What are the unique challenges and hurdles women face to become clean energy entrepreneurs? What needs to be done to break down these structural barriers? And what advice do other women in the clean energy ecosystem have for up and coming talent? We asked some experts around the world at New Energy Nexus.

Only 20% of global startups are led by women (2019), while women represent only 32% of the workforce in the renewable energy sector. 

The challenges are social, cultural and financial…

In the United States, female founders remain far behind their male counterparts in raising venture capital. According to an article published by Bloomberg: “Female founders secured only 2% of venture capital in the U.S. in 2021, the smallest share since 2016 and a sign that efforts to diversify the famously male-dominated industry are struggling.” This means that women need to find alternate means of raising the funds to support the development and commercialization of their innovations. 

‘’Considering these hurdles, incubators, accelerators and other government programs are working hard to deliver funding, education and resources at the right time to female entrepreneurs to close this gap. NEX is on the forefront of this mission, seeking to provide critical support to a diversity of entrepreneurs so that they can be successful despite lack of venture capital funding.’’ – Tenley Dalstrom, Director at CalTestBed (our California program)

Mia Perez of Solarwise PH, a startup that offers a centralized one-stop online platform linking solar customers, installers & suppliers, supported by NEX Philippines.

In the Philippines and India, the socio-cultural conditioning and gender biases significantly disadvantage women in business, especially in the energy sector, which is perceived to be a male-dominated industry. Another challenge is the lack of strong women role models in the industry to look up to or engage with as mentors.

”There are still informal and social myths and constraints that women face which can stem from lack of strong women role models in energy entrepreneurship to societal expectations that women are less likely to bear harsh working conditions’’ – Brenda Valerio, NEX Philippines Program Manager 

In Uganda, some of the main challenges faced by female entrepreneurs are related to access to training. Most women entrepreneurs hesitate to start clean energy enterprises due to beliefs that they should have expertise in manufacturing and repairing clean energy products. They are unsure of the requirements by financial institutions and ways in which they can access financing for energy related businesses. This has resulted in the under-representation of women at all levels in the energy sector. 

‘’Financial structural impediments to gender equality translate into barriers to access investment capital. Most financial institutions require assets for one to access credit, yet in the past women were denied property ownership rights to their father’s assets which limits their access to credit’’ – Mackline Banaga, Program Analyst at ENVenture (powered by New Energy Nexus)

Heather Hochrein, Founder and CEO of EVmatch, said “This Rapid Response grant will immediately strengthen EVmatch’s ability to sustain our community-based EV charging network and grow our network at multi-family residential properties throughout California.”

How does NEX support women entrepreneurs?

A 100% clean energy economy for 100% of people requires us to rebalance the scales of power and money: shifting resources to support innovation where it’s needed most, empowering those traditionally excluded from the start-up ecosystem, and focusing on clean energy adoption as much as clean energy innovation. That’s why striving for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion is fundamental to our mission.

The New Energy Nexus California Programs, CalSEED and CalTestBed, support women and entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities, via an “equity in – equity out” framework. Both programs are committed to ensuring diverse communities across California have the opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of their clean energy solutions. To achieve this goal, the teams actively conduct targeted outreach to ensure that the applicant pool is representative of all Californians. Entrepreneurs are also encouraged to explore innovative ways to bring equitable and impactful clean energy solutions and opportunities to California’s most disadvantaged populations.

NEX California was also awarded a Wells Fargo/National Renewable Energy Lab IN2 Rapid Response grant to support underrepresented entrepreneurs affected by the covid-19 pandemic who contribute significant social impact. The awardees for these grants were female founders who each received US$15,000 non-dilutive grants, networking, and professional development that helped them survive the challenges posed by the pandemic. ‘

In the Philippines, NEX events are designed to incorporate safe spaces where everyone can voice their opinions and insights. The team constantly seeks feedback from the participants on how they can be better supported and create more impact. 

Saikrishna Mohanty of Solar Infra, a startup supported by NEX India in partnership with Climate Collective

NEX India supports aspiring women graduates and university students to take up entrepreneurship in clean energy and energy access through a unique startup simulation approach. NEX India also runs early stage accelerator programs for women-led startups in clean energy and energy access to bridge knowledge gaps, build business literacy, build networks and increase confidence to scale up.

‘’NEX India has built an integrated approach to run programs that support a higher number of women to take up entrepreneurship in clean energy and energy access. They support women-led startups in early stages to build capacity and ensure diverse pipelines’’ – Jui Joshi, NEX India Program Lead, Women in Energy Entrepreneurship

ENVenture, powered by New Energy Nexus offers women entrepreneurs business management training, mentorship and coaching programs aimed at improving their business acumen skills and giving them practical experience to run sustainable energy enterprises in the last mile. An effective a loan product has also been designed with women in mind, to address traditional impediments of access to capital. 

