Ethiopia is the world’s third largest potential market for solar products but also one of the most challenging. PAYGO solar product providers have traditionally found it difficult to penetrate the 60 million people off-grid population lacking access to energy due to several factors: A complex regulatory environment low mobile money penetration (one of the lowest…
by Seth Silverman and Morgan DeFoort, Factor[e] Ventures Smallholder farmers are among the most underserved populations in the world – and there are a lot of them. Over 2 billion livelihoods are supported by small farms, with the majority residing in the developing world [1]. We know that smallholders can be more productive and can…
GroFin’s Impact Report 2019 demonstrates the impact investment fund managers’ continued success supporting SGBs (Small and Growing Businesses) serving low-income communities in Africa and the Middle East. Shell Foundation partnered with GroFin in 2004 to co-create an innovative integrated solution business model that catalysed SGBs, who represent a significant source of employment and economic growth…
Shell Foundation partner, Shortlist, has produced a learning report which addresses the need to think about gender inclusion when hiring staff in India. The report talks about the concern in India about lost economic growth and development benefits due to low female labour force participation. The low rate seems to be explained in part by challenges in finding…
SF partner and pioneering private development finance institution GroFin, has won a Gold Award in the Financial Services (SME Development) category Ghana-Africa Business Awards after winning the same award in 2015. The award was given in recognition of GroFin’s outstanding contribution to the development of Ghana. As well as this, GroFin won the Outstanding Healthcare…
SF partners Sistema.bio and SMV Green have both been recognised by the prestigious Ashden Awards 2019. Sistema.bio was presented with the Clean Cooking Award for its work to bring clean biogas to farmers in Latin America, Africa and India. Its innovative and affordable biogas system turns animal waste into clean and odourless cooking fuel whilst producing…
By GroFin Managers, 24 June 2019 From mobile money to blockchain and data analytics, fintech is not only disrupting the way corporate financial institutions operate, it also presents far-reaching opportunities for social enterprises and development finance institutions to strengthen their impact and efficiency. Shell Foundation (SF) supports innovators to test new technology and enterprise models…
Key Facts Distributed nearly 8,500 solar home systems in over five Ethiopian regions Able to leverage 7,400 BelCash agents network and brand Many of the worlds 1.3 billion off-grid population are concentrated in a limited number of large frontier markets, like Ethiopia. HelloSolar was co-created by SF and BelCash, the leading mobile money and Value…
Aceleron has undertaken two projects with another of our partners, Bboxx, to investigate the viability of replacing lead-acid batteries currently in use with Aceleron’s advanced Li-ion offering. The Bboxx pilot has demonstrated the ability for Aceleron to successfully build and deploy advanced Li-ion batteries that are fit for purpose and have a number of advantages…
Key Facts Future-Fit Foundation’s ‘Business Benchmark’ offers a holistic framing for companies to identify, measure and manage the positive and negative aspects of their social and environmental impacts The Business Benchmark provides assurance-ready, transparent metrics to help businesses compare their current performance against the outcomes needed for a sustainable future, and report their results to investors These…