More from: finance innovation

SolarNow Using Franchise Model to Solve Distribution Challenges in East Africa

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Ugandan solar enterprise SolarNow uses a franchise distribution model for Solar Home Systems combined with an in-house credit facility to reach rural customers

SolarNow is an energy enterprise in Uganda, and an Arc Finance partner under the USAID-funded Renewable Energy Microfinance & Microenterprise Program (REMMP). Established as a social enterprise in May 2011, SolarNow grew out of the Rural Energy Foundation, a Dutch NGO providing distribution and training support for the use of Solar Home Systems (SHS) with market experience across Africa. SolarNow uses asset finance to provide electricity to off-grid rural communities through modular, expandable SHSs, and distributes an [...]

M-KOPA Solar: Combining Asset Finance with M-Banking to Drive Affordability in Kenya

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In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 590 million people lack access to electricity, including eighty-five per cent of rural populations. M-KOPA Solar is seeking to change this. Based in Kenya, M-KOPA Solar (www.m-kopa.com) is an innovative asset financing company that sells small-scale solar home systems (SHSs) to off-grid households on an affordable, 12-month mobile money payment plan via hire purchase. As of February 2014, M-KOPA actively provided affordable solar power to over 50,000 Kenyan households – and is adding a thousand more households per week. M-KOPA has ambitious plans: it has just raised US$20 million to fund expansion of its customer [...]

Innovative Consumer Finance Mechanisms for Small Scale Off-Grid Energy

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Efforts to provide energy access on a commercial basis to rural populations in developing countries face a range of challenges, including access to finance. Off-grid customers from lower income communities currently pay a high price for purchasing kerosene for basic lighting services and switching to renewable energy based systems would not only save them fuel-costs but also improve their overall quality of life. However, the high upfront cost of the renewable energy based systems (handheld devices and stand-alone systems) restricts them from making this switch. This is identified as a major barrier by all stakeholders committed to the delivery of [...]

Innovations in Financing Event, NYC 2013

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Innovations in Financing Small Scale Clean Energy, a full-day workshop organized by Arc Finance in conjunction with USAID and the Sustainable Energy for All Energy Access Practitioner Network, brought together a range of stakeholders to discuss the innovations in financing now being deployed in the small-scale, clean energy space. These sessions were made possible with generous support from USAID.

Arc Finance at the 2013 Ashden Awards: Partnerships and Innovation in Practice

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Solving the “last mile” problem – or providing renewable energy and suitable finance for it to the Bottom of the Pyramid – is far more collaborative than competitive. You can see this clearly in the network of partnerships we at Arc Finance have developed for our current portfolio of projects: we link energy companies, MFIs, technology providers, remittance companies and other distribution organizations to facilitate access to finance for renewable energy for the un(der)electrified billions whose lives can be improved.

Collaboration and partnership were among the key themes of the 2013 Ashden Awards held in [...]

Breaking the Cost Barrier with Pay-As-You-Go Technology to Make Clean Energy Affordable

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Big surprises sometimes come in small packages and Angaza Design embodies this maxim. Led by CEO Lesley Silverthorn Marincola, the three-person team had already launched in five countries with its innovative SoLite solar lamp when it encountered the affordability barrier. Unfazed, the team pivoted and turned its engineering skills to developing and testing a new concept in pay-as-you-go solar energy. Lesley spoke to Arc Finance about how the human-centered design and can-do approach of companies such as Amazon – where she worked on the early generations of the Kindle e-reader – can be applied to seemingly [...]

How Pre-Payment and Microfinance Can Build “Micro-Power Economies”

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INENSUS is a young, off-grid energy company based in Germany that develops solar/wind-hybrid microgrids for developing countries’ remote rural regions. The company’s “Micro-Power Economy” model, currently being employed in Senegal, centers on supporting both income-generating as well as household energy activities to truly catalyze local village economies.

Arc Finance recently caught up with Jakob Schmidt-Reindahl, managing director of INENSUS’ Senegal operations, to discuss the company’s clients, pre-payment approach, and role that microfinance plays in helping to realize the micro-energy economy.

What Do Solar, Mobile and Microfinance Have in Common? Meet Fenix International.

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Fenix International is a Silicon Valley based renewable energy company that designs and manufactures income generating energy solutions for mobile telecoms in emerging markets. The company has developed the ReadySet, a plug-and-play smart battery that charges by solar panels or bicycle dynamo to power mobile phones, lights, and many devices powered by USB or Car Lighter Adapters. The ReadySet is sold by MTN, Africa’s largest mobile phone company, through its network of retail outlets in Uganda. The end customers are micro entrepreneurs who use the ReadySet to make additional income from charging phones in off-grid rural areas.

In [...]

Using Energy Products and Other Initiatives to Spur Growth at a Philippine MFI

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Since its founding in 1984, the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) has explored a range of ways to live up to its mission of helping poor Filipino women achieve self-sufficiency and self-reliance. NWTF offers an impressive array of products, including micro-loans to assist micro-entrepreneurs, insurance and student loans, and continues to look for innovative products and services to meet the needs of its clients and grow the organization.

Arc Finance talks with Raymond Serios, Director of Research at NWFT, about how the MFI embraced energy lending as a way to expand its mission and find new ways to [...]