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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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Renda, Which Provides Order Fulfillment for Businesses in Africa, Takes in $1.9 Million
Renda, which simplifies order fulfillment and retail distribution for businesses in Africa, has secured a $1.9 million pre-seed round.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- distribution, MSMEs, startups
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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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Under-Leveraged Best Practices for Scaling Productive Use of Energy Appliances: Part 1 — Sales Support and Market Access
Productive Use of Energy (PUE) appliances can increase revenue for low-income populations, mitigate climate change and improve global energy access. But according to Thomas Charoy and Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath at Hystra, uptake of PUE appliances remains slow, due in part to the training, market linkages and after-sales support needed for customers to get the full benefit from these complex products. They explore some common challenges and best practices in selling PUE solutions, focusing on the appliances with the most mature and promising markets: solar water pumps and solar refrigerators.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Technology
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Women Sales Agents are the Key to Last-Mile Distribution: Here are Four Ways to Maximize Their Impact
Many development and entrepreneurship programs around the world have engaged women sales agents as last-mile distributors, as their involvement can advance multiple business and impact goals. But as Shihab Uzzaman and Trisha Clauson at Bopinc point out, though some of these initiatives have succeeded, many have failed. They share four key practices Bopinc leveraged in a last-mile distribution project in Bangladesh that can boost the performance of other businesses and programs that enlist women sales agents in their distribution efforts.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Press Release: Ignite Power Scales Up Distribution Renewable Energy Access in 4 West African Countries Through Acquisition of Oolu
Ignite Power, a leading provider of distributed infrastructure solutions, expanding renewable energy access in Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon through the strategic acquisition of Oolu.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Analysis: Drones, Droids, and Delivery Bots: The Future of Last-Mile Logistics
Emerging technologies in automated delivery are poised to drastically reduce delivery times, cut costs, and enhance environmental sustainability.
- Categories
- Environment, Technology
- Region
- Global
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Vietnam’s VinFast Enters Africa EV Market via Ghana Distributor
VinFast wants its EVs in 50 markets by year's end and has made deals in six countries in the past month alone to achieve that target.
- Categories
- Technology, Transportation
- Region
- Global
- Tags
- distribution, e-mobility