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Analysis: How Fossil Fuel Dependency Keeps Nigerians in Darkness
Nigeria holds more than 200 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves — the largest in Africa and ninth globally. Yet millions still face daily blackouts.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Jacqueline Novogratz and Acumen Raise $300 Million For Off-Grid Solar In Africa
Backers include Green Climate Fund, IFC, Shinhan Bank, Nordic Development Fund and Soros Economic Development Fund.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Moving Past the ‘Infrastructure of Hope’: Why Investors, Policymakers and Entrepreneurs Must Build a Modern E-Commerce Ecosystem in Southeast Asia
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for over 95% of all businesses in Southeast Asia, and millions of these entrepreneurs have migrated their hustle online. Yet according to Macy Castillo at Enstack, due to a lack of access to reliable payment options and other tools, they are attempting to build modern e-commerce businesses on a foundation of informal agreements and personal trust: an “infrastructure of hope” that leaves them exposed to payment fraud and locked out of formal finance. She argues that this is the central challenge for economic inclusion in Southeast Asia today, and explores Enstack's solution.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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KawiSafi Announces $90 Million in Approved Capital to Accelerate Climate Solutions Across Africa
With backing from the African Development Bank, the Green Climate Fund, the Schmidt Family Foundation, and the Quadrature Climate Foundation, Acumen’s second KawiSafi fund marks the next chapter for the climate-resilient growth platform developed by Acumen.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Ze-Gen and Clasp Announce Strategic Partnership to Drive Quality and Accelerate Innovation in Solar Generators
ZE-Gen and CLASP will launch a new international Solar Generator competition with $100k in innovation prizes under the Global LEAP Awards.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Global
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Aavishkaar Capital’s Global Supply Chain Support Fund (GSCSF) Supports the Horizon Group Africa with USD $5 Million Loan to Scale Operations
This is the 8th overall investment by GSC Support Fund across the Global South and the fourth investment in Africa.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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South Africa Opens Freight Rail Network to Private Firms
Transnet, which runs the country's freight rail and port services, has faced equipment shortages and maintenance backlogs worsened by widespread cable theft and vandalism, prompting the government to seek private sector involvement.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Scaling Youth Entrepreneurship in Africa: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach for Developing Local Ecosystems
Across Africa, governments and development actors are investing in youth entrepreneurship, with funders and international NGOs increasingly partnering with local non-profits to develop better support ecosystems for young entrepreneurs. But as Grégory Valadié and Juan Carlos Thomas at TechnoServe explain, many of these local organizations face limitations in capacity, systems and tools. They explore four ways to maximize these partnerships’ impact by complementing their direct implementation work with systems-level solutions, and leveraging institutions that already reach young people at scale.
- Categories
- Education
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