News

We’d like to take this opportunity to briefly introduce you to Lendahand as we’re about to embark on an exciting next step in terms of our ambition to deliver on our mission of ‘Fighting poverty in emerging markets by investing in people and businesses,’ and we thought investors from Energise Africa might like to know.

The Energise Africa team are among those continuing to work from home and we thought this was a good time to let people know more about what we’ve been doing, why we’re doing it all and what effects we think the Coronavirus crisis will have on the business.

As the situation with COVID-19 continues to change on a daily basis we understand that our community of investors, will be keen to learn more about the potential effect the global pandemic will have on your investments.

This blog details the steps we are currently taking to work collaboratively with the solar businesses we support during these challenging times, whilst also safeguarding the interests of our investors.

If you're trying to have an ethical Christmas this year, then check out our 5 key recommendations!

Electricity access for all in Africa was once considered a dream. However, thanks to global initiatives and people just like you, it’s closer than ever before.

From Greta Thunberg to Extinction Rebellion, over the past couple of years, it’s been difficult to avoid news stories about climate change. So, what do we ‘armchair activists’ do? Share some social media posts? Sign a petition? there is something very powerful that we all can do to demand climate action - become a climate activist with your money.

The costs of solar panels have decreased by 99% since 1980, leading to an energy transformation across the globe, with companies, cities, and countries alike switching from coal and natural gas to sustainable solar energy alternatives.

The costs of electrical appliances have reduced by over 85% in the past 5 years and it's having an impact on the growing solar energy market in Africa.

Energise Africa, a leading impact investing platform has today launched a first-time investor guarantee pilot to support customers taking their first steps in starting their impact investing on the platform.

This article was first published by Guardian Labs 

Farms and small enterprises powered by solar energy are bringing new jobs and cash investment to Tanzanian villages. 

This article was first published on Guardian Labs

More than 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to power. Energise Africa is enabling individual investors to back companies helping to solve this energy crisis.

This article was first published on Guardian Labs

Investing in solar energy has created a better future for Senegalese families, with improvements including education, safety, security and health

This article was first published on Guardian Labs

Energise Africa is improving hundreds of thousands of lives through solar-power projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

This article was first published on Guardian Labs 

Most of us want to do good with our money, and online impact investing platform Energise Africa is helping to empower would-be investors

Almost 60 per cent of people consider how a company operates and performs in matters relating to the environment, social issues and governance when buying financial services. However, just 17% of respondents say they hold ethical investments. 

New investment of £2.5 M will extend pay-as-you-go-solar to 100,000 more people in Africa and accelerate the achievement of UN SDG 7

In September 2015, the world’s leaders came together to agree on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. These cover equality, health, energy access, education, poverty and more.

Energise Africa has successfully raised more than £5 million from 1,000 UK retail investors supporting solar energy projects across sub-Saharan Africa

Energise Africa will receive an additional £1.6 million of capital to attract crowd investment from 1,500 new small UK investors, and connect at least 125,000 more people to clean, reliable energy. 

From 2016 investors also have an ethical ISA option via the Innovative Finance ISA (IF ISA). This means that investors can create a positive impact with their investments, whilst also benefiting from tax-free returns.