‘’We prioritize women and create an environment for them to start sustainable businesses by providing them renewable energy stock loans, cash to boost, accelerate, and grow their clean energy businesses. For instance, 70% of our enterprises in our program are women-led’’ – Robert Birungi, Head of Credit at ENVenture, powered by New Energy Nexus

What advice do you have for women entrepreneurs with a clean energy idea or want to create a startup?

Rose Juliet Tabu, a clean energy entrepreneur selling cookstoves and solar supported by NEX in the Bidi refugee settlement in West Nile.

The three pieces of advice were repeated by experts from across New Energy Nexus:

• Build your network: join professional organizations that are focused on your field, participate in webinars, networking events, make contacts, and follow up.
• Nurture a team of mentors and champions: It is important to build these relationships through authentic interactions, rather than transactional requests. Make sure you bring something to the table instead of only asking for help.
• Know your stuff: Make sure that you understand what problem your innovation is solving, the stakeholders involved, your product-market fit, the details of your technology, impact goals, technology readiness level and next steps toward commercialization.

According to the World Bank Gender performance indicator report (2013), women perform better in loan repayment as compared to their male counterparts. They should believe in themselves and be confident enough to acquire credit to start clean energy businesses. Also, one doesn’t necessarily need the technical expertise in manufacturing and repairing clean energy products to run a successful clean energy business, just basic business literacy and understanding of business models is essential. Thus women should step up and start up clean energy businesses being at the forefront of increasing energy access. 

If you’re a woman entrepreneur with a clean energy or climate  innovation waiting to take off, get in touch and check out our programs around the world!

by Nivisha Shah, Global Impact Manager at New Energy Nexus

“By combining technology and social engineering, our goal is to make electricity access as easy as buying milk in a corner store” Olugbenga Olubanjo, CEO of Reeddi, a startup supported by NEX.

A 100% clean energy economy for 100% of people requires us to rebalance the scales of power and money: shifting resources to support innovation where it’s needed most, empowering those traditionally excluded from the start-up ecosystem, and focusing on clean energy adoption as much as clean energy innovation.

That’s why striving for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (or “JEDI” for short) is fundamental to our mission. It’s also close to my heart since before I started working at NEX three months ago as the global impact manager.

To find and support diverse entrepreneurs around the world, we need to get savvier about our own blindspots and our own assumptions. So, we started in 2022 by organizing our first JEDI week, where we invited JEDI experts and brainstormed our strategy to achieve JEDI goals. 

Here are five major insights that I’ve observed and we’ve committed to acting on:

1. Committing to looking inwards

Every journey starts from within. To see the change in the world, we will first need to build a solid foundation by looking within and digging deeper to find our own “Why?” It was rather a humbling experience to see my colleagues reflect on their privileges and share their experiences dealing with systematic barriers. Although this process required them to be vulnerable, their commitment to the work was evident as they looked within to find their “WHY”.

2. Adopting a global perspective 

Being a global organization and committing to supporting underrepresented communities in their entrepreneurial journey will require a lot of intentional work to understand each geography’s JEDI needs. New Energy Nexus has committed to using a global perspective in its JEDI work by ensuring global representation on its JEDI council; however, there is still a lot more work to be done to ensure the process is equitable and that it is not driven purely from the Western perspective.

3. Using a JEDI lens for decision making

JEDI decision-making must be part of our DNA. We have committed to start our journey by defining what JEDI means to us both at the country and the global level. For us to empower entrepreneurs from underrepresented and underserved communities, we need to continue to build trust with our stakeholders. We start by preparing our leadership and teams with tools and coaching to build their emotional intelligence (EQ), practice empathy, recognize and manage their biases, and lead with curiosity. Only then will we be able to provide space for entrepreneurs to be their authentic selves and trust us to have their best interests in mind.

NEX has started this already. We’ve adopted an “Equity In Equity Out” model in our CalSEED and CalTestBed programs in California, which aims to ensure that traditionally excluded communities across California fully participate in the development and implementation of clean energy solutions and we encourage entrepreneurs to explore innovative ways to bring equitable, clean energy solutions and opportunities to our most vulnerable populations. To that end, we have partnered with the Greenlining Institute and other social and environmental justice organizations to ensure our programs champion equitable outcomes and opportunities for a diverse range of entrepreneurs.

