An $8.5 million grant has been launched by the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) to support Somali based businesses as a part of the REACT Sub Saharan program, targeted at poverty alleviation with the use of renewable energy by off-grid households.
The project is aimed at providing 300,000 people access to clean energy and create jobs for both youth and women, thereby enabling economic development in the region.
SDG statistics by the World Bank have highlighted that an estimated 11 million Somalis lack electricity supply with only 3% having access to energy-efficient fuels for clean cooking, which impedes development for low-income households of the people of Somalia.
According to Ms. Victoria Sabula, Chief Executive Officer of AECF, “The Somali market presents a unique opportunity for us and other development partners to change the narrative on the reliance of diesel-powered mini-grids as we facilitate a switch to renewable energy sources.
To achieve this stimulation of market growth and engagement of the private sector in renewable energy value chains is pivotal.”
Commercially active private enterprises and microfinance institutions are the primary targets for the project with the expectation from them to deliver subsidized clean energy products and services that benefit the poor in rural and peri-urban Somalia as well as Internally Displaced Persons, especially women and youth.
