Off-grid energy country focus: Uganda

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In 2017, Shell Foundation and Open Capital Advisors came together to pilot a new approach to accelerate energy access in Uganda. With support from local the UK Government and USAID, and the Government of Uganda, the result is a dedicated and neutral intermediary that provides balanced data and advice to enterprises, investors and policy-makers; coordinates…

Building a salesforce fit to travel the ‘Last Mile’

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For the last two years, Shell Foundation has been working with elite sales specialists, Scott Roy and Roy Whitten, to understand how social enterprises who serve rural consumers can adopt cutting-edge sales techniques and salesforce management practices – in order to increase traction with low-income customers. The Whitten & Roy Partnership has now provided low…

Lighting the way for women: How sustainable energy SMEs are adopting new strategies to build gender-inclusive sales teams

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By Rebecca Fries and Stephanie Finigan, Value for Women Clean energy represents one of the fastest growing sectors today. A 2017 report by the Energy Information Administration highlighted that for the first time in the United States, wind and solar accounted for 10% of all electricity generation in the country[1]. According to the International Renewable…

Enabling financial inclusion through new credit assessment models

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Dharma Life has partnered with Shell Foundation and the UK Government to test alternative credit assessment frameworks for rural entrepreneurs and consumers – with the purpose of developing a credit assessment tool that is relevant and scalable in rural and emerging markets. The study explores ways to overcome the challenges in providing credit to rural…

Building a female-led sales force

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The Envirofit Women’s Empowerment Programme (WEP) was founded on the belief that women, as primary users of cookstoves, must be involved in both their design and distribution in order for stoves to be adopted and for women’s needs to be fully met. The WEP was first developed and funded in conjunction with the Global Alliance…

Capital needs to connect off-grid households in sub-Saharan Africa

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SF Director Sam Parker and Catalyst CEO Dan Murphy discussed the report recently in an online webinar hosted by the Clean Energy Solutions Center in partnership with the United Nations Foundation Energy Access Practitioner Network, and took questions from an audience including investors, developers and supporters of the off-grid sector. Taking stock after 15 years…

SF and FMO sign MOU agreeing to increase funds for energy access in Africa and India

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Shell Foundation and Dutch development bank FMO have signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to cooperate in the fields of access to energy in Sub-Saharan Africa and India. This will include investment in financial institutions with specific goals to increase access to finance, reduce inequality and promote green financing and agribusiness. SF Director Sam Parker…

SmartGas™ Pilot: an Envirofit case study

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Nearly half the world’s population cooks with biomass. Open fire cooking represents the world’s largest environmental public health challenge contributing to climate change, deforestation, disability and mortality, while keeping families in the cycle of poverty to collect or purchase fuel for daily cooking. Household Air Pollution from open cooking fires kills 4.3 million people a…

Three insights into the cold chain market in rural India

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One third of all food produced in emerging markets is lost or wasted between the farm and the table. In India alone the total value of lost food is estimated to be around $4.5bn annually. Part of the problem is the lack of ‘cold chains’ in rural areas. Cold chains provide an unbroken series of…

Innovations in credit assessment: unlocking finance for off-grid energy providers

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By Simon Meier Over the past years, pay-as-you-go solar companies have allowed hundreds of thousands of households in developing countries to benefit from access to electricity. However, with 1.2 billion people still living outside the reach of the grid, a step change is needed to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal of universal access to…