Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of most economies, and especially the Indian economy. In India, over 42 million SMEs comprise a staggering 95% of the total industrial business entities in the country, employing about 40% of India’s workforce and generating nearly a quarter of service sector GDP. With one million people entering…
CreditEnable has recently entered a strategic partnership with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which could help 70 million Indian traders to access affordable finance to invest in, and grow, their businesses. “We are delighted to partner with CAIT on this important initiative,” said Nadia Sood, CreditEnable’s CEO. “While there is a considerable supply…
SF portfolio enterprise Sure Chill recently received recognition for its innovative cooling technology after winning the UK Eagle Lab Innovation category at the Barclays’ annual High-Growth & Entrepreneur Awards. The awards celebrate entrepreneurs’ success, leadership and positive impact on society. Sure Chill has developed and patented unique technology that enables cooling equipment to maintain a…
To date, minigrids and decentralised utilities are reaching only a fraction of a percent (0.2%) of households with energy access in sub-Saharan Africa. In the first of a series of reports on the potential of decentralised utilities to bring in a new era in energy access, this SF report looks at the last ten years…
Shell Foundation and the Grantham Institute at Imperial College, London have collaborated on a report exploring energy storage solutions for off-grid organisations, looking at new technologies, challenges and opportunities. The report presents outcome from a series of interviews with SF portfolio enterprises, and explores storage options for a number of uses: Picosolar Solar home systems…
The Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) sector will be a critical component of reaching SDG7 – and requires appropriately-funded commercial enterprises to open entire new consumer markets. In this new report, SF and Persistent present learnings from their experience in venture building PAYG companies in multiple African markets, including a case study from SolarWorks! in Mozambique, where 20…
Key Facts Holds data for 1.8m SMEs Strategic partnership with the Confederation of Indian Traders and its 70m+ members Millions of creditworthy SMEs in developing economies are underserved or unserved by the formal financial sector. CreditEnable can connect millions of creditworthy SMEs to lenders, which helps to address an $8.1 trillion market for SME credit…
Key Facts 213 staff and over 500 commission-based agents, most of whom are Kenyan youth, many from rural areas Implemented a solar light sale pilot with SF support; sold out of inventory within 6 weeks and exceeded sales target Launched several new products including a dairy product that provides everything farmers to increase milk production…
Key Facts 20,000+ people trained in 11 African countries, including 15,000 entrepreneurs 100% of businesses and entrepreneurs reported improved business performance after completing an AMI programme, with 92% reporting improved productivity and 96% improved employee engagement 75% of entrepreneurs trained increased revenue and half created new jobs AMI delivers high-quality, cost-effective learning programmes tailored to…
VIP designs and manufactures a combined heat and power plant that uses various biomass crop waste as fuel to produce productive heat and three-phase power off grid and on demand. VIP employs a design referral model, working with a range of manufacturers to source processing equipment that customers can plug into the VIP power unit and grow their…