Pula, which provides accessible, scalable insurance solutions for smallholder farmers by bundling insurance with the inputs farmers already use including seeds and fertiliser, has produced a new learning report exploring how gender plays a role in registration decisions in East and Southern Africa. The report, co-funded by Shell Foundation and the UK government, uses Pula’s…
Key Facts Charging hubs built in over 78 locations 156 female hub attendants run the hubs Increased the rate of customer adoption by 500% per location Jaza charges and rents solar batteries from a network of last-mile retail hubs. The batteries can be used in off-grid homes to power lights, mobile phones and small appliances.…
SF partner VentureBuilder recently led an investment round that enabled an off-grid solar company to secure financing of more than US$1 million in Mali. The investment represents VentureBuilder’s first investment since being established, with funding from SF, USAID and DOEN Foundation, to support locally-owned and managed energy enterprises with early-stage equity financing and enterprise development…
The African Mini-Grid Developers Association, co-created by SF in 2018, has released its first major publication, ‘Benchmarking Africa’s Mini-Grids’, which uses coordinated sector data to provide a detailed overview of the sector in Africa. “With this report, we’re opening the door to a new era in the mini-grid sector,” said Aaron Leopold, AMDA’s CEO. “Transparency…
KEY FACTS Invests in enterprises with local ownership and management in Africa Targeting rural off-grid customers Seeking a business model owning customer relations and distribution channels, with an eye towards scaling consumer financing capacity (e.g., PAYG) VentureBuilder partners with local entrepreneurs in Africa, providing early-stage equity financing and enterprise development services to help launch and…
Shell Foundation are proud of the diverse ways in which our partners have stepped up during this crisis. In its recent newsletter, SF’s long-standing partner GroFin outlined a number of initiatives they have initiated to help their SME clients during Covid-19. These initiatives include: Developed a Covid-19 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework drawing on international…
Key Facts Served almost 5 million farmers with insurance and digital service across sub-Saharan Africa since 2015 Work with 40 insurers and eight reinsurers Developed yield datasets of 100k+ data points and adding roughly 30K annually Insurance products across >20 food and cash crops, as well as livestock Pula is reimagining agriculture insurance for smallholder…
SF partner S4S Technologies has been recognised by the prestigious Ashden Awards 2020. India based organisation S4S was presented with the Energy and Livelihoods Award for its innovative solar dryers which cut food waste and support women entrepreneurs. The patented solar conduction dryers can dehydrate a wide range of harvested crops, including fruit, vegetables, grains and spices, with minimal…
Key Facts WEEE Centre has safely processed over 10,000 tonnes of e-waste in Kenya Received several awards and certifications including ISO 9001:2015 & 14001:2015 con quality and environmental management systems Reduction of carbon footprint current estimated to be around 14,400 tonnes CO2/year WEEE Centre is a social enterprise whose main aim is to safely manage…
840 million people worldwide still lack access to energy, the majority of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. Off-grid solar is playing a key role in helping to lower this number — by end 2019, 280 million people had enjoyed an improved electricity access thanks to an off-grid solar source.[1] To do this, we commissioned Altai…