David Sturmes

Director, Corporate Engagement & Strategic Partnership Fair Cobalt Alliance

Director of Fundraising & Innovation at The Impact Facility, David Sturmes applies his background in value chain development and responsible resource governance to mobilise investment into the professionalization of the artisanal and small-scale gold and cobalt mining sector across East and Central Africa.

David has been involved in the development and launch of the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA), a multi-stakeholder action platform dedicated to uplifting artisanal mining communities in DR Congo. Focussing his efforts on the recruitment of new members and fundraising with donors and investors, David has helped build a thriving multi-stakeholder initiative counting 24 organisations across the global battery supply chain, pooling resources and expertise to meaningfully engage with the artisanal miners.

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, David has built a team of mining engineers and finance experts that launched an equipment leasing offering targeting artisanal gold miners across Kenya. Having identified a lack of investment as one of the key reasons for the continued informality of the ASM sector, The Impact Facility looks at equipment leasing to ASM operators as an opportunity to catalyse socio-economic development across rural communities, while creating a responsible source of minerals needed for a just and inclusive green energy transition. The first contracts have been fully repaid and scaling of the programme to Tanzania and Uganda is planned for 2023.

Over the years, David got the opportunity to engage with artisanal miners, financial institutions, development practitioners, academics and government stakeholders, informing a number of studies focussed on ASM market inclusion and access to finance, exploring the logistics of international gold aggregation, the potential applications and viability of digital traceability solutions, as well as requirements for ASM-centric financial products.