country: Africa
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Susanna Simon – Bringing light to the dark night
In a Maasai village in northern Tanzania, when the sky turns from deep marine blue at dusk to black night, the stars sparkle like jewels in the sky. Despite the big open sky, Solar Sister Entrepreneur Susanna Simon’s community is dark with only a few pinpricks of light coming from kerosene lamps. Most of the…
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New steps towards greater efficiency and autonomy
Once she had finally paid off her solar water pump last June, thanks to the grant received through ENERGIA’s Covid19 Solidarity Fund, and with enough capital for seedlings, feritiliser and labour Aïssata Ba took some time at the end of the summer to prepare her land for a new agricultural cycle. She had already bought…
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Gender and Energy Innovation Facility – Kenya
To bridge the gender gaps throughout the energy supply chain and in decision-making groups, ENERGIA, EnDev, Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS), Hivos and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), launched the Gender and Energy Innovation Facility in July 2020. The facility aims at developing, testing and evaluating innovative approaches to address the persistent gender…
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Gender and Energy Innovation Facility – Tanzania
To bridge the gender gaps throughout the energy supply chain and in decision-making groups, ENERGIA, EnDev, Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS), Hivos and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), launched the Gender and Energy Innovation Facility in July 2020. The facility aims at developing, testing and evaluating innovative approaches to address the persistent gender…
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Innovative approaches to close the gender gaps in energy in Kenya, Tanzania and Nepal
A partnership among various donors supports eleven organizations in Kenya, Tanzania and Nepal to pilot their innovative idea. These pilots will all address persistent gender challenges in energy access, use, provision and transition. Worldwide, 760 million people still lack access to electricity. Another 2.6 billion (ESMAP, Tracking SDG 7. The energy progress report 2021) still…
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The ENERGIA Solidarity Fund helps revive the businesses of women affected by the pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted lives all around the world, including markets and businesses in sub-Saharan Africa. Many of the entrepreneurs that Energy 4 Impact supports in various sectors of the Senegalese economy have also suffered from the impacts of the crisis. But the Solidarity Fund established by the ENERGIA Network has provided a lifeline…
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Millicent’s challenges and successes to scale up her energy business
Marketing trainings offered to Millicent Akinyi Dula by Practical Action’s Women in Energy Enterprises in Kenya project have not only been a life changing opportunity to her energy business but her life as a whole. The mother of six, who identified product demonstration as an ideal strategy to sell her clean energy business during the…
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Rebecca is promoting productive uses of energy to enhance livelihoods in her community
Rebecca Aseyo’s dream of opening a portable solar products shop within Kakamega County’s Central Business District is finally a reality. Through the County Government, Rebecca was able to secure a stall that goes for Ksh.3000 monthly (USD 28). As also planned, her engagement with the local management team from Sunking Kakamega was successful and they…
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Event: Enabling policy and market environments to support women entrepreneurship in the clean energy sector
Date: July 29, 2021 Time: 9.30 am WAT Location: Virtual event Registration: Please register here. Background Women are a key part of the solution to scaling up energy access. This is especially true in underserved communities across Nigeria. As household energy managers, distributors, entrepreneurs, trainers and technicians – women are in a unique position…
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Persistence, Passion, and Grit Define The Journey
Solar Sister Entrepreneur Onyinye Onye Ndimele will be the first to tell you that reliable energy is cause for celebration in the bustling market town of Awka in the Igbo heartland of southeast Nigeria where she lives with her husband and three children. Electricity was available before, but, without warning, it would go off for…
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Bringing Light To Her Community
Patricia Shayo waves her arm over the 200 orange trees she planted on her new plot of land, purchased with her earnings from Solar Sister. Patricia’s glossy black hair is drawn back in fashionable flat twists. Kanga cloth of orange, turquoise, white, and deep blue drapes over her shoulder, bringing out the warm tones in…
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From a farmhand to an independent energy entrepreneur: Everlyne’s journey
After trying her hand at many businesses and jobs in order to support her family, Everlyne Murenjekha finally made her niche as an energy entrepreneur in Kakamega County, in Kenya. She is now a successful clean energy entrepreneur, specializing in the installation and assembling of improved cook stoves and selling of portable solar products. For…