups and Entrepreneurs: If you’re looking to build a business that combines meaningful impact with significant growth potential, the green jobtech space is waiting for you. This is your chance to create innovative platforms that unlock opportunities, address workforce challenges, and contribute to the global green transition.

Conclusion: A green future for Africa’s workforce

The transition to a green economy represents one of the most significant opportunities for Africa’s workforce and the planet’s future. Green jobtech platforms are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between workforce needs and the transformative potential of green sectors, from energy and agriculture to waste management and mobility.

Through this landscape study, we’ve identified high-potential sub-sectors, emerging platform models, and critical gaps that need to be addressed to unlock the full potential of this space. As we continue this work, we’re excited to engage with funders, innovators, and ecosystem players to drive this movement forward. Together, we can build a future where green jobs are accessible, impactful, and central to Africa’s economic and environmental transformation.

We encourage you to download the full landscape study and join us in shaping the future of green jobtech. Let’s work together to create scalable solutions, empower Africa’s workforce, and drive lasting change.