Most social enterprises agree that sales, together with access to finance and distribution are the key issues they face, together with access to finance and talent. In this SF report we share the findings from our work with leading social enterprises to build sustainable rural value chains in the off-grid energy sector over the last…
In 2014, around 80% of Uganda’s population, or approximately 30.9 million people, lacked access to the grid network and in rural areas the electrification rate was as low as 10%. Grid extension is often not a financially viable option for areas sparsely populated or hard to reach and off-grid energy solutions, like solar home systems…
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…
Technology firm and SF partner Sure Chill joined UK Prime Minister Theresa May on a 4-day trade mission across three African markets last week, to promote their technology and build trade and investment links. Sure Chill has developed a unique new cooling technology approved by the World Health Organisation that ensures a refrigerator remains perfectly…
Results Based Financing (RBF) programmes have attempted in the past to provide funding for minigrids, but many of them have struggled to disburse the funding effectively. African Minigrid Developers Association’s (AMDA’s) members have participated in many of these programmes and collated their experience of what has worked and what has not worked into a policy…