Energise Africa
P4G Theme
Climate-smart Agriculture
SDG
Status
Completed
Partnership Type
Scale-up
Countries of Operation
Ethiopia , South Africa , Kenya , Netherlands ,
Supported By
About
Energise Africa is a crowdlending platform that allows everyday investors to support clean energy projects in Africa. The platform raises funds for solar-power businesses in Africa to bring affordable clean energy to millions of low-income, off-grid households across the sub-Saharan region.
Investing in Impact
P4G provided the partnership with a total of US $944,343 through start-up funding in 2018 and scale-up funding in 2020.
By the end of 2022, Energise Africa raised over $44 million in investment to deliver clean, affordable energy to over 865,000 people, mitigating around 590,000 tons of CO2 emissions. The platform enabled nineteen companies to access flexible, affordable finance, in turn benefiting 8,512 smallholder farmers, fishermen and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Of the total investment raised, approximately $21.1 million was invested in P4G partner countries Kenya and South Africa.
P4G’s Kenya National Platform facilitated meeting with the Kenya Renewable Energy Association (KEREA), which Energise Africa hopes will support long-term deal origination. In Ethiopia, P4G’s National Platform supported the partnership in launching its 2021 report on catalyzing investments for energy access in Ethiopia by connecting the research team with stakeholders and speaking at the report launch webinar. The report identifies the major policy and financial barriers to investment in Ethiopia’s off-grid solar market and outlines the long-term reforms that are needed for decentralized renewable energy development and short-term actions that can be rapidly implemented to introduce new dynamism in the country’s energy ecosystem.
The partnership noted that P4G has helped to amplify Energise Africa’s messaging around the need for blended finance to accelerate financial flows to “missing middle” companies in emerging markets. Through speaking slots at high level events and WRI’s State-of-the-Art reports, the partnership has been able to demonstrate that crowd-lending is a legitimate form of finance, both for companies seeking working capital, and for donors wanting to leverage greater private investment for the SDGs.
In October 2021, the partnership earned a UN Climate Action Award in the Financing for Climate Friendly Investment category for its transformative work in expanding finance for affordable clean energy access. Energise Africa has also been recognized with the Keeling Curve Prize and UK Government Civil Service Award.
Following P4G’s funding, Energise Africa plans to seek commercial investment to support the platform’s expansion into south and southeast Asia and to projects in a wider range of SDG-aligned sectors.
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