NEX has also joined as a signatory to the international Equal by 30 initiative for gender equality, joining 13 countries and more than 100 organizations in supporting equal pay, equal leadership, and equal opportunities for all.

We absolutely recognise that we need to do more to scale this even further across our organization. 

4. Cultivating a culture of viewing challenges as opportunities

Mistakes are inevitable but what is essential is that we commit to learning from our mistakes. 

Our JEDI journey will have challenges varying from defining what JEDI means to us to figuring out ways to be authentic to our values while working with systems and organizations that might not align with our JEDI goals. We won’t know how to overcome these challenges until we try without the fear of failing. I know that this work will be a learning experience – it won’t be a straight path towards a goal. This requires introspection and consistently revisiting our “WHYs”. 

The sessions during the JEDI week brought to my mind a quote from meditation teacher and practitioner, Barry Gillespie: 

“The path isn’t a straight line, it’s a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths”. 

We will aim to put learning as the focus through this journey.

5. Measuring success 

Last but not least is where my heart truly belongs, as Impact Manager at NEX: measuring success. 

I was excited to see that we are going beyond planning our JEDI journey and committing to measuring our success. I consider this a step further because we also commit to holding ourselves accountable by committing to measure. This reminds me of what David, our appreciative inquiry workshop facilitator said:

“What we ask determines what we find, what we find determines how we talk, how we talk determines how we see our future and how we see our future determines what we create”. 

To create an equitable, inclusive and diverse space for our entrepreneurs and the communities they serve, we will need to ask the right questions and hold ourselves accountable throughout our journey. 

We are committing ourselves to funding, resourcing, and holding ourselves accountable so that JEDI isn’t just an afterthought, but continues to be a critical part of the way we operate. 

We know that doing so will mean we are building a better place to work, but also better equipping ourselves to deliver on our mission to support even more climate entrepreneurs.

Women-founded and led startups are receiving more attention in Southeast Asia, but they still represent a very small fraction. This is the focus of a webinar bringing together entrepreneurs and experts at “Women Empowerment in Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Economy” virtual meetup on 9 March, one day after International Women’s Day.

The situation in Southeast Asia reflects a global trend: only 20% of global startups are led by women (2019), while women represent only 32% of the workforce in the renewable energy sector. Exploring the barriers to women-led climate entrepreneurship, as well as the support up-and-coming women entrepreneurs can tap into will be crucial to ensure the benefits of clean energy and climate solutions are distributed more equitably and sustainably.

Hosted by New Energy Nexus, the panel of speakers includes representatives from startups, supporting organizations, and venture capital: 

• Chi Trinh is the Vietnam Country Manager of Clime Capital. Clime Capital identifies and creates investment opportunities founded on long-term, stable cash flow assets that contribute towards reducing climate change impacts, alleviating infrastructure gaps, and building sustainable economies.
• Laurie B. Navarro is the President of CSi Energy Solutions International. CSi is a consulting company on energy and environment based in the Philippines and providing services in the region. 
• Maaike Doyer is founder of Epic Angels – a network of female executives and operators who have built and expanded multiple companies in all parts of the world. Epic Angels has the ambition to become the largest female-only angel network in Asia. 
• Mada Ayu Habsari is Managing Director of PT. Enertec Mitra Solusi – a women-led startup based in Indonesia that is focusing on energy service, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Enertec started its journey as an energy services company with the focus of providing energy efficiency solutions on existing buildings and retrofit public facilities.
• Phattanan Supasatian, Chief Executive Officer, Godung Faifaa – a new online market that collects complete solar system equipment.
• Stanley Ng is the Southeast Asia Program Director at New Energy Nexus – an international nonprofit that supports diverse clean energy entrepreneurs with funds, accelerators, and networks.

Topics covered in the virtual meet up:

1. Opportunities and challenges for women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
2. Perspective on the performance of women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
3. Supports available from the community for clean energy and climate female founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators

​Register at: https://bit.ly/WomenEmpowerment22 

About New Energy Nexus:

New Energy Nexus (NEX) is an international nonprofit supporting diverse climate entrepreneurs to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy for 100% of the population. New Energy Nexus provides funds, accelerators and networks, with initiatives in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda and the USA.

Media contact: Tristan Tremschnig, Global Communications Director, New Energy Nexus, tristan.tremschnig@newenergynexus.com (based in Hong Kong)

Women-founded and led startups are receiving more attention in Southeast Asia, but they still represent a very small fraction. This is the focus of a webinar bringing together entrepreneurs and experts at “Women Empowerment in Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Economy” virtual meetup on 9 March, one day after International Women’s Day.

