BURN Manufacturing

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KEY FACTS Over a million energy efficient stoves sold, saving >8m tonnes of CO2 emissions and >4.5m tonnes of wood Impacted over 6 million lives and generated more than $350m in household savings with an NPS of 98% Created local employment for 400+ people since 2013 Founded in 2011, BURN is a vertically integrated modern…

UOMA report highlights Uganda’s $95m electrification funding gap

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    The Uganda Off-Grid Energy Market Accelerator (UOMA) recently released a report examining the demand-side barriers to financing for off-grid solar businesses. Though it is well recognised that off-grid solar will play a major role in closing Uganda’s current electrification gap, a significant funding shortfall threatens the country’s efforts. It has been estimated that…

Persistent reflects on 10 years building energy access ventures

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In the 10 years since its founding, Persistent has built a venture building model that has invested in businesses providing PAYGO solar home systems as well as commercial and industrial solar, ecosystem enablers and e-mobility players, delivering financial returns and significant impact, improving more than four million lives across sub-Saharan Africa.   Shell Foundation has…

Five Grantees Announced for Health Electrification Pilot Programme

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Five mini-grid developers have been selected as part of a pilot programme to test and measure innovative financing mechanisms that can help scale electrification of health clinics across sub-Saharan Africa. Having invited applications to the programme in March, 25 applications were received and evaluated against five criteria: (1)  prior experience implementing and maintaining similar projects…

Do SHS channels hold the key to domestic refrigeration for off-grid customers?

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SureChill recently concluded a successful sales pilot of off-grid domestic refrigerators with interesting insights into key triggers and barriers to purchasing decisions. SureChill was founded in 2009 to commercialise a newly patented thermal energy storage technology deemed capable of bringing reliable refrigeration to off-grid and unreliable grid communities. Having initially focused on developing and marketing…

Improving Women’s Productivity and Incomes Through Clean Energy in India

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As part of the POWERED programme, co- funded with UK aid from the UK government, SF is supporting the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) to integrate technical and financial assistance towards gender-inclusion in India.  This study overview appeared originally on CEEW’s website. Overview The study discusses the barriers faced by women micro-entrepreneurs, who are using…

Africa Trust Group

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KEY FACTS ATG incorporates three funds; two pre-seed and one seed fund including an alternative financial instruments fund Invested in 15+ businesses in under two years amounting to $4m+ Africa Trust Group (ATG) is a holistic early-stage gender lens investor focused on accelerating investment into women-led start-ups in Africa. The start-ups benefit from ATGs women-led…

Shortlist – Hiring for Equity in Clean Energy

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Shell Foundation partner Shortlist recently released a report examining gender representation in the East African energy sector and uncovering how SMEs can attract, retain and advance female talent in digital roles. Shortlist – also supported by our partnership with FCDO – has been a portfolio partner since 2016 and uses technology to identify top talent…

Presenting a dynamic understanding of rural household needs in Kenya

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Successful and inclusive rural economic development needs to be built on long-term understanding of and engagement with rural households.   New research, Understanding Rural Pathway Transitions, developed by Shell Foundation (SF) and MasterCard Foundation’s Rural & Agricultural Finance Learning Lab (RAFLL), with support from The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) – provides a structure…

What long-term changes will Covid-19 bring for the Access to Energy sector?

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The impact of Covid-19 on the Access to Energy (A2E) sector has been well documented, with multiple surveys identifying the negative impact on sales, disruptions in supply chains, increased risk in customer collections and the cumulative impact of these factors on working capital of A2E enterprises. Enterprises have had to adapt and evolve operations to…