The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently informed MicroCapital that it is lending approximately USD 31,000 to Palmis Eneji, a social business in Haiti that uses a franchise model to sell lighting and cooking appliances via
Search Results for: Solar
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Greenlight Planet Nets Equity, Debt Totaling $60m for Sun King Solar Product Line from Apis, Eight Roads, Bamboo, Deutsche, Global Partnerships, Other Investors
Greenlight Planet, which has offices in Kenya, India and the US, recently raised a total of USD 60 million in equity and debt “to expand its solar-energy product lines, distribution networks, and financing capabilities in Africa and Asia.” Three entities purchased stakes of unspecified sizes in Greenlight, including Apis Growth Fund I, the lead investor in the funding round, which is managed by Nigeria- and UK-based Apis Partners. The other two entities increased existing stakes in Greenlight: Eight Roads Ventures, a private equity firm with offices in seven countries; and Bamboo Capital Partners, an investor seeking “economic, social and environmental
SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Week Opens: Microfinance and Environment Action Group Celebrates Rollout of Solar Products in Central America, Ethiopia, Philippines; Turns Eye to Scaling Up
On 
the opening day of European Microfinance Week, the European Microfinance Platform’s (e-MFP’s) Microfinance and Environment Action Group met to review its successes and make plans for the next two years.
Carla Palomares of ADA, the Luxembourgish nonprofit formerly known as Appui au Développement Autonome, explained her organization’s work with the 60-member Microfinance Council of the Philippines (MCPI) and Red Centroamericana y del Caribe de Microfinanzas (REDCAMIF), a network of networks serving 139 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the Dominican Republic and six Central American countries. ADA helped MCPI develop a team dedicated to supporting its member MFIs in offering loans for clients to buy solar lamps. MCPI is now working with six additional MFIs to roll out solar loans. The program with REDCAMIF is similar, but involves microleasing for agricultural equipment and support regarding environmentally sustainable farming practices as well as
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Empower Generation Launches Installment Plans for Women-sold Solar Products in Nepal
Empower Generation, a US-based social enterprise that supports clean energy and women’s entrepreneurship in Nepal, recently
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Musoni Kenya Disburses Microloans to Fund D.light Solar Home Systems
D.light, a US-based provider of solar energy products, recently partnered with Musoni Kenya, a provider of mobile financial services, to finance solar electric systems for low-income Kenyans who live in communities with no electricity service.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Lends $52.5m to Climate Investor One for Hydro, Solar, Wind Energy Projects in Africa, Asia
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch development bank, recently announced it will loan USD 52.5 million in two transactions to Climate Investor One (CIO), a facility managed by Netherlands-based Climate Fund Managers. The objective of the loan is for CIO to aid in the development
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO, IFC Invest $16m in Equity in Mobisol to Finance Solar Power in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch development bank, recently announced that is placing equity investments totaling EUR 9.2 million (USD 9.9 million) in Mobisol, a Germany-based provider of solar home systems in East Africa. The investments are funded by two entities FMO manages in partnership with the Dutch government: MASSIF and the Access to Energy Fund. These investments were accompanied by an equity placement of EUR 5.4 million (USD 5.8 million) by
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Solar Financier PEG Africa Offers Customers in Ghana Free Hospitalization Insurance via Bima
PEG Africa, which offers “rent-to-own” financing for solar products in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, recently arranged to offer select customers no-cost insurance cover via Bima, a microinsurance service of Sweden’s Milvik. The rollout across Ghana follows a pilot project that served 2,000 families. PEG will enroll customers that meet certain criteria relating to loyalty and timeliness of repayment. The insurnace will pay out for
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: D.light Raises $15m in Equity from Energy Access Ventures, KawiSafi, NewQuest, Omidyar to Expand Sales of Solar Products via Microloans, Develop Televisions for Emerging Markets
D.light, a privately-owned retailer of solar appliances based in the US city of San Francisco, recently raised USD 22.5 million in funding to expand its PayGo platform, which offers microloans to finance purchases of solar products.
