Verified questions
For 2026 application planning, founders should focus on the questions that reveal fit, judgment, and program-specific leverage:
What climate adaptation or resilience problem are you solving in Africa?
Why they ask this: Catalyst Fund is thesis-driven, so regional and climate context are not background details. The question checks whether the company is addressing a real adaptation or resilience problem in the markets the fund understands.
What a good answer looks like: Name the problem, the geography, and who experiences the risk. A strong answer links climate impact to a business model instead of treating impact as a slogan.
Which customer segment faces the climate risk you address?
Why they ask this: The customer segment matters because vulnerable users, commercial buyers, governments, and financial institutions can all appear in the same climate story. Reviewers need to know who adopts, pays, or benefits.
What a good answer looks like: Separate user, buyer, and beneficiary if they are different. Explain the segment's pain in concrete terms and show why this group is reachable.
What evidence of demand or field validation do you have?
Why they ask this: This question keeps the application grounded in observed behavior. Climate intent is not enough; Catalyst Fund wants signs that the market, community, or partner ecosystem is responding.
What a good answer looks like: Use pilots, usage, partnerships, paid demand, distribution learning, field research, or community validation. Make clear what the evidence proves and what is still unproven.
How would Catalyst Fund investment and venture-building support accelerate growth?
Why they ask this: Catalyst Fund asks this to understand whether its capital and operating support can change the company's next stage. The answer reveals whether the founder knows the actual growth constraint.
What a good answer looks like: Name the constraint and the support that would change it. Good answers connect funding, venture-building help, market access, or operating support to a measurable next step.
Source checked from Catalyst Fund source material. Application pages can change, so treat this as verified preparation material, not a substitute for the final form.