Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investor focused on small businesses in low- and middle- income countries, recently extended a loan of EUR 5 million (USD 5.1 million) to Baobab+, a French energy and technology company, with the objective of increasing electrification rates in Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. Founded in 2015, Baobab+ provides access to solar energy and digital technology with the goal of
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MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “The Value of Pay-as-you-go Solar for Mobile Operators: Insights from Customer Journeys in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire,” Published by GSMA
This analysis of data from Benin and Côte d’Ivoire addressed “the impact of mobile consumers adopting pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar on their mobile usage.” Based on 120 interviews with end-users of PAYG technologies, the authors found that access to energy via solar home systems resulted in:
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Raising $17m in Green Bonds for Sun King to Finance Household Solar Technology in Africa, Asia
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investor focused on small businesses in low- and middle- income countries, recently listed bonds on the Luxembourg Green Exchange to raise USD 17 million for Sun King, a Kenya-based firm selling solar technology in 62 countries. Sun King plans to use the proceeds to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Solaris Offgrid Adds NuovoPay to PaygOps Platform, Boosting Retailers’ Ability to Lease Smartphones to Unbanked
Two providers of business-to-business services, UK-registered Solaris Offgrid and India’s NuovoPay, recently agreed to make NuovoPay’s smartphone leasing service available to distributors via Solaris’s PaygOps platform with the goal of increasing “access to digital technology for millions of unbanked people in emerging countries.” PaygOps is a system for
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Oikocredit Loans Ecoligo $5.7m to Fund Solar Energy for 15 SMEs, NGOs in Ghana, Kenya
Oikocredit, a Dutch cooperative investor, recently loaned EUR 5 million (USD 5.68 million) to Ecoligo, a German firm that provides solar-as-a-service solutions, to expand its operations in Ghana and Kenya. The loan is to finance solar energy equipment that will provide power to 15 clients, which will pay Ecoligo for the power on a monthly basis. Siebren Wilschut, an investment officer at Oikocredit, said,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IREDA Loans $4m to Husk Power Systems for 140 Solar Microgrids in Rural India
The India Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), a government entity, recently loaned INR 310 million (USD 4.2 million) to Husk Power Systems, an India-based supplier of small-scale electricity generation and distribution networks in rural India and Africa, to construct 140 solar microgrids in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. IREDA is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Simbatu Begins Selling Solar Energy Products in Nigeria
Simbatu, a retailer of solar equipment in Nigeria, recently launched its website, offering a range of equipment such as solar panels, hot water heaters, water pumps, power inverters and batteries. Pricing ranges from NGN 18,000 (USD 44) to NGN 338,000 (USD 820). Over time, the firm plans to add products powered by wind, water and biomass.
Daniel Andem, the Sweden-based founder of Simbatu, told MicroCapital that
SPECIAL REPORT: PAYGo Firms Struggle Less with Nonpayment, More with Supply of Solar Products, Equity Funding Since Onset of Pandemic
Mariama Kamara of Smiling Through Light, a women-run provider of solar products in rural Sierra Leone, stayed in business during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to emergency funding from the Shine Campaign. Demand is high for Smiling Through Light’s products, but the last shipment of solar appliances from the manufacturer took five months to arrive, causing a delay in paying staff. Only since the onset of the pandemic – and at the request of customers
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: PaygOps Enables SMEs to Sell PAYGO Solar Receivables to Investors
PaygOps, the primary product of UK-registered Solaris Offgrid, recently released a service through which providers of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) solar products can raise funds by selling receivables. The software from PaygOps allows investors to study and purchase PAYGO providers’ contracts. This reduces the extent of due diligence lenders must perform on the providers relative to the more common practice of using the contracts as collateral for a loan. PaygOps envisions this reducing investment costs sufficiently to bring the minimum profitable PAYGO investment size from approximately USD 500,000 to less than
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CGAP, GOGLA, IFC’s Lighting Global Launch PAYGo PERFORM Standards, Seeking to Boost Investment in Off-grid Solar
