KEY FACTS Invests in enterprises with local ownership and management in Africa Targeting rural off-grid customers Seeking a business model owning customer relations and distribution channels, with an eye towards scaling consumer financing capacity (e.g., PAYG) VentureBuilder partners with local entrepreneurs in Africa, providing early-stage equity financing and enterprise development services to help launch and…
In August 2019 we promoted early pilot findings on the launch of HelloSolar, a new enterprise established with co-funding with the UK government and USAID that sought to integrate a new Pay-As-You-Go solar business with an existing mobile money operator in Ethiopia. Early positive business results and high satisfaction levels among new customers saw us…
In early 2019, we supported Greenlight Planet (GLP), with co-funding from the UK government, to seek a sustainable partnership model with commercial financial institutions to provide financing for modern energy solutions for women in Nigeria. If successful, this model would have far-reaching positive implications on both energy access and financial inclusion throughout the continent. Scalable…
Household energy remains an unquestionable basic need, and the ability to provide a reliable, affordable service is being tested by the current Covid-19 crisis. Bboxx is an established solar provider that designs, manufactures, distributes, and finances solar energy systems to provide solar electricity to communities, cities and countries around the world. Shell Foundation, with co-funding…
Three Shell Foundation partners have pledged their support to a Covid-19 relief initiative across Kenya. The mission-driven alliance, ‘Safe Hands Kenya’ has mobilised the collaboration of tech firms, input suppliers, manufactures, behaviour change experts and distribution specialists, to ensure that every Kenyan has access to vital health products, including hand sanitiser, soap, face masks and surface…
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…