Providing vital funding for early-stage SMEs

Since its inception in 2018, Candi Solar has been committed to revolutionising the energy landscape across Asia and Africa. As a leader in renewables, Candi has installed solar panels on business and industrial premises, with a total capacity of 112 MW.

The company’s ongoing growth has been supported by Energise Africa investors, who raised £3.8 million in finance for Candi over 9 investment raises. Investors. Thanks to this financial support, the business has now moved on to a rapid growth phase. This week, exciting news was released that a new equity capital investment of $38 million will fuel the company’s ambitious growth plans. This will finance an additional 200 MW of business solar projects and support strategic hiring initiatives to sustain Candi’s rapid expansion.

UK investors through Energise Africa can feel proud to have played a vital role in helping Candi become the major renewables force they are today, by providing the vital finance they needed to grow. We’re happy to see that they are now moving on to other sources of finance suitable for an organisation of their size and reach.

Another example of our investors supporting innovative businesses comes from BBOXX, a UK-based company focused on driving Africa's economic development. Thanks to investment from Energise Africa, BBOXX has gone from strength to strength and has successfully fulfilled its repayment obligations to Energise Africa investors.

The organisation raised more than £2 million in finance from more than 1,000 Energise Africa investors through 7 bond offers, providing much-needed debt funding at an instrumental period for BBOXX, enabling them to expand their operations in DRC and Rwanda. 

This funding was instrumental in BBOXX’s ongoing success in tackling the global problem of access to essential products and services in Africa and the company is now a ‘super platform’ expanding its solar access offering to more African countries, offering households, businesses and communities a reliable and affordable way to access life-changing energy solutions and more.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are crucial for emerging economies, but they often face a financial hurdle (the SME funding gap). This means there's a significant difference between the financing these businesses need and what's available to them from traditional lenders like banks.

SMEs often face challenges when seeking loans and investments to fuel their growth. Banks tend to perceive them as risky due to factors such as limited track records or insufficient collateral. Lenders are often cautious about providing funding, which creates a gap that hampers the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises and hinders economic development. 

In emerging economies, where financial systems may not be as robust, this issue is exacerbated. Estimates suggest billions of dollars are needed to fill this gap.

This is where Energise Africa investors play a crucial role. Many people invest in the bonds we offer because they want to create a positive social and environmental impact with their money. 

However, this kind of crowd-based finance is often exactly what organisations like Candi require during the initial phases of business expansion. Thanks to the generous support of our investors, Candi has entered an exciting phase of rapid expansion and has successfully attracted larger funders. And investments are creating a ripple effect, generating more clean energy, cutting more carbon emissions and creating more jobs in emerging economies.

Like BBOXX and Candi, Energise Africa has plans to thrive, covering new impactful sectors and geographies, and growing our investor base. We want to help even more people invest in on-the-ground impact in emerging economies, improving lives and cutting carbon emissions. In doing so, we’ll also play a crucial role in helping impactful SMEs grow, expand and become market leaders. We look forward to welcoming more organisations onto our platform in the coming months. To make sure you’re among the first to hear about new investment opportunities, register for email alerts.