SolarAid is an international development charity working alongside communities in the most rural and hard-to-reach areas of sub-Saharan Africa to tackle poverty and the climate crisis through access to clean, safe solar lights. Aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 7, which advocates for universal access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy, SolarAid is dedicated to combating global poverty and climate change by providing rural communities with access to solar lighting. As the parent organization, SolarAid wholly owns SunnyMoney, the largest distributor of solar lights across Af ..read more

GridCrux is a technology and power infrastrucure company that develops, engineers, finances and deploys alternative energy solutions to the unserved and underserved segments of the African continent. The company's solutions leverage existing technology, primarily multiple energy management systems, as a means of delivering optimized energy solutions and carbon reduction imperatives with a fine blend of innovative financing solutions as a catalyst for rapid acceleration of energy access across Africa. Recommended Reading  GCWATT.COM GC Watt simplifies energy management for homes, business ..read more

Odyssey's mission is to accelerate the clean energy transition in emerging markets. The Odyssey platform connects financiers, solar companies and equipment suppliers in one place to facilitate transactions, streamline processes and scale investment into distributed renewable energy. Financiers use Odyssey to source and manage deals, solar companies can access financing, equipment procurement and monitoring tools, and equipment suppliers use Odyssey to find new customers and streamline their sales process. Recommended Reading  NEoT and Odyssey partner to drive more capital to renewable en ..read more

Founded in 2010, Persistent Energy is Africa’s Climate Venture Builder and a leading investor. The company provides essential support including finance, strategic guidance, governance, technical and legal expertise to early-stage companies committed to creating sustainable impact. They have developed and deployed an interesting venture building model that fills in critical resource gaps for early-stage companies innovating across sustainable energy, mobility, agriculture, and circular economy. This episode is presented by Okra Solar, to learn more about Okra visit okrasolar.com Recommended Rea ..read more

In the eighth and final episode of the Distributed Energy For People & The Planet series, we are joined by Henok Assefa - Founder and Managing Partner at PRECISE, and Dr. Paul Yillia - COO and Technical Advisor, TENN to find out how policy design and finance go hand-hand in ensuring that farmers in rural communities can afford their energy needs for their agricultural production. This series is hosted by Marilyn Smith of the Energy Action Project (EnAct) and produced in collaboration with Global SDG7 Hubs. Guest Bios: Henok Assefa is the Chief Executive Officer of Precise Consult Internati ..read more

In the seventh episode of the Distributed Energy For People & The Planet series, we are joined by Anshul Ojha - Founder and Principal anchor for the Desert Resource Center, and Ralph Roothaert - Principal Investigator of – Veggies 4 Planet & People (V4P&P) Project and Country Director – of Kenya Eastern and Southern Africa. This series is hosted by Marilyn Smith of the Energy Action Project (EnAct) and produced in collaboration with Global SDG7 Hubs Guest Bios: Anshul Ojha  is the Founder and Principal anchor for the Desert Resource Center, Leading efforts for desert partnersh ..read more

In this episode, we discuss the intricacies of the landmark $10M partnership between Crossboundary Access (CBA) and Mobile Power–a partnership that promises to unlock energy access for over 300,000 people within Nigeria. CrossBoundary is an investment firm focused on unlocking capital for sustainable growth and strong returns in underserved markets. Identifying Africa as one of the critically underserved markets a decade ago, CrossBoundary began its operations on the continent as an investment advisory for businesses and projects. A few years later, the firm identified an energy access gap on ..read more

In this episode, we discuss the intricacies of the landmark $10M partnership between Crossboundary Access (CBA) and Mobile Power–a partnership that promises to unlock energy access for over 300,000 people within Nigeria. CrossBoundary is an investment firm focused on unlocking capital for sustainable growth and strong returns in underserved markets. Identifying Africa as one of the critically underserved markets a decade ago, CrossBoundary began its operations on the continent as an investment advisory for businesses and projects. A few years later, the firm identified an energy access gap on ..read more

In the fifth episode of the Distributed Energy For People & The Planet series, we continue our conversation from the last episode of the series joined by Shweta Narayan from the India-based NGO  "Health Care Without Harm", and Shri Ram Kumar S, IAS - Project Director of the Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project (MEGHSSP).  This series is hosted by Marilyn Smith of the Energy Action Project (EnAct) and produced in collaboration with Global SDG7 Hubs Guest Bios: Shweta Narayan is an environmental health researcher with over two decades of campaigning and advocacy experienc ..read more

In the sixth episode of the Distributed Energy For People & The Planet series, we are joined by Nirmita Chandrashekar a licensed architect and Senior Program Manager with SELCO Foundation in India, and Bijal Brahmbatt from the Mahila Housing Trust or MHT, a non-profit that was selected as a Women Changemakers India Fellow by Womanity Foundation. In this episode, we will focus on delivering cost-effective renewable energy-based solutions for cooling in India's most underserved communities.  This series is hosted by Marilyn Smith of the Energy Action Project (EnAct) and produced in coll ..read more