Access to goods and services is a constant challenge for rural communities in Africa and Asia. These challenges have been exacerbated further by the Covid-19 pandemic. Waterbus builds and operates catamaran ferries for safe and affordable transport of passengers and goods, linking islands on Lake Victoria to the Kenyan mainland. Although rural Kenya is not…
In Uganda, Covid-19 restrictions have left many entrepreneurs in the informal sector struggling to take care of their families and cover basic living costs. SF partner Tugende provides asset financing, training, life and health insurance, and active business support to help MSMEs own their economic future. Tugende’s core product is a financing package for local motorbike taxi…
SF is supporting the African Mobility Initiative (AMI) to find start-ups and innovations addressing sustainable mobility in the informal transport sector in Kenya and Uganda. Through its Africa Transformative Mobility Accelerator (ATMA), and also supported by the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) – with whom SF entered into a Memorandum of Understanding last month to…
Shell Foundation and TUMI, the government-led funding initiative focused on sustainable mobility, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to advance the awareness and activity around sustainable transport. The MoU was signed at the Transforming Transportation conference in DC and commits both organisations to collaborating over work on advocacy, pipeline development and impact measurement in…
This blog originally appeared on the CityFix website. See the full study report The fundamentals of urban mobility are changing rapidly. Apps like Uber and Lyft are becoming ubiquitous around the world and new modes like electric and shared bicycles and scooters are on the rise. The conversation is increasingly trending toward mobility as a…
Today, the World Resources Institute (WRI) – an SF strategic partner since 2002 – launched Energy Access Explorer, a new open-source platform, leverages satellite imagery combined with 20 local data sets to visualise energy supply and demand in East Africa. More than 800 million people around the world lack reliable electricity; nearly 600 million of them…
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…
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 partner Smart Freight Centre (SFC) and the Global Logistic Emissions Council (GLEC) today released an updated method – the GLEC Framework – to calculate the carbon footprint of freight transport. The updated GLEC Framework is designed to be easy for companies to implement, with clear calculation steps, guidance on reporting and target setting. This…
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…