VentureBuilder has recently been launched. It is a financing platform that will focus exclusively on African-owned off-grid companies. Its objective is to improve access to electricity in Africa.
Despite the efforts made by governments in Africa, especially south of the Sahara, access to electricity remains a difficult challenge. Faced with the inability of national electricity grids to supply all populations, the solar off grid, which is a simple, easy to set up and above all less costly solution, is becoming increasingly popular.
However, companies, which supply these solar systems off grid, face many difficulties. In particular, those held by Africans face funding problems. It is this situation that has prompted several development partners to launch a new initiative to support off-grid companies during their start-up phase. This is VentureBuilder, officially launched a few days ago.
The support of several partners
“With the solar off-grid revolution in Africa, many development partners have understood the need to empower a new generation of local businesses,” says Dan Murphy, VentureBuilder’s CEO. The VentureBuilder platform has been co-developed by Catalyst Off-Grid Advisors and Open Capital Advisors since 2017, leveraging the two companies’ decades of experience in building, advising and financing companies specialising in off-grid solar energy supply. The development phase of VentureBuilder was launched by the Doen Foundation, known for its support of the green economy; the Shell Foundation, which is increasing its investments in the solar off grid in Africa; and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Facebook also participated in the launch of VentureBuilder.
As a first step, the platform plans to establish partnerships with African companies that provide off-grid solar energy, mainly in rural areas; these areas are generally poorly served by electricity. The platform will inject funds to enable the young company to expand its services. VentureBuilder will also conduct “rigorous monitoring of key measures associated with the company’s performance and social impact,” says Dan Murphy.
According to Sam Parker, Director of the Shell Foundation, to achieve the 7th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), clean and affordable energy for all in Africa, an additional 300 off-grid solar companies will be needed to power the 100 million households that do not have access to electricity on the continent.
Jean Marie Takouleu
