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…
As the world adapts to a different operating environment caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, at Shell Foundation we have been working to formalise our response strategy to help our portfolio of social enterprises and institutions continue delivering energy and transport solutions to low-income consumers in Africa and Asia, and that the sector response is aligned…
Press Release: Announcing the launch of the US$120 million Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund to provide affordable access to energy for homes and businesses Amsterdam, Netherlands – December 5, 2019 Shell Foundation, a UK-registered charity, together with FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, announces the launch of the US$120 million Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund (EEGF), with…
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 part of our continued strive to discover innovative technologies and business models that bring improved energy access, we have recently supported Bboxx – alongside our co-funding partner the UK Government – to launch a new payment platform that allows Rwandans to ‘send energy home’ from anywhere in the world. Friends and family can use…
How does productive use biogas appliance innovation contribute to increased energy access, to rural livelihoods and to the development of biogas as a utility? Smallholder farmers are among some of the most disadvantaged people in the developing world, without access to technology, training and financing to improve productivity. There are an estimated 570 million smallholder…
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…
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…