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Announcing NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2025: Vote for Your Favorites by Jan. 4
NextBillion’s “Most Influential Articles of the Year” contest has been an annual tradition since 2012. As we do each December, we’ve highlighted 12 of our most-read articles from the past year: You can find links to them in this article, or on the homepage below. We invite you to read them and vote for the ones that influenced your thinking the most. You can vote up to once per hour between today (Dec. 19) and 11:59 pm EST on Jan. 4. We thank you for your support and engagement over these past 20 years, and we wish you a happy and prosperous 2026.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Finance, Investing, Technology, Telecommunications, Transportation
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Financing Off-Grid Solar: A Pioneering Provider in Honduras Shows the Impact of Diversified Funding
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and many of its most remote regions remain unserved by the electricity grid. Richenda Van Leeuwen at Hummingbird Green Solutions and Richard Stuebi and Jesse Colman at Boston University explore how Soluz Honduras is bringing freezers and other solar products to these markets by leveraging a variety of different financing models — an approach that shows how diversified funding can enable businesses to serve even the hardest-to-reach areas and the poorest of customers.
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Pay-As-You-Go Solar Kit Sales Surge 54% in Sub-Saharan Africa in H1 2025
The report shows that PAYGo sales, where customers purchase solar kits in installments, surpassed cash sales for the first time since 2018.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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From Energy Access to Economic Empowerment: Workable Models for Financing a Just Transition in Emerging Markets
Today 2.1 billion people live without clean cooking fuels and technologies, and over 660 million people lack electricity access. Yet as Anthony Osijo at Bboxx points out, as global conversations largely focus on decarbonizing energy resources to combat climate change, these millions of households still cannot access essential products and services the rest of the world takes for granted. He argues that emerging markets can't simply be left in the dark because their kerosene lamps and diesel generators aren’t environmentally viable, especially if they lack access to suitable alternatives. He explores ways to finance and deliver a just climate transition — while also eradicating energy poverty.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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M-KOPA Posts First Ever Profit, Bets on E-Mobility for Next Growth Phase
The Nairobi-based fintech swung to a US$9.2 million profit in 2024 from a US$20.6 million loss the previous year, according to audited results seen by The Kenyan Wall Street.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Transportation
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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MOPO Secures £5 Million Investment From Norfund to Expand Clean Energy Access Across Africa
MOPO operates a pay-per-use battery rental system that delivers clean and dependable energy to households and businesses through solar charging hubs managed by local agents.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Nigeria’s Koolboks Raises $11 Million to Scale Solar-Powered Refrigeration Across Africa
The company designs solar-powered refrigeration units that pair ice-battery thermal storage with IoT telemetry.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Local Banks Back Sun King’s $156 Million Pay-As-You-Go Solar Financing in Kenya
The scale of this raise highlights Sun King’s leadership in off‑grid energy, but it also accentuates a growing divide in the market.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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