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Press releae: PEG Africa raises $25M to accelerate off-grid solar expansion in West Africa
PEG Africa, a West Africa based pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar company, has raised a US$25 million Series C funding round, taking its funding total to US$50 million, and allowing it to cement its position as market leader in the region.
- Source
- Press release
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why the Future is African – And Why SMEs Should Lead the Way
It’s conventional wisdom that small and medium enterprises are key to economic growth in emerging markets. This is particularly true in Africa, where local SMEs dominate the business landscape, and a fast-growing young population needs the services, jobs and economic growth they provide. But as Trevor Hambayi at Development Finance Associates explains, these enterprises face several unique challenges – starting with a lack of finance. He explores the problem, and some solutions that could help unlock the SME sector’s potential.
- Categories
- Finance
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Press release: OPIC Provides Initial Financing to SunFunder’s Solar Energy Transformation Fund to Expand Access to Beyond the Grid Solar
The Solar Energy Transformation Fund is one of a group of investment vehicles managed by SunFunder, a solar energy finance business with offices in the U.S., London and Nairobi working to scale up clean energy access in Africa and Asia by financing solar companies active in off-grid and weak-grid communities.
- Source
- Press release
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Critics: Give Development Impact Bonds a Chance to Learn to Walk Before They Run
Brian Boland, co-founder of The Delta Fund - a donor-advised fund focused on poverty alleviation and justice reform - pushes back on a recent critique of development impact bonds. That critique, published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review by Kevin Starr, took DIBs to task for high costs and questioned whether the investor returns are justifiable. Boland argues that DIBs are in their infancy, investors are already learning a lot from early pilots, and any pioneering new system requires time before it can scale.
- Categories
- Investing
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Press release: OPIC President and CEO Washburne to Leave Agency after Successful Modernization Push
"When I first came to OPIC, I committed to building and strengthening the organization. So I am tremendously proud of the work we accomplished with the Trump Administration and Congress to advance the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act into law, which experts have called the biggest advance in U.S. development policy in a generation."
- Source
- Press release
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- North America
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Finnfund Boosts Sustainable Avocado Farming In Tanzania
Sustainable avocado farming is a viable alternative for Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro region farmers whose livelihoods have been shaken by the plunging price of coffee.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: How the digital finance revolution can drive sustainable development
A new task force convened by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will consider how these two topics might best intersect: how the digital revolution in financing could be shaped not only to minimise potential harms, but in ways that could help advance the SDGs’ inspiring vision.
- Categories
- Finance
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Viewpoint: The Future Is in Africa, and China Knows It
Although securing access to natural resources is surely one of China’s goals, its investments in Africa go beyond extractive industries.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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