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Under-Leveraged Best Practices for Scaling Productive Use of Energy Appliances: Part 2 — Financing Options
Productive Use of Energy (PUE) appliances are the subject of growing attention in the development sector, but manufacturers and distributors are facing a number of challenges and misconceptions that are limiting uptake of these devices. In the second article of a two-part series exploring best practices for selling PUE appliances, Thomas Charoy and Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath at Hystra discuss the affordability challenge, sharing solutions for handling the high level of working capital and financial skills required to offer financing options to end-users.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Technology
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ThriveAgric and Acorn Rabo Bank Join Forces to Generate $56 Million in Carbon Revenue for 30,000 Nigerian Farmers
Africa holds immense potential for carbon credits, yet it currently captures only 2% of its capacity.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Scaling Impact in the Last Mile Distribution Sector: The Pros and Cons of Different Pathways to Scale
The last mile distribution sector has gained significant momentum. But as Russell Lyseight at the Global Distributors Collective and Emma Colenbrander at Spring Impact point out, there is still a huge discrepancy between the size of the problem (i.e., last mile consumers’ lack of access to beneficial products and services) and the distribution solutions that currently exist. They explore several approaches last mile distributors can use to close this gap.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy
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Comparing Business Models for Scaling Access to Productive Use of Energy Appliances in Agriculture: The Advantages of Pay-Per-Use
Productive Use of Energy (PUE) appliances — including solar refrigerators, water pumps and more — can boost productivity, income and quality of life in vulnerable communities. But as Ankur Singh, Argha Ghose and Clementine Chambon at Oorja explain, challenges like high upfront costs, lack of financing and poor after-sales service hinder their adoption among these consumers. They explore several business and end-user financing models that can support PUE uptake in agriculture, and explain why the pay-per-use model is uniquely suitable for low-income consumers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Technology
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Rwanda Gets €100 Million from European Investment Bank For Sustainable Agriculture
This initiative aims to transform rural Rwandan agriculture by making credit more accessible to agritech startups and agribusinesses.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Taking Stock of India’s Fintech Landscape: A Venture Capital Firm Shares Six Insights from One of the World’s Most Vibrant Investment Markets
The global team at Quona Capital — a venture capital firm focused on inclusive fintech — recently concluded a visit to India, during which they immersed themselves in the local fintech ecosystem. Michel Zaidler at Quona shares six insights they gathered from several of their Indian portfolio companies, and from these companies' customers and other fintech thought leaders. He highlights some of the groundbreaking business models these fintechs are using, and explains why the Indian market offers unique opportunities to investors.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Investing, Technology
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Analysis: Tackling Africa’s Most Neglected Infrastructure Problem
Scaling-up irrigation is vital to enable farmers to increase output and improve resilience.
- Categories
- Agriculture, WASH
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- infrastructure, MSMEs, scale, smallholder farmers, water
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Analysis: Unlocking Africa’s $1 Trillion Food Economy: The Role of Global Aid and Sustainable Technology
Global aid with strategic investments can help address systemic barriers to achieving Africa’s $1 trillion food economy by 2030.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Global
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