Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high - risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. 

Risk Information

Estimated reading time: 2 min

Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.

What are the key risks?

  1. You could lose all the money you invest
    • If the business you are investing in fails, there is a high risk that you will lose 100% of your money. Most start-up and early-stage businesses fail.
    • Advertised rates of return aren’t guaranteed. This is not a savings account. If the borrower doesn’t pay you back as agreed, you could earn less money than expected. A higher advertised rate of return means a higher risk of losing your money. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
    • Certain of these investments can be held in an Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA). An IFISA does not reduce the risk of the investment or protect you from losses, so you can still lose all your money. It only means that any potential returns will be tax free.
    • Checks on the businesses you are investing in, such as how well they are expected to perform, may not have been carried out by the platform you are investing through. You should do your own research before investing.
  2. You won't get your money back quickly
    • Many bonds last for several years, so you should be prepared to wait for your money to be returned even if the business you’re investing in repays on time.
    • You are unlikely to be able to cash in your investment early by selling your bond. You are usually locked in until the business has paid you back over the period agreed.
    • The platform does not offer a secondary market. While another investor may be interested in buying your investment, there is no guarantee you will find a buyer at the price you are willing to sell.
  3. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
    • Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments.
  4. You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong
    • Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker here.
    • Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated platform, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here.

For further information about investment-based crowdfunding, visit the FCA’s website here.

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ABOUT ENERGISE AFRICA

Our mission is simple but ambitious: to mobilise millions of pounds to cut carbon emissions and improve lives through clean energy access projects in sub-Saharan Africa. We're doing this by making people-powered impact investing accessible for everyone.

We believe money can be a powerful force for change. By combining innovative finance with smart technology, we connect everyday investors with pioneering clean-energy businesses across Africa. These enterprises urgently need flexible, affordable working capital to scale their impact, bringing families and small businesses life-changing access to clean, affordable and reliable solar power.

Together we enable solar businesses and other sustainable organisations to raise the investment they need to scale and grow in Africa and other emerging economies.

By connecting profit-for-purpose businesses with retail investors we’re empowering them to fight climate change, reduce poverty, promote gender equality, provide affordable clean energy and improve health and wellbeing for all.

We do this by making impact investing accessible to all. We work with key strategic partners like UK aid, P4G and Good Energies Foundation to transform the finance sector. Revolutionising lending to new and emerging sustainable businesses by providing innovative financial products that people want to invest in to deliver a better world.

THE ENERGISE AFRICA STORY


Energise Africa as a concept was agreed in 2016 and realised in 2017, as a direct result of a public tender issued by UK aid and Virgin Unite. The idea was simple. Solar energy access in Africa was being constrained as traditional banks and financial institutions weren’t prepared to provide working capital finance to solar businesses. At the same time, families and small businesses couldn’t pay for the solar systems, so by connecting UK people directly to these solar businesses, Energise Africa would bridge the climate finance gap.

Over the past five years, with support from founding partners Ethex and Lendahand, we have been playing a transformational role in the finance sector. We use technology to innovate and provide investors with the products they want and sustainable businesses with the type of finance that they critically need to scale and grow. Making the right kind of impact on people and our planet.

Thanks to our community of over 5,000+ individual investors, we have raised over £43 million and made £29.5 million in repayments. That’s an amazing amount of people-powered finance, which has provided more than 750,000 people across 14 African countries with access to affordable and life changing solar energy. We have also supported over 8,000 small and micro-sized enterprises.

The next chapter will be an exciting one, we are working hard to connect with more solar businesses in Africa and pioneering new asset-backed financial products to help more investors come on board to provide the vital up-front funding that's key to unlocking Africa's solar potential.

OUR MAJOR MILESTONES INCLUDE:


  • 2016

    Ethex and Lendahand awarded a tender by UK aid to set up Energise Africa

  • 2017

    Energise Africa officially launches

  • 2018

    P4G and Good Energies Foundation provide additional catalytic capital

  • 2019

    £10 million raised to provide more than 300,000 people with access to affordable solar energy across sub-Saharan Africa and ‘new investor guarantee’ launches

  • 2020

    Energise Africa receives P4G scale-up funding to support the platforms innovation and growth and shortlisted for Ashden Awards

  • 2021

    Energise Africa passes £21 million in people-powered finance, benefitting over 150 projects, 14 sustainable businesses and enabling 560,000 to have access to life-changing solar energy across 15 emerging economies. Energise Africa is awarded an United Nations Global Climate Action Award ahead of COP26

  • 2022

    Energise Africa widens our investment offering, giving our investors the opportunity to diversify and include other impactful sectors such as E-mobility, microfinance and agriculture supply

  • 2023

    Energise Africa passes the milestone of over £35m in investments and agrees a co-financing agreement with CEI Africa

  • 2024

    Energise Africa passes the milestone of over £40m in investments which benefit over 200 projects. It is recommended as a best buy by Ethical Consumer

  • 2025

    Energise Africa obtains match Funding and RBF Grants helping to significantly de-risk investment. There is refined focus on bringing clean energy to sub-Saharan Africa

Investing on energiseafrica.com involves risk, including the loss of all of your capital, illiquidity (the inability to sell assets quickly or without substantial loss in value), and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio.

Never invest more than you can afford to lose and never make investment with borrowed monies. Investment opportunities on this platform are targeted solely at investors who understand these risks and for whom such investments are suitable. Lendahand Ethex Ltd does not give investment advice or recommendations regarding investment opportunities, and any investment decision must be made only on the basis of all of the information provided by the issuer for that investment opportunity, including (without limitation) the relevant Investment Memorandum (IM) that is available to registered members of the platform. Please read the Risks section of our site to learn more about the risks associated with the products offered on this platform.

The investment opportunities on energiseafrica.com are not an offer to the public in any jurisdiction and are available only to registered members of the platform who have certified that they are eligible to invest. Any person who is not resident in the United Kingdom who wishes to view these investment opportunities must first satisfy themselves that they are eligible to do so under the securities laws and regulations applicable to them. This site does not constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for, any securities to any person in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer or solicitation would be unlawful.

In respect of its regulated activities, Lendahand Ethex Ltd trading as Energise Africa (FRN 776908) is an appointed representative of Share In Ltd (FRN 603332), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.