SPECIAL REPORT: Fostering South-South Knowledge Exchange: Solar Home Systems in Bangladesh
On this first day of European Microfinance Week conference sessions, three participants described their visits to Bangladesh to learn how low-income families there have financed purchases of home solar systems. Tesfaye Befekadu, the general manager of Ethiopia’s Harbu Microfinance Institution, explained, “The exposure visit opened my mind to green microfinance…. I came back from Bangladesh with a lot of knowledge. I collected the managers, and we exchanged information and immediately decided this idea should go to the Board of Directors. Then I asked the Board to explain it to the shareholders.… I can say that all levels of the organization, down to the clients, own this program.” In the year since the visit, Harbu has delivered
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: M-Kopa Solar Raises $19m in Private Equity Investment to Expand Pay-As-You-Go Model in East Africa
M-Kopa Solar, a Kenya-based “pay-as-you-go” solar energy supplier for homes in Africa that do not have traditional electricity connections, has raised KES 2 billion (USD 19 million) in an equity round led by London-based Generation Investment Management LLP.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Dahabshiil’s “MicroDahab-MFI”, SolarGen Technologies Announce “Lease to Purchase” Energy Product for Low-Income Somali Farmers, Small-scale Entrepreneurs in Somalia
MicroDahab-MFI, the microfinance institution (MFI) that serves as the corporate social responsibility arm of the United Arab Emirates-based conglomerate Dahabshiil Group, and SolarGen Technologies, a Somalia-based distributor of renewable energy technologies, have announced a joint energy project in Somalia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Babyloan, Total Partner to Develop Crowdfunding Platform to Offer Microfinance for Solar Energy Equipment in Africa, Asia, Latin America
Babyloan, a French online microfinance intermediary that works in both developed and developing countries, and Total, a French energy company, recently announced plans to develop a joint crowdfunding platform that will seek to “accelerate access to energy” in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FINCA International to Offer Microfinance Services to Fund Off-Grid Solar Systems in Africa
The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA International), a US-based nonprofit microfinance network, has announced that it will offer microfinance services to fund “off-grid solar systems”[1] in Africa.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: LOLC Micro Credit, VisionFund, Kredit Microfinance Institution, Agence Francaise de Developpement Finance Home Solar Panel Purchases in Cambodia
LOLC Micro Credit, the microfinance arm of Sri Lanka’s Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC); VisionFund International, a microfinance investor owned by US-based Christian nonprofit World Vision; and Kredit Microfinance Institution, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Cambodia, have agreed to partner on a program run by Agence Francaise de Developpement, the international development arm of the French government, to provide loans for purchases of home solar panels in Cambodia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: OPIC, Calvert, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, EIB Invest $12m in Participatory Microfinance Group for Africa (PAMIGA) to Support Access to Solar Power, Irrigation in Rural Africa
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance institution backed by the US government, and the Calvert Foundation, a US-based nonprofit community development financial institution, recently signed agreements to loan USD 6.25 million to Pamiga Finance S.A. (PFSA) to help it spread access to solar energy and micro-irrigation systems in rural Africa [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SolarNow Raises $2.5m from Novastar Ventures, Acumen Fund
SolarNow, an Ugandan-based company selling solar electric home systems, recently raised EUR 2 million (USD 2.53 million) by selling equity shares to Novastar Ventures, a Mauritius-based fund investing in new businesses with ‘innovative’ business models in Africa, and Acumen Fund, a New-York based nonprofit venture fund.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Provider Khushhali Bank, Smart and Renewable Energy Solutions Partner to Increase Solar Power in Rural Pakistan
Khushhali Bank, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Pakistan, has signed an agreement with Smart and Renewable Energy Solutions (SRE Solutions), a Pakistan-based firm that offers solar energy products, to provide financing for “Solar Magic Box,” a device manufactured and sold by SRE Solutions that generates electricity from the sun [1].