Nairobi, Kenya – CEI Africa, a leading impact investment platform, is pleased to announce the first grant recipients for its Smart Outcomes Fund (SOF) component, a facility that aims to positively impact rural and peri-urban livelihoods by incentivizing the deployment of Productive Use of Energy (PUE) technologies, and thus supporting the growth of the PUE sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Fifteen green mini-grid operators across Africa have been awarded grants to deploy PUE equipment using various business models, such as the key maker model, supplier partnerships, among others. The grants target the economic activities undertaken in the communities served by the mini-grids, including agricultural, commercial, and industrial activities. This initiates Phase 1 of the facility, targeting green mini-grids.
The awarded mini-grid projects are located in Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Sierra Leone, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Benin. Together, these projects are expected to reach over 100,000 people, providing access to a diverse range of productive use equipment and services. This includes agricultural processing equipment, electric mobility solutions, cold storage solutions, and more. A significant proportion of the beneficiaries will be women.
CEI Africa’s Smart Outcomes Fund window is targeted to support off-grid energy companies and mini-grid operators deploying PUE through the provision of outcomes-based grants. This outcomes-based financing approach encourages the deployment of PUE solutions in underserved communities to realize the targeted impact.
CEI Africa is managed by Triple Jump B.V. and implemented in cooperation with Persistent and GreenMax Capital Group. The Foundation’s SOF component is led by Greenmax Capital Group. GreenMax also implements the results-based financing component, offering grants to green mini-grid developers, both under the SOF window. Persistent implements the crowdlending window, which provides debt and investment products in collaboration with European crowdlenders.
About CEI Africa
CEI Africa was established by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2021 to improve access to energy for rural households and enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2022 the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) joined as Contributor to CEI Africa. The managing consortium of CEI Africa works with financers, off-grid solar and mini-grid experts, to develop investment solutions that bridge the financing gap in the most challenging access to energy sub-sectors. It is a one-stop shop for mini-grid developers and other off-grid energy companies, offering a variety of financing instruments.
For more information, contact us at info@cei-africa.com.
Photo credit: Engie-Equatorial Power