Grant fundraising for clean energy companies - EEP Africa program 

SUMMARY

Advance Consulting successfully supported 15 renewable energy companies in securing grant financing from EEP Africa, a financing facility that provides early-stage grant and catalytic financing to innovative renewable energy projects, technologies and business models in 15 countries across Southern and Eastern Africa. 

COUNTRY

 East and Southern Africa 

PERIOD

2014-present 

SECTOR

Renewable Energy


CHALLENGE 

Early-stage innovative renewable energy SMEs struggle to acquire financing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Access to affordable capital is still limited for most of them. Grants are often the only option for these SMEs to test their products and business models, or to scale up their activities, to meet the SDG 7 (affordable and renewable energy) targets. 


SOLUTION 

Advance Consulting supported 15 renewable energy companies successfully applying for grant funding through the EEP Africa program since 2014. The project development and fundraising assistance consisted of identifying the grant opportunity and the companies’ eligibility, designing the project, elaborating the proposal documents (including the budget and results projections), and coaching companies for a pitch interview.   



 RESULTS 

In the 2023 window, EEP Africa approved the projects of three renewable energy SMEs supported by Advance Consulting for a total of €1.3 million.  

  • An electric mobility company received funding to scale up its sales of electric motorcycles for productive uses in secondary cities in Kenya. 
  • A hydroelectric mini-grid operator received funding to extend its distribution lines in rural Kenya and connect more households to clean, modern and affordable electricity. 
  • A renewable energy project developer received funding for a feasibility study regarding the potential for the development of a utility-scale wind farm in Zambia.  




 



SUSTAINABILITY

The EEP Africa grant funding allows SMEs to develop their project and increase their impact. Advance Consulting continues to collaborate with the EEP Africa grant recipients to secure additional funding for their projects, as well as support additional SMEs in applying to the next funding rounds of the EEP Africa program.