Beyond the Grid Solar Fund

Debt : October 2017 - October 2021

BTGSF is a 5-year closed-end investment fund that provides loans to solar companies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Amount

€ 3,185,582.00

Type of investment

Debt

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Financial inclusion
Access to basic services & goods
Fight against climate change and preservation of natural resources

Beneficiary locations

Africa: Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda

Investment field

Investment Companies & Funds

Activity

KK.64.301 Infra Fund

Organisation

Beyond the Grid Solar Fund

Website

https://www.sunfunder.com

Domicile

The Beyond The Grid Solar Fund is a debt fund focused on companies active in the off-grid / grid-deficit space mainly across East Africa. Borrowers of the BTGSF will include solar product distributors, PAYGO (pay-as-you-go) solar companies and solar project developers. One of the barriers currently faced by these companies is lack of access to debt finance, which is critical to achieve growth and scale. BTGSF’s loans are aimed at solar companies with positive track record (generally 3-years) that need capital to scale.

Management

BTGSF is managed by SunFunder, a solar energy finance asset management company with a mission to unlock capital for solar energy projects in emerging economies. Their strategy is fully aligned with BIO’s mandate i.e. providing access to energy and being inclusive. SunFunder’s vision statement is ‘driving a global energy transformation to solve energy access and climate change’.

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Provision of over 80 loans in the coming 3 years, with an average of around USD 1,3m, and a tenor of up to 4 years.
Financial inclusion
This investment contributes to the access to financial services of both enterprises and the general population. Target companies get access to financing in a situation where commercial banks are not able to do so given their strict regulations. The general population gets access to financing through the PAYGO approach of the SHS companies that are actually acting as micro-finance institutions (by pre-financing customers on their investment in electricity infrastructure)
Access to basic services & goods
Access to energy: electricity
Fight against climate change and preservation of natural resources
Impact on both energy poverty and climate change, by the generation and use of solar energy (on-grid + off-grid)