In many rural communities, the challenge is not simply a lack of electricity. Without reliable power, fish spoil before reaching market, crops must be transported elsewhere for processing, and small businesses remain dependent on expensive diesel generators that limit their ability to grow. Equatorial Power is trying to solve both problems at the same time. 

CEI Africa supports Equatorial Power through a USD 2.1 million Results-Based Financing (RBF) grant supporting mini-grid expansion and the development of productive-use activities that strengthen local economies and create sustained demand for electricity in rural communities. 

Unlike traditional mini-grid models that rely heavily on external anchor customers such as telecom towers, Equatorial Power’s agro-processing hubs are owned and operated by the company itself, accounting for as much as 60–70% of total energy demand at some sites. In practice, this means the mini-grid and the productive ecosystem increasingly reinforce one another economically. Reliable electricity makes larger-scale productive activity commercially possible in rural areas, while those activities generate the sustained demand needed for the mini-grid itself to remain financially viable. 

The approach reflects a broader debate unfolding across the mini-grid sector. Some developers argue that mini-grid operators should focus narrowly on electricity provision, while productive-use development and agro-processing are better handled by separate businesses or development actors. Others increasingly see mini-grid companies as platforms for broader rural economic development — or what some in the sector describe as “rural industrialization.” 

Equatorial Power has leaned decisively toward the latter model. Its productive hubs support services tailored to local economies, including ice production and fish drying on Lake Victoria and pineapple processing in the DRC. 

In some ways, this diversity of approaches is also reflected in the growing use of Results-Based Financing itself. Rather than prescribing a single model for rural electrification, RBF mechanisms allow different approaches to emerge under different local conditions. What works in one context may not work in another — and developer capacity, local economic activity, geography, and market density all shape which models can realistically scale and remain sustainable over time. 

By supporting companies like Equatorial Power, CEI Africa is helping expand energy access while supporting productive-use models that strengthen local economies and create sustainable demand for electricity in rural communities.