The situation in Southeast Asia reflects a global trend: only 20% of global startups are led by women (2019), while women represent only 32% of the workforce in the renewable energy sector. Exploring the barriers to women-led climate entrepreneurship, as well as the support up-and-coming women entrepreneurs can tap into will be crucial to ensure the benefits of clean energy and climate solutions are distributed more equitably and sustainably.

Hosted by New Energy Nexus, the panel of speakers includes representatives from startups, supporting organizations, and venture capital: 

• Chi Trinh is the Vietnam Country Manager of Clime Capital. Clime Capital identifies and creates investment opportunities founded on long-term, stable cash flow assets that contribute towards reducing climate change impacts, alleviating infrastructure gaps, and building sustainable economies.
• Laurie B. Navarro is the President of CSi Energy Solutions International. CSi is a consulting company on energy and environment based in the Philippines and providing services in the region. 
• Maaike Doyer is founder of Epic Angels – a network of female executives and operators who have built and expanded multiple companies in all parts of the world. Epic Angels has the ambition to become the largest female-only angel network in Asia. 
• Mada Ayu Habsari is Managing Director of PT. Enertec Mitra Solusi – a women-led startup based in Indonesia that is focusing on energy service, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Enertec started its journey as an energy services company with the focus of providing energy efficiency solutions on existing buildings and retrofit public facilities.
• Phattanan Supasatian, Chief Executive Officer, Godung Faifaa – a new online market that collects complete solar system equipment.
• Stanley Ng is the Southeast Asia Program Director at New Energy Nexus – an international nonprofit that supports diverse clean energy entrepreneurs with funds, accelerators, and networks.

Topics covered in the virtual meet up:

1. Opportunities and challenges for women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
2. Perspective on the performance of women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
3. Supports available from the community for clean energy and climate female founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators

​Register at: https://bit.ly/WomenEmpowerment22 

About New Energy Nexus:

New Energy Nexus (NEX) is an international nonprofit supporting diverse climate entrepreneurs to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy for 100% of the population. New Energy Nexus provides funds, accelerators and networks, with initiatives in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda and the USA.

Media contact: Tristan Tremschnig, Global Communications Director, New Energy Nexus, tristan.tremschnig@newenergynexus.com (based in Hong Kong)

Women-founded and led startups are receiving more attention in Southeast Asia, but they still represent a very small fraction. This is the focus of a webinar bringing together entrepreneurs and experts at “Women Empowerment in Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Economy” virtual meetup on 9 March, one day after International Women’s Day.

The situation in Southeast Asia reflects a global trend: only 20% of global startups are led by women (2019), while women represent only 32% of the workforce in the renewable energy sector. Exploring the barriers to women-led climate entrepreneurship, as well as the support up-and-coming women entrepreneurs can tap into will be crucial to ensure the benefits of clean energy and climate solutions are distributed more equitably and sustainably.

Hosted by New Energy Nexus, the panel of speakers includes representatives from startups, supporting organizations, and venture capital: 

• Chi Trinh is the Vietnam Country Manager of Clime Capital. Clime Capital identifies and creates investment opportunities founded on long-term, stable cash flow assets that contribute towards reducing climate change impacts, alleviating infrastructure gaps, and building sustainable economies.
• Laurie B. Navarro is the President of CSi Energy Solutions International. CSi is a consulting company on energy and environment based in the Philippines and providing services in the region. 
• Maaike Doyer is founder of Epic Angels – a network of female executives and operators who have built and expanded multiple companies in all parts of the world. Epic Angels has the ambition to become the largest female-only angel network in Asia. 
• Mada Ayu Habsari is Managing Director of PT. Enertec Mitra Solusi – a women-led startup based in Indonesia that is focusing on energy service, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Enertec started its journey as an energy services company with the focus of providing energy efficiency solutions on existing buildings and retrofit public facilities.
• Phattanan Supasatian, Chief Executive Officer, Godung Faifaa – a new online market that collects complete solar system equipment.
• Stanley Ng is the Southeast Asia Program Director at New Energy Nexus – an international nonprofit that supports diverse clean energy entrepreneurs with funds, accelerators, and networks.

Topics covered in the virtual meet up:

1. Opportunities and challenges for women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
2. Perspective on the performance of women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
3. Supports available from the community for clean energy and climate female founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators

​Register at: https://bit.ly/WomenEmpowerment22 

About New Energy Nexus:

New Energy Nexus (NEX) is an international nonprofit supporting diverse climate entrepreneurs to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy for 100% of the population. New Energy Nexus provides funds, accelerators and networks, with initiatives in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda and the USA.

