A Namibian company is set to issue Africa’s first corporate blue bond, an instrument that raises funds for investments in water management to safeguard or restore the world’s oceans and waterways against climate change, overfishing and pollution.
Kelp Blue, a processing and cultivating company, aims to raise $20m to expand its kelp forests along the coast. It harvests 150t per hectare each year. The production area is projected to be between 30ha and 40ha in 2025; it has licences to cultivate about 6,400ha.
Kelp Blue cultivates the seaweed to isolate carbon dioxide and create biostimulants that improve crop yields and increase drought resilience. Company co-founder Daniel Hooft, a former executive at Shell, says the final product is designed to improve crop yields and soil health while reducing reliance on chemical inputs such as nitrates and pesticides.
Michael Mwinga, a member of the company’s biotech team, says studies show that biostimulants enhance plant growth, boost crop yields and improve stress tolerance. “They promote soil health and nutrient uptake, making them valuable for sustainable agriculture,” he says.
That’s not all. Alginate, an emulsifying and bonding agent, is extracted from kelp and used in toothpaste, shampoo, salad dressing, pudding, cake, dairy products, frozen foods and pharmaceuticals.
The company’s hatchery has a laboratory where seaweed spores are grown in sea-like conditions to improve the chances that the algae to be released into the Atlantic Ocean will thrive. The team nurtures sorus (reproductive) tissue from kelp until it turns into sporophytes, which are then attached to ropes and planted in the ocean. No fertilisers or pesticides are used in the process.
Latungwa Mwahafa, a quality control specialist, says: “Our process begins at the jetty, where the kelp is offloaded onto a truck and transported to the factory.”
The factory in Lüderitz has machinery that shreds seaweed into small pieces and processes them to become pulp. This is where new products, made from various components of kelp, are developed.
Research & development specialist Jacintha Kartyoa says: “We have a no-waste policy. We optimise every part of the pulp through a mechanical process to extract essential components.” Among the products she shows are a handbag made from kelp and biodegradable food packaging.
Hooft says the company’s work can help to find potential solutions to environmental issues and restore “our relationship with nature”.
Our core motivation is to address climate change and biodiversity issues
— Daniel Hooft
He says the company focuses on finding solutions to complex problems such as climate change, humans’ relationship with nature and biodiversity loss. He says he learnt in the oil industry to manage complex equipment in often challenging environments at sea, in jungles and in deserts.
“Co-ordinating all these processes requires juggling 20 to 30 tasks simultaneously,” he says.
Kelp Blue was established in 2020, just before the pandemic, and now employs about 80 people.
“Our core motivation is to address climate change and biodiversity issues,” says Hooft.
In 2023 the company won a prize in the climate action category at COP28, the UN’s climate change conference. Kelp Blue is also one of the 20 finalists for the Xprize for carbon removal, funded by Elon Musk’s foundation.
Hooft says the prize is awarded for the most feasible method of removing a gigaton (1-billion tons) of carbon from the atmosphere.
“To draw down a gigaton of carbon would require kelp forests the size of the Great Barrier Reef worldwide,” says Hooft. “I’m not sure if we’ll achieve that in my lifetime, but we’ll give it our best effort.”
Kelp Blue has pilot projects in Alaska and New Zealand. In May 2024 the company secured a 49ha kelp farm lease at Sea Otter Sound in Alaska, and it has applied for more licences at the Gulf of Esquibel, also in Alaska.
Hooft says New Zealand’s South Island waters are ideal for giant kelp cultivation. The kelp is being grown in an onshore hatchery.
Lüderitz mayor Phil Balhao says the company is helping the town diversify its economy beyond just oil, gas and hydrogen.
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