NCN August Members Networking

Upon arrival, members chose a colour code to represent the type of organisation they belong to within the climate sector:

• Start-up – Green 🟢
• NGOs and CBOs – White ⚪️
• Donors and Development Organisations – Yellow 🟡
• Finance and Investors – Red 🔴
• Corporates and Consultants – Pink 🌸
• Others and Cross-cutting – Orange 🟠

These colour codes were used to facilitate the speed networking activity later in the event. This system helped members easily identify and connect with professionals from different climate industries, fostering cross sector networking.

The networking event began with open networking where members freely connected and networked with others over drinks.

Later, NCN’s co-founder Flavia Howard introduced Abidah Ferej to the network members as the new NCN Country Manager and Comms Lead for The Climate Network. Flavia shared that she would be taking time to replicate the NCN model across other cities in Africa under The Climate Network, hence the need to bring in a country manager for the Kenyan chapter.

“I have been a ‘friend of NCN’ for a long time with the understanding that there is a need for a space to convene professionals working in the climate space. I think there is no better community to join – I am looking forward to engaging members in the next few weeks and months,” Abidah shared.

Abidah then led the next phase of the event, moderating three rounds of a speed networking exercise to encourage members to engage and mingle. She shared the colour/industry pairings and prompt questions for members to discuss:

Round 1 Prompt: What has been your greatest accomplishment of 2024?

Round 2 Prompt: What projects or programs are you currently working on, and what would you like to achieve by the end of the year?

Round 3 Prompt: What interesting developments have happened in your sector this year, and what would a breakthrough look like for you?

The prompts and pairings facilitated members in sharing their accomplishments, projects they are working on, and sector-specific insights with each other. This networking activity fostered cross-sector knowledge exchange, allowing members to identify potential partnership/collaboration opportunities.

The evening wrapped up with an open networking session, providing members with the opportunity to deepen their conversations and forge new connections.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended and participated in making this event a success. We have an exciting lineup of events planned for the remainder of the year, so keep an eye out for upcoming opportunities to connect, collaborate, and drive change.

We look forward to seeing you at our future events!