New Energy Nexus CEO Henri van Eeghen

All living and thriving systems, including nature, are regenerative, circular, and interconnected. They go through phases of growth and renewal, ensuring nothing goes to waste.

Unfortunately, our current economy stands in stark contrast. Instead of regenerating, it depletes Earth’s resources, contributing to climate change, inequality, and instability. To create a sustainable future, we must not merely adjust our economic model but transform it entirely. By prioritizing our planet and nurturing society, we can reimagine an economy that regenerates. To achieve this, we must dare to rethink our entrenched financial systems, explore innovative solutions, and reward actions that benefit both society and the environment.

While this transformation is challenging, it is within our reach. Our current model was crafted by people, and we have the power to reshape it for a more sustainable and equitable world.

At New Energy Nexus, we champion initiatives that pioneer, catalyze, and foster communities and partnerships. We celebrate those who dare to go against the grain, challenge the status quo, and focus on regenerating both society and our planet. We do this with a laser focus on entrepreneurs building a 100% clean energy economy — for everyone, equitably. Access to energy is recognized as a fundamental human right and constitutes the seventh of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

To achieve this, we need to engage entrepreneurs around the globe through accelerators, funds, skills, and the networks they need to thrive. We cannot do this alone; deep collaboration is essential.

What does deep collaboration look like?

About twelve years ago, while at Cordaid, I had a meaningful experience around collaboration. It was with an organization that had developed technologies, primarily using SMS, to share and send information. This was during a time when mobile usage was exploding in Africa, making distributed information suddenly accessible to many. Initially, the organization (AKVO and Text to Change, TTC) approached the Dutch Ministry to consider using this technology in the fight against HIV/AIDS. However, the Ministry responded: “We will not finance any renewal or innovation. It must be proven technology.”

Cordaid, a major partner of the Ministry, was active in the area of HIV/AIDS and was approached by TTC to collaborate. Initially, we were hesitant, but after several workshops, we realized the potential of this innovative idea as a breakthrough.

It required us to completely rethink our way of working. This was also the case for TTC, which had little experience working within such contexts. In order to collaborate fully, both organizations had to give up something to create space for a new way of working, which resulted in an impact far greater than anything achieved previously.

To succeed, we had to move beyond our own offices and include local clinics and other stakeholders. Creating the space for renewal and involving all stakeholders changed the approach to HIV/AIDS entirely. Much like the energy transition realizes distributed energy sourcing, this project allowed for drastically improved information sharing and decision-making.

This example has implications for our work as well. If we want to be more impactful, we must reach out to other stakeholders and find new collaborative models. It seems logical, but giving up something is difficult, especially for those in “northern” countries. In our cultures, we often rely on transactional models and are not taught to embrace collaborative ones.

New Energy Nexus works with Community-based Organizations (CBOs) in Uganda to provide clean energy access to off-grid communities.

Here, we can take inspiration from living systems. The closest concept to collaboration is symbiosis — a mutualistic relationship where everyone benefits. We might even imagine reaching a point of ‘transcendence,’ where the collaboration creates something greater than the sum of its parts. True collaboration in this context occurs when two or more organizations adopt an open mind and heart, seeking congruence in the common good of human development, contributing to a better world with energy for all.

This also requires dispelling some myths surrounding the adoption of sustainable technologies. Through our work, we have seen that sustainable technologies can be adopted within underserved communities and made affordable.

To achieve this, we must design creative financing solutions, among other prerequisites, by carefully carrying out needs assessments. This requires time and resources to do well. But it can be done, and we have compelling evidence from several contexts in which we operate.

May this serve as an invitation to those in the sector, including those active in venture philanthropy, blended finance, technical assistance (including training), and especially social enterprises in the many countries where we work. Our mission requires an ecosystem that collaborates with a shared goal and common purpose: to make the world a better place, with clean energy as a transformative, decentralized power.

Henri van Eeghen is CEO of New Energy Nexus.