How Kula Is Reshaping Impact Investing for Emerging Markets Through Onchain Governance

The global impact investing landscape reveals a fundamental paradox: while assets in this sector exceed $1.6 trillion worldwide, more than 70% remain concentrated in high-income countries, leaving emerging markets largely sidelined from critical decision-making processes. Kula, a decentralized investment platform specializing in real-world assets (RWA), is challenging this status quo by introducing a $50 million impact investing initiative fully on blockchain infrastructure, with a governance model that puts emerging markets front and center.

Why Emerging Markets Are Locked Out of Global Impact Investing

Traditional impact investing frameworks prioritize financial exposure over governance participation, meaning that communities most affected by resource extraction, energy development, and land management often have little say in how projects unfold. This centralization of decision-making power typically flows toward institutional investors in wealthy nations, leaving local stakeholders in emerging markets as passive beneficiaries—if included at all. Kula’s analysis identifies this structural gap as the core problem requiring fundamental reimagining of asset ownership and control mechanisms.

Governance Tokens Empower Local Communities in Blockchain-Based Asset Projects

Rather than tokenizing yield streams or financial claims, Kula issues governance tokens directly tied to specific projects. This approach fundamentally differs from conventional RWA tokenization by ensuring that local communities and stakeholders gain authentic voting rights over capital allocation, asset management, and strategic planning. The company operates through a Regional Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) Framework, enabling each project to maintain transparent, onchain governance while navigating compliance requirements across multiple jurisdictions.

Paul Jackson, Kula’s Chief Executive, articulates the distinction: “As RWA tokenisation continues to evolve, I think the most meaningful progress will come from expanding who gets to participate in decision-making, not just who gets access to financial exposure.” This governance-first philosophy differentiates Kula from platforms focused primarily on financial returns.

From Zambia to Nepal: Real-World Projects Leading Kula’s Expansion

Kula’s emerging markets portfolio demonstrates practical implementation across diverse sectors and geographies. A limestone concession project in Zambia enables local stakeholders to participate in natural resource governance, while a hydropower initiative in Nepal grants communities direct involvement in renewable energy decision-making. Electric mobility infrastructure projects across East Africa represent another frontier, combining transportation innovation with governance empowerment for communities shaping their region’s economic future.

To date, Kula has secured $25 million in funding from investors aligned with its governance-centric mission, providing the capital foundation for scaling these initiatives across emerging markets.

The Shift From Yield Tokenization to Community-Led Governance

Industry projections suggest that RWA tokenization could exceed $2 trillion by 2028, but Kula’s approach indicates that future growth will hinge on embedded accountability mechanisms rather than financial engineering alone. By anchoring governance rights within the blockchain infrastructure itself, Kula envisions a market where decision-making power remains closer to the source—the communities and stakeholders generating the actual value.

This model serves as a catalyst for redirecting capital toward fast-growing economies previously excluded from mainstream global finance. Rather than viewing emerging markets as peripheral recipients of investment capital, Kula’s architecture positions them as active participants in shaping outcomes, establishing a precedent for how decentralized asset management might function at scale.