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Insights, Analysis and Debate: Vote for the Top NextBillion Article of 2019
Another year has come and gone, and it's time for NextBillion to select our most influential articles of 2019. As usual, we’re turning to you, our readers, for help. We've selected our 12 most-read articles of the year, and we invite you to vote for the one that impacted your thinking the most. You can vote up to 12 times during the voting period, which runs from Dec. 20 to Jan. 2. The winner will be announced on Jan. 3. As always, thank you for reading, contributing content to, and engaging with NextBillion!
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- Education, Energy, Environment, Finance, Investing, Technology
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Shedding Light on Women in Solar: How – And Why – Off-Grid Solar Companies Should Hire More Female Sales Agents
Off-grid solar companies need large sales forces to reach last-mile consumers. But though they often struggle to build these sales forces, and though there's a large pool of female candidates to choose from, only 35% of their salespeople are women. Scott A. Roy at Whitten & Roy Partnership discusses the false assumptions that keep solar companies from hiring women, and explores the reasons why female sales agents are actually better all-around performers than men.
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- Energy
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Press Release: Rensource Secures $20M in Series A financing to Power Nigerian SME Productivity
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, only has 12 gigawatts of installed grid capacity, with just one-in-four Nigerians connected to the national power grid. In contrast, South Africa has 50 gigawatts. Rensource launched commercially in 2016 to address this problem
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- Press Release
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- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Nomura Aims for More Sustainable Wall Street Role
Nomura's topsy-turvy history of trying to build a successful US investment bank has made it the butt of rivals' jokes. Now the Japanese group is taking another stab, buying renewable-energy boutique Greentech Capital Advisors.
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- renewable energy
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Can an Integrated Energy Distribution Model Turn Around Africa’s Ailing Utilities?
Utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa are struggling to provide quality, cost-effective services at a profit. The reasons for this include their inability to access affordable capital, and their low revenue collection rates. According to Simon Meier at Konexa, this is one reason that electricity access in the region continues to lag behind other geographies. He explores an innovative solution Konexa is piloting: an integrated distribution model that could provide a recipe for systems change.
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- Energy
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In Bihar, India, Solar-Powered Mini Grids Are Slowly Transforming Livelihoods
A silent revolution is unfolding not far from Bihar’s capital Patna, where residents are benefitting hugely from access to reliable, clean solar energy.
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- Energy
- Region
- South Asia
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Viewpoint: Myanmar Solar: Lots of Potential, But a Cloudy Outlook for Solar Energy Development and Growth
Demand for energy has been growing fast, in parallel with the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member’s economy, and solar energy is competing against a variety of conventional, as well as alternative low- or zero-carbon, energy resources for its share of Myanmar’s energy mix.
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- Energy
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- renewable energy
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How Investors and Energy Providers Can Unleash Solar Growth in Uganda
The Ugandan solar market is a prime destination for local and international clean energy access investment. But many new investors are in the dark on critical issues, such as the maturity/development of local companies in the space, and the types of investments they need to propel their businesses forward. The United Nations Capital Development Fund and Challenges Uganda recently partnered to produce an in-depth market study designed to help Uganda’s fledgling solar industry take flight.
