In August 2019 we promoted early pilot findings on the launch of HelloSolar, a new enterprise established with co-funding with the UK government and USAID that sought to integrate a new Pay-As-You-Go solar business with an existing mobile money operator in Ethiopia. Early positive business results and high satisfaction levels among new customers saw us…
In early 2019, we supported Greenlight Planet (GLP), with co-funding from the UK government, to seek a sustainable partnership model with commercial financial institutions to provide financing for modern energy solutions for women in Nigeria. If successful, this model would have far-reaching positive implications on both energy access and financial inclusion throughout the continent. Scalable…
As part of the SF support offering to social enterprises and institutions, we fund innovative marketing activity that has the potential to deliver business results and be rolled out across the wider sector. In 2019 we co-funded two projects with Bboxx, a UK-headquartered solar utility, testing a new application of WiFi technology in the DRC…
In 2019 Shell Foundation and the UK Government provided funding and support to Amiran, a leading East African agricultural distributor, so that they could test a new approach to providing appropriate credit to agricultural Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya. Agricultural SMEs across Kenya are unable to obtain the financing they need to invest in their…
Inclusion of women in the energy value chain, from product distribution to sales, market research to behaviour change, needs significant engagement at a local level yet can have a catalytic impact in the community. In the latest learning to come out of our POWERED (Promotion of Women in Energy Related Enterprises for Development) Programme in…
Shell Foundation and the UK Government launched the POWERED (Promotion of Women in Energy Related Enterprises for Development) Programme in 2018 to promote gender inclusion in the Indian energy development sector by creating jobs, supporting women-led businesses and undertaking research on the sector. SF and the UK Government commissioned the International Center for Research on…
It is estimated that US$800 million in debt will need to be invested in solar home system (SHS) businesses in Uganda to achieve universal energy access (SDG7). For the long-term sustainability of the off-grid solar sector, there is a need for local banks and financial institutions to recognise this opportunity and play a central role in…
Until 2016, product sales of solar lamps in Nigeria were mostly limited to urban and peri-urban consumers that purchased products outright, without consumer financing. This contrasted with East Africa, where the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model was well on its way to scale. In this context, between early 2017 and early 2019, SF supported – alongside the…
It’s possible to “design things right” and yet not “design the right things”. In a short report, M-KOPA Labs shares lessons learnt from developing its solar-powered PAYG Fridge and how its customers helped M-KOPA Labs to get the product “right”. Download the full report Everyone wants a fridge, right? Market surveys regularly record refrigerators in the…
As political leaders look to accelerate progress towards reaching the sustainable development goals, the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA) has produced more evidence to show off-grid solar’s role as ‘a power tool for change’. The new GOGLA report series follows last year’s ground-breaking Powering Opportunity research and confirms the positive socio-economic impact of solar home…