Early stage incubation, 1:1 business coaching, capacity building to launch sustainable clean energy enterprises
Downstream inventory financing, seed capital and growth capital for community based organizations
Overview
New Energy Nexus Uganda is an incubator and accelerator that empowers rural community-based organizations to learn business skills and receive financing to launch sustainable clean energy enterprises. The entrepreneurs receive a low-cost clean energy loan and a 1:1 business coach, taking our Business-in-a-Box solution from idea to execution.
Solution
In Uganda, over 85% of the population lacks access to electricity, and 98% lack access to modern fuels for cooking. However, simple affordable technologies have already been developed to solve these problems. High quality low-cost solar lights, water filters, briquettes, and improved cookstoves are being manufactured and distributed in developing countries, but they aren’t reaching the rural areas – the so-called “last mile” as these areas lack sophisticated supply chains and delivery systems. Energy suppliers are forced to have vertical integration models as they cannot find reliable distributors in rural areas to wholesale volume and turnover stock. In developing countries there exist thousands of self-organized Community Based Organizations (CBOs), which are non-profit cooperatives, that solve local problems in absence of government services. They understand the energy problems well and want to distribute essential clean energy technologies in their community. Highly influential and experts at local advocacy, CBOs demonstrate a trusted network for clean energy product distribution.
Incubator
Accelerator
Finance
Rural distributors lack access to up-front capital to wholesale volume clean energy from suppliers. New Energy Nexus Uganda delivers downstream distributor inventory financing to qualified CBOs. Through a unique step-ladder approach unlocking credit at each step, New Energy Nexus Uganda’s credit line is for CBOs to purchase from our catalogue of high-quality solar products, water filters, fuel briquettes, and improved cookstoves, ensuring they have the means to buy stock at the beginning.
Capacity Building
Access to financing is not enough. We host bootcamps that for all our CBO incubatees for interactive empowered entrepreneur training covering topics on business management in energy access. We have a Business development Fellowship program that recruits volunteer business experts, who are typically graduates of University business programs, to serve as Business Development Fellows.
During their 3-month Fellowship tenure, Fellows support and train the enterprise in. By working with youth, we are creating a new talent pipeline for the clean energy access sector. As CBOs grow more and more experienced in their businesses, through the replicator model they serve as contacts for each other. WhatsApp and Facebook group communication between the distributors is encouraged to demonstrate best practices and knowledge sharing to prevent “reinventing the wheel” with each store launch.
November 21, 2019
December 12, 2019
March 8, 2019
