Greenlight Planet, a global leader in solar home energy products, organized a webinar on overcoming financial barriers for renewable energy entrepreneurs on 27 January 2022. Five renowned experts: Dr. Segun Adaju, President of Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria, Ms. Chinenye Anekwe, Country Business Development Manager, Solar Sister Nigeria, Mr. Amitesh Sinha, Partner at SIMA Funds, Dr. Abraham Asongo, Clean Energy Project Manager at Standard Microfinance Bank and Mr. Krishna Swaroop, Global Chief Financial Officer at Greenlight Planet shared their perspectives on the topic.
Explaining about the opportunities for renewable energy business and financing those businesses, Dr. Segun Adaju said, “Nigeria has one of the best solar irradiation as compared
to any part of sub-Saharan Africa. Solar power is readily available in abundance in the country. The market is huge because there is a huge gap due to the lack of electricity. Adopting appropriate business models by entrepreneurs will create opportunities to overcome financial barriers.”
Elaborating on the challenges renewable energy entrepreneurs, especially women, face while looking out for investment, Ms. Chinenye Anekwe said “Business capital is beyond money, it is a plethora of other good business practices. A minimal level of financial inclusion exists especially for women that leads to unequitable access conditions. A lot of women want to come into the renewable energy space as entrepreneurs but there are still a very limited number of role models as women entrepreneurs that they can look up to.”
Mr. Krishna Swaroop spoke about the important points to keep in mind while seeking finance, “Profitability is the key, but it is not compulsory that one has to be profitable to avail funding. There needs to be a path to profitability. A business plan needs to showcase clarity, projected growth, expected profit margins, and the milestones to achieve the same over a set
amount of time.”
Read also: How solar powered cold storage can cut Nigeria’s perishable food waste by 30%
From an investor’s lens, Mr. Amitesh Sinha added, “There is a lot of funding available to small and mid-sized businesses in the energy access space. Setting appropriate unit economics is even more critical now, with the emergence of pay-as-you-go technology and its inherent complexities in terms of cost breakdown and understanding the fully-loaded costs.
This is what we, as investors, look for, along with asset quality.” “Many people do not know that there are several government schemes and initiatives that provide small and medium-sized entrepreneurs to avail grants, subsidies, and low-interest loans. These funds are usually granted to stimulate and encourage entrepreneurship” shared Dr. Abraham Asongo, who elaborated on the avenues available for entrepreneurs to seek financing.
This webinar was organized under Greenlight Planet’s Solar Leadership Series and aims to create a meaningful dialogue on energy access by bringing together stakeholders across the energy access ecosystem. You can watch the webinar recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyvP9SQNaMQ
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About Greenlight Planet
Greenlight Planet is a multinational, for-profit business that designs, distributes, and finances solar home energy solutions with an underserved population in mind: the 600 million population for whom the traditional electrical grid is either inaccessible or too expensive.
Greenlight Planet has sold over 17 million Sun KingTM solar home energy products to off-grid households around the world. Greenlight Planet reaches remote, off-grid customers through a vast network of micro-entrepreneurs, more than 300 global strategic distribution partners, and its proprietary Sun King EasyBuy (“pay-as-you-go”) installment payment technology that makes safe, high-quality solar energy products affordable for all.
Greenlight Planet’s Sun KingTM products are currently installed in 65+ countries and serve more than 70 million beneficiaries.
To know more, please visit www.greenlightplanet.com |
Linkedin: https://in.linkedin.com/company/greenlightplanet |
Twitter: @SunKingGlobal |
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SunKingGreenlightPlanet
Media contact:
Cassandra Barua media@greenlightplanet
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