From Classroom to Climate Action: Revolutionizing Sustainability in Africa
The Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise celebrates 20 for 20 honoree CJ Fonzi, MBA ’08, cofounder and COO of Africa Climate Ventures.
CJ Fonzi, MBA ’08, cofounder and COO of Africa Climate Ventures
Driven by a deep discomfort with global levels of inequality and determined to ensure his career contributes to a more equal and just world, CJ Fonzi, MBA ’08, is relentless in his commitment to social and environmental impact. As cofounder and COO of Africa Climate Ventures (ACV), he believes that Africa has the potential to capitalize on a climate-positive growth agenda, driving employment and wealth creation by implementing smart policy, programs, and investments. A graduate of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Fonzi is one of the 20 for 20 Notable Alumni honored in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise (CSGE) at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.
Fonzi’s dedication to driving impact began during his time at Cornell University, where the connection between environmental sustainability and economic justice became clear to him. Prior to launching ACV, he was a partner at Dalberg Advisors, where his portfolio focused on impact investing, agriculture, and climate. Now, Fonzi and his colleagues are applying a venture-building approach to creating a portfolio of businesses set up to make a meaningful contribution to global climate objectives while driving economic growth and employment across Africa.
Reflecting on his experience at the SC Johnson College of Business, Fonzi said: “The Sustainable Global Enterprise faculty had a big influence on the career path I chose and how I thought about building my career. The SGE faculty were mentors for me at a formative time. The things they got me interested in, and their belief that I was capable of building a career out of them, played a big role in shaping my path.”
Learn more about Fonzi in this Q&A.
Role of education in driving sustainability
Q. What are the most valuable things you learned at Cornell that have helped you in your career?
Fonzi: The nuts-and-bolts classes were the most important. It can be very tempting to get past this stuff quickly and get into the more job-specific, soft stuff. I’d warn against that. The basic tools of business are relatively simple: financial modeling, cost and financial accounting, market sizing, operational process modeling, etc. An ability to comfortably deploy these tools, however, is required for good decision-making, leadership, and resource allocation. Professionals who have not mastered these basics struggle to pull together compelling cases and drive change. Leaders with a solid base are positioned to excel at what they’re doing, opening options to move into places and spaces they find the most interesting.
Q. What role do you see business schools and universities playing in advancing sustainability initiatives, and how can alumni contribute to this effort?
Fonzi: Universities and business schools have a huge role to play in advancing sustainability growth agendas. Universities have both the intellectual horsepower to generate new ideas and the credibility to put those ideas into the marketplace. Topics of sustainable growth are no longer niche. We’re seeing all the top global business schools take them on.
In the years since I completed business school, we’ve moved from the need to advocate for sustainable growth mindsets to the need for data, tools, policies, and benchmarks built on industry-specific insights. The nature of business schools has them somewhat removed from the day-to-day challenges of business leaders. This is where I see alumni contributing. From time to time, an alum’s organization may have a specific project they need done, and project-based courses can be helpful there.
However, I believe it would be even more powerful for alumni to support business schools in identifying crucial issues for focus, and for students, faculty and researchers to focus on tackling them. For example: What is a reasonable line for foundations to draw when seeking to provide catalytic blended finance without leading to private benefit? How can we securitize carbon finance products to increase liquidity for catalytic carbon buyers? What policy interventions would increase uptake of green fertilizers without jeopardizing agricultural productivity or food security?
Navigating the challenges of resistance to change
Q. Describe the biggest challenge you have encountered as you built your career in sustainability and how you overcame it.
Fonzi: The most consistent challenge that I’ve faced in my career is resistance to change. Institutions, businesses, people, all structures in our economies and social networks have their place and are largely programmed to protect and defend that space. Even within the public and social sector, while organizations have a mandate to drive change, they can be very rigid in their ways and conservative about trying new approaches to changemaking. I’ve made it my job to upend systems in an effort to make measurable progress—which often feels like I’ve made it my career to antagonize people.
It’s been almost 17 years since I finished business school, and while I’m still consistently fighting against resistance to change, I’m proud of what I’ve managed to get done. A few things that have helped me are: finding a small number of close business partners and establishing absolute trust in each other; playing within established rules in order to “earn” the right to “break the rules;” admitting when an organization isn’t going to change and finding others who have a better shot; working longer and harder than those that stand in our way; and putting my own money where my mouth is when urging people to try something different.
Envisioning the future of sustainability
Q. Envision the future of sustainability in your industry. What trend excites you and gives you hope for the future?
Fonzi: Technology exists to use clean energy to replace dirty energy, power transport, suck carbon out of the air, desalinate water, produce green fuels, and synthesize green fertilizers. We have the technology to utilize clean energy, meaning that we have the solution to climate change. At the same time, we are seeing consistently decreasing costs of clean energy; the cost of solar has decreased by 50 percent in the last decade, with actual costs consistently reducing quicker than projections. Wind and geothermal are also experiencing declining cost curves.
The question now lies in how quickly and cost-effectively we can scale up these solutions. Last year, we saw global average temperatures more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for a full 12 months. We also continue to emit more carbon each year than the year before. We will see certain catastrophic climate tipping points at any moment.
We are basically in a race against time. Will we scale the technologies and approaches that reduce and remove carbon emissions before it’s too late? I honestly don’t know; no one does. But I’m confident we have a chance to avoid the worst potential effects of climate change, and that feels pretty worthwhile to me. Deploying capital and building innovative businesses to scale solutions is how I intend to do my part.
Q: How do you continue to stay informed about emerging trends and best practices in sustainability, and how do you incorporate these into your work?
Fonzi: Staying up-to-date has been a crucial part of my career; when I was advising clients I was expected to be ahead of them. Now, as an investment intermediary, the same applies when I’m making a case to our investment committee or reporting to investors. Typically, I’ve had the resources to deploy when I need to go deep somewhere. I could draw on research teams as a consultant and deal teams as an investor.
However, it is still crucial that I have a good understanding of trends and practices to know where to orient these resources, what questions to ask, and how to build a compelling storyline based on them. A few things that I have found helpful are joining and actively participating in industry groups and networks, making learning cool and enlisting others in it, and accepting as many offers for speaking engagements as possible.