01: About ASIF
Q1. What is ASIF, and who runs it?
ASIF (Adaptation SME Innovation Facility) is a 5-year facility that supports 100+ SMEs across Africa, Latin America, and Asia in developing, deploying, and scaling climate adaptation solutions. It’s a sub-program of AFCIA (the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator), funded by the Adaptation Fund, implemented by UNIDO, and delivered in collaboration with BFA Global.
While ASIF uses the term SMEs, we mean early-stage startups from founders still validating a prototype to ventures with a product in market, actively looking to scale.
Q2. What does ASIF mean by “climate adaptation”?
Climate adaptation means helping people, communities, and systems cope with the impacts of climate change that are already happening or are now unavoidable: more frequent droughts, floods, heatwaves, storms, rising seas, shifting growing seasons, and water scarcity. ASIF supports SMEs whose products help vulnerable communities anticipate, absorb, recover from, or thrive despite these impacts. Mitigation-only solutions (reducing emissions without an adaptation angle) are not in scope.
Q3. What are the focus areas, and why do they change per cohort?
ASIF has five focus areas: food and agri value chains, financial services for resilience, blue economy, urban adaptation and resilience, and health. Each cohort focuses on one of these areas, chosen based on what’s most critical for that region at the time the cohort runs. This lets us provide deeper, more specialized support during each 8-week (Ignite) or 6-month (Propel) cohort. Focus areas for each cohort are confirmed about one month before the application window opens.
02: Eligibility & Geography
Q1. Which countries are eligible to apply?
You must be located in a country eligible for Adaptation Fund support across Africa, Asia or Latin America. This is a defined list of developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol or Paris Agreement and have a Designated Authority (DA) for the Adaptation Fund. The full list of eligible countries is available on the Adaptation Fund’s Designated Authorities page. If your country has a DA listed, then you are eligible. If you’re still unsure whether you qualify, email us at asif@bfaglobal.com explaining your specific situation.
Q2. Do I have to be registered as a company in my country of operation?
For Ignite, no, although it’s highly encouraged that you are registered or have plans to complete registration before the end of your time with Ignite.
For Propel, yes, you must be a registered legal entity in an eligible country. We accept various legal forms (Ltd, Pvt Ltd, LLC, cooperative, social enterprise, etc.) as long as the entity is properly registered and operational.
Q3. I’m a solo founder without a technical co-founder. Am I still eligible?
For Ignite, yes. We assess whether the team can deliver on the solution, not whether it ticks a particular team composition. Solo founders, non-technical founders, and small teams are all eligible. The cohort design (workshops, peer support, specialist office hours) is intended in part to compensate for the capacity gaps small teams face.
For Propel, we will assess your solution more deeply, along with your capacity to develop, deploy and operate it without a technical co-founder, before deciding whether you can benefit from Propel’s support.
Q4. What types of solutions does ASIF not support?
ASIF does not support: fossil fuel power plants or extraction; coal, oil or gas exploration, production or distribution; nuclear energy; hybrid systems co-firing fossil fuels; production of nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, or ozone-depleting substances; weapons and munitions; tobacco; gambling; alcoholic beverages (excluding beer and wine); harmful or exploitative labour including child or forced labour; trade in endangered species; and any activity expected to cause significant negative environmental impact or increase greenhouse gas emissions. You will be required to acknowledge that you don’t meet any of these criteria before you can submit your application.
We also do not currently support solutions focused solely on mitigation without an adaptation angle.
03: Ignite vs Propel
Q1. How do I know if I’m Ignite-stage or Propel-stage?
The clearest line is whether real intended users have used your product in a real context (not a demo, not internal testing). Ignite is for founders who have built something concrete but haven’t put it in front of real users yet, for detailed feedback that can inform product design iteration or go-to-market strategy. Propel is for SMEs whose products are in the market and have evidence of early traction. The self-check tool on the main ASIF page walks you through this in three questions.
Q2. Can I apply to both Ignite and Propel in the same window?
No. Ignite and Propel are designed for different stages, and applying to both signals to the reviewer that you haven’t located your own stage clearly. Pick the one that fits where you actually are. If you’re genuinely between stages (e.g., you’ve done a few internal tests, have iterated on product, but haven’t captured sufficient proof points to validate your product), consider applying to Ignite, as Propel requires a product in market.
Q3. If I do Ignite, am I guaranteed a spot in Propel later?
No, there’s no automatic progression. Strong Ignite graduates are encouraged to apply for future Propel cohorts, and we provide guidance on what investors and Propel reviewers will look for, but every Propel application is reviewed on its own merits.
04: AI & Technology
Q1. Do I need to be working with AI to apply?
No. ASIF aims to have roughly half AI-first companies and half AI-embedded companies in each cohort.
As an Ignite applicant, if you’re not currently using AI, that’s fine; you’ll learn how to use it during the cohort to validate your product faster and cheaper.
As a Propel applicant, where relevant, we can design some aspect of the bespoke venture-building support to help you build up your AI strengths. The bar is a willingness to learn and engage with AI tools, not prior AI building experience.
Q2. What does “AI-first” vs “AI-embedded” actually mean?
AI-first companies are ones where the AI is the product, the model, dataset, or algorithm is the core thing being sold (e.g., a yield-prediction model for farmers, a flood early-warning algorithm). AI-embedded companies use AI inside a broader solution that isn’t fundamentally built on AI (e.g., an agri-input company using AI to optimize distribution routes, or a clean-cooking company using AI in customer onboarding). Both are welcome.
05: Application Process
Q1. How long does the application take to complete?
Ignite applications take approximately 20-25 minutes if you have your company basics ready.
Propel applications take longer, typically 45-60 minutes, because they ask for more on traction, financials, and impact evidence. Both are submitted via Airtable.
Q2. What’s the selection timeline from submission to decision?
For Ignite, application reviews and shortlisting take about 3 months in total, with the first two months planned for receiving applications and the final month to review, shortlist and confirm the cohort.
For Propel, the timeline is slightly longer and can take up to 4 months in total, with the first two months planned for receiving applications and the final two months for reviews, shortlists, and deeper due diligence on team, operations, product, financials, and other dimensions.
06: Funding & Support
Q1. Does Ignite include any cash grant?
No. Ignite provides expert support, AI training, peer learning, playbooks, and access to industry experts and investors through a showcase and feedback forum, but no direct cash grant. The value is in accessing structured validation support to help you generate proof points for your product while building your AI muscle in parallel.
Q2. How does Propel’s performance-based grant disbursement work?
Each Propel company can receive between $70,000 and $90,000 in grants disbursed in three tranches. The first $20,000 is paid upfront after onboarding, to provide operating runway. The remaining amount is milestone-based, disbursed when you hit pre-agreed targets, such as reaching a defined number of new vulnerable end-users, improving user engagement, or generating specific impact evidence. Milestones are jointly set by your company and the ASIF team during the planning phase. Additionally, dedicated, bespoke, technical support is designed and delivered through ASIF specialists.
Q3. What happens after the program ends?
Alumni stay connected to ASIF through ongoing ecosystem and learning work coordinated by UNIDO. This may include attending networking or learning events with other practitioners, contributing to case studies or other insight pieces that spotlight your work and that the climate adaptation industry can benefit from. We also make warm introductions to investors and ecosystem partners where appropriate.
Alumni continue to share light-touch impact metrics for up to 2 years after program end, which inform our learning outputs and help demonstrate the program’s longer-term value.