Two NGOs, US-based CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and the Netherlands-based Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA), along with the Lighting Global program of the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently launched a framework for measuring the outcomes of selling off-grid solar products on a pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) basis. The PAYGo Performance, Reporting and Measurement (PAYGo PERFORM) plan “offers the PAYGo solar industry a standardized and transparent set of key performance indicators (KPIs)…
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mwezi Nets Inaugural $500k Debt Investment from Build Fund of Bamboo Capital, UNCDF to Expand Access to Pay-as-you-go Solar Products in East Africa
Luxembourg-based Bamboo Capital Partners and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) recently partnered to create the Build Fund, whose first investment is a loan of USD 500,000 for
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Banverde of Mexico Raises $57m for Rooftop Solar Power from CIFI, Banverde Activos, WRB Serra Partners
Corporación Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura (CIFI), a Panama-based financier of privately owned infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, recently led a round of funding for Banverde, a private equity fund in Mexico that finances the installation of rooftop solar panels. The funding round totaled USD 57 million, with unspecified levels of funding invested by CIFI and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Off-Grid Market Development Fund Granting Up to $28m to Solar Distribution Firms in Madagascar, Depending on Results Toward Goals
The Off-Grid Market Development Fund (OMDF), an initiative of the Malagasy government, recently signed contracts with 12 solar companies in Madagascar, whereby the firms are receiving a total of USD 2.5 million upfront. The firms can obtain an additional total of USD 25.5 million if they reach their distribution goals, which entail the delivery of “900,000 quality solar lanterns and market-entry solar home systems by June 2024.”
OMDF has a total volume of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Baobab+ Raises $5m in Equity, Debt to Expand Pay-as-you-go Solar, Tablets in Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal
The French technology company Baobab+ recently raised EUR 2 million (USD 2.4 million) in equity from the Facility for Energy Inclusion Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (FEI-OGEF), an initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB). Baobab+ also secured a loan of the same amount from the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund (EEGF), which is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DFC to Guarantee $10m in Borrowing by Trine to Invest in Solar Power in Latin America, Caribbean
The US government’s International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) recently agreed to cover half of potential losses on USD 20 million being raised by Trine AB, a Sweden-based solar investment platform, to support industrial solar ventures as well as mini-grids in Latin America and the Caribbean. This funding is sufficient to supply renewable energy to approximately 600,0
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SunCulture of Kenya Receives $11m Line of Credit for Solar Irrigation of Farms in Africa from SunFunder, AfDB, AlphaMundi, NDF, Triodos Investment Management
Kenyan solar-irrigation company SunCulture recently received a credit facility of USD 11 million organized and led by SunFunder, a lender to solar energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa. The other participating funders are the African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) Energy Inclusion Facility, Switzerland-based AlphaMundi, the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) and the Netherlands’ Triodos Investment Management. NDF is an institution of the governments of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The terms of the loan to SunCulture have not been released.
SunCulture utilizes solar technology “to provide customers with reliable access to water, irrigation, lighting and mobile charging.” Its products, such as solar pumps, lights and drip irrigation systems, are used by both farmers and non-farming households in Côte d’Ivoire,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Energy Catalyst Community Seeks to Boost Commercialization of Solar, Wind, Battery, Payment, Other Innovations in Africa, Asia
Energy Catalyst, “a UK government-funded programme designed to accelerate access to sustainable energy” in Africa and Asia, recently launched its Energy Catalyst Community, offering a set of documents on commercializing energy innovations. The next phase of the project will allow companies funded by Energy Catalyst to collab
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Gaia Impact Fund Invests Equity in Innovex, Solar Technology Distributor in East Africa, DRC
Gaia Impact Fund, which is based in France and focuses on renewable energy, recently agreed to place a seed equity investment in Innovex, a Uganda-based technology firm that is active in solar power in five African countries. The terms of the investment have not been released.
Innovex was founded in 2015 by Douglas Baguma and David Tusubira. Its business is