Media contact: Tristan Tremschnig, Global Communications Director, New Energy Nexus, tristan.tremschnig@newenergynexus.com (based in Hong Kong)

Rambu Yati Radandima, a finance manager in Indonesian start-up Sumba Sustainable Solutions (3S), is giving back to her community. A start-up with a focus on inclusive and sustainable innovations in Sumba Island, 3S provides local schools, villages and community health centres with access to solar power.

Rambu Yati’s work has personal meaning. She knows what it’s like to live without reliable access to electricity. Sumba, an island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province of Indonesia, has a unique geographical character that makes tapping into the national electricity grid difficult. In the past, over 500,000 families living there—roughly 38% of the island’s population—struggled with little or no electricity.

Rambu Yati says: “Life in the village was very different. Back in the 90s, my family relied on kerosene lamps to light up our home when we cooked or when we wove palm mats. We had to manually pound rice and corns because we had no access to milling machines.”

While the Indonesian government committed to electrifying the entire country by 2020 (RUEN 2017)[1], only 62% of the East Nusa Tenggara population has access to electricity, the lowest energy access level in Indonesia (IESR, 2019).

Stepping stones

In 2000, Rambu Yati enrolled in the Warmadewa University in Bali. She successfully graduated with an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Science. Today, as finance manager at 3S, Rambu Yati is involved in solving energy access issues in her community by providing solar-powered technologies to local institutions. An ethical, profitable business, 3S’s work focuses on bridging the energy gap in rural communities.

The distribution of solar-powered lighting solutions has significantly improved Rambu Yati’s community. Today, Sumba’s children can finally do their homework and study at night. Power has also improved people’s livelihoods, allowing more hours for local artisans to weave tenun ikat, a traditional handwoven fabric. Unique to Sumba, tenun ikat is part of Indonesia’s artistic heritage.

Mission for productivity

3S also provides solar systems for people’s homes and solar-powered productivity centres, which are energy hubs for the community. These solutions are powering livelihoods in Sumba by enabling villagers to mill crops and process bamboo. They are not only making people’s livelihoods more sustainable but are also improving the quality of life for many women in Sumba.

Before, women had to spend several hours a day pounding corn and were left with just half a day free. The solar-powered productivity centres enable villagers to make better use of their time. The men take corn to the mill while the women shell candlenut, which they can later sell at a higher price.

Renewable energy is also saving money and improving people’s health. According to the Indonesian Central Agency of Statistics, villagers typically spend 10% of their monthly living costs on expensive fossil-fuel-based lighting, like kerosene lamps, which emit harmful fumes that can damage the lungs.

With solar-power solutions, Sumba’s villagers now have a greatly reduced electricity bill. Rambu Ina is one of 3S’s local customers. She says: “In the past, we only used the kerosene candle for one hour because it was too expensive. In the evenings, now I have light for four or more hours. At night, often we sit around and talk to our neighbours while shelling our candlenuts or working on woven palm mats to be sold at the market.”

Work in progress

Rambu Yati aspires to keep helping Sumba’s local communities to access renewable energy, so they can increase their incomes and afford a better education for their children. Ensuring 3S has operational and financial sustainability is crucial so they can maintain the solar home systems and solar-powered productivity centres that the villagers depend on.

Like many other start-up employees, Rambu Yati struggled with data collection and creating a balance sheet that was fundamental to 3S’s growth. That’s where New Energy Nexus stepped in.

New Energy Nexus connected Rambu Yati and her colleagues to experts in HR, marketing communications and finance, through a programme called Mentor-in-Residence. Thanks to this programme, Rambu Yati now has the essential resources and skills to move forward. She can confidently draft financial forecasts to determine what the start-up needs to scale up, and ultimately, empower more villages with renewable energy.

3S is no longer a start-up struggling to survive but a sustainable business instilled with a healthy company culture that upholds transparency and communications between team members and stakeholders. And the skills Rambu Yati has learned in areas like communications are helping her nurture a new generation of skilled workers on the island.

She says: “Before we started with the New Energy Nexus accelerator, we were just dealing with problems as they came up, feeling like there must a better way. With New Energy Nexus’ guidance, we now have a clear plan for all parts of the business and our whole team is committed to achieving the goals that we have set together.

“I feel that we now have a shared responsibility to make our company vision and mission—to empower rural communities through access to energy and appliances for productive use—a success.”

[1] Indonesia’s National Energy Plan (Rencana Umum Energi Nasional (RUEN)).