Sub-Saharan African Solar Companies To Gain From Shell & FMO’s Newly Launched USD 120 Mn Fund

Sub-Saharan African Solar Companies To Gain From Shell & FMO’s Newly Launched USD 120 Mn Fund

In cahoots with the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, FMO, UK-registered charity, Shell Foundation, has unveiled a USD 120 Mn fund to provide financing for early to growth-stage companies in SSA operating on the region’s solar space.

Dubbed the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund (EEGF), the initiative has been launched with an initial close of USD 45 Mn. Amsterdam-based impact-focused investment manager, Triple Jump, will serve as the portfolio manager. Then, Zurich-based venture and private equity firm with a solid footing in off-grid, Persistent, will act as the advisor to the fund.

The fund which whose structuring was advised by Enclude – a Palladium company – is tailored to provide patient, flexible, and capital mixed with technical support, which currently forms a gap in the off-grid sector of Sub-Saharan Africa.

While more than 25 companies in the region will be financed, the facility will provide mezzanine structures and equity and debt funding via solutions designed to meet the changing needs of growing energy companies.

Irfan Mirza, CEO and Co-founder of Trend Solar – a solar firm headquartered in Tanzania, admitted to WeeTracker that the fund appears to address the pressing capital (debt/equity) needs of renewable energy problems.

South Africa Today


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