Energise Africa has hit the £50 million invested milestone
We have exciting news, and we want to shout about it. Energise Africa has now raised more than £50 million from everyday investors to fund clean energy access across sub-Saharan Africa and other emerging economies.
Behind the impressive number are real people, on both sides of the story. In Goma, a mother can cook, and her children can study safely after dark with a home solar kit, without relying on candles or battery costs. In rural Benin, a green mini-grid means a family has electric light and clean water is pumped to their home. In Kenya, a Bond Boda rider can save for the future because their electric bike costs them so much less to run. Multiply those stories out, and you reach the impact we are celebrating: more than 1.1 million people whose lives have been improved, and over 740,000 tonnes of carbon emissions avoided.
It starts with £50
Energise Africa’s mission is to enable ordinary people in the UK to invest from as little as £50 in bonds issued by clean energy companies working on the ground in Africa. What began as a pilot backed by UK Aid has grown into a platform used by thousands of investors, funding more than 250 projects, with over £35 million already repaid to investors in capital and interest. Every one of those investments came from a decision by a person here in the UK to do something good with their money. Collectively, they became £50 million.
We have seen it working with our own eyes
Our team is based between the UK and our office in Nairobi, and we spend time out in the field, meeting the entrepreneurs building these companies and the families using their products. We have watched a village benefit from everything energy access through a green mini-grid brings, and met customers who no longer breathe smoke from kerosene lamps in their homes. Those visits are why we speak about the impact with such conviction. We know this process is working, and it makes us more determined than ever to scale our reach and impact.
A true team effort,
None of it would have been possible without the funders and supporters who supported our model early. UK Aid, P4G, the Good Energies Foundation, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Virgin Unite and Innovate UK helped us move from a start-up idea to a platform at scale. Today, match funding from CEI Africa (Clean Energy and Energy Inclusion for Africa) continues that work, investing alongside our individual investors. This is the blended finance model we have helped to pioneer, combining institutional and philanthropic capital with everyday investment to reduce risk and unlock far greater sums than any single source could manage alone. In a region where more than 600 million people still lack reliable electricity, that model is helping to bridge a climate finance gap that has held clean energy access back.
The £50 million invested so far has funded solar home systems, green mini-grids, electric transport and clean cooking appliances, and we are building towards an even wider range of investment opportunities. Our ambition is to help mobilise hundreds of millions of pounds in climate finance by 2030.
We want to say a big thank you to every single person who invested; whether it was £50 or more, you have helped make a difference, and you should be proud.