On 4th November 2021, during the COP26 Energy Day, the European programme GET.invest – supported by the European Union, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Austria – announced the launch of the pilot phase of the GET.invest Finance Readiness Support, a new service designed to bridge the access-to-finance gap for local, earlier stage companies in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Delivered by leading advisory firms, amongst them Energy 4 Impact, this new offering will help locally-owned and managed energy access companies access finance.

As GOGLA’s Off-Grid Solar Investment Trends 2020 report shows, investments in the off-grid solar sector have been highly concentrated on a small number of leading, more stablished companies, with the top 10 recipients of financing receiving 80 percent of the total value of investment in 2020.

Despite their significance as key engines of growth, job creation and economic development, earlier stage, local companies tend to face significant barriers in tapping into funding opportunities, not least due to their track record, size and financing requirements. This access-to-finance gap is a major roadblock for universal energy access, as 84% of people without access to energy live in rural areas and could benefit from companies with deep distribution roots and knowledge of local customer preferences.

Building on broad stakeholder consultations as well as the experience of supporting over 200 companies and projects in the sustainable energy sector, the GET.invest Finance Readiness Support will complement the advisory portfolio of the GET.invest Finance Catalyst. As such, the new service will provide hands-on, in-depth business development advisory and coaching along the fundraising journey for local, earlier stage micro-, small- and medium-sized energy companies.

The GET.invest Finance Readiness Support will be implemented by eight advisory firms: Catalyst Off-Grid Advisors, Energy 4 Impact, GFA Consulting Group, GreenMax Capital Advisors, Inensus, KPMG, Open Capital and Persistent. In its initial pilot phase, the service will draw on the firms’ networks to support innovative, impactful and scalable companies and projects, based on eligibility criteria developed in collaboration with industry associations.

GET.invest will shape the Finance Readiness Support throughout the pilot phase by working closely with several core partners, including the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE), GOGLA, the Global Distributors Collective (GDC), the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) and ENERGIA (Hosted by HIVOS). Additionally, GET.invest is collaborating with national renewable energy associations including the Associação Moçambicana de Energias Renováveis (AMER), Energy Private Developers (EPD), the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN) and the Uganda National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Alliance (UNREEEA). More partners are expected to be mobilised. Via this coalition, lessons learned and knowledge generated will also be shared with the energy access community at large.

To find out more please read the official announcement in full.