SunCulture, a photo voltaic irrigation company headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, has acquired the primary disbursement from a model new US $11m syndicated debt facility to broaden its operations in sub-Saharan Africa.
The new loan is groundbreaking for the productive use photo voltaic sector as a outcome of its dimension and its revolutionary combination of working capital and end-user financing.
Arranged by SunFunder, the co-investors within the facility are Nordic Development Fund; Triodos Investment Management, by way of its Hivos-Triodos Fund; SunFunder through its Solar Energy Transformation Fund; AlphaMundi by way of both its SocialAlpha and AlphaJiri Investment Funds; and the AfDB’s FEI OGEF managed b Lions Head.
This will allow SunCulture to scale up renewable power installations at smallholder farms and households that unwell mitigate over 20,000 tons of CO2 yearly as farmers replace diesel pumps with photo voltaic ones while facilitating income growth and job alternatives in rural communities.
SunCulture has pioneered a Pay-As-You-Gro enterprise model to make solar-powered irrigation affordable for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, combining end-user finance, value-added providers, modern local weather know-how, and entry to improve productiveness. เครื่องมือที่ใช้วัดความดันคือ developed b Dalberg Research exhibits that irrigation methods and solar-powered water pumps can improve farmers production between 2 and 4 instances, and their earnings between 2 and 6 occasions.
READ: SunCulture to distribute solar-powered water pumps throughout Africa
Samir Ibrahim, Chief Executive Officer at SunCulture, mentioned: “The previous year was devastating for the hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in Kenya; 87% are in a worse financial place as a outcome of pandemic. 81% of SunCulture farmers, nonetheless, had been in a place to enhance their revenue from farming in 2020. Solar irrigation helps create meals safety and sovereignty, and it additionally helps carry individuals out of poverty. This facility additional enables our efforts to assist farmers by offering them with more of our solar solutions, and sooner.”
Jemimah Kwakye-Fosu, Investment Officer, who led the transaction for SunFunder, mentioned: “We are delighted to have led this syndicate of proactive lenders who worked well together for a standard aim: to assist SunCulture reach man more farmers. It shows how working capital may be mixed with finish consumer financing, which is crucial for making productive use applied sciences reasonably priced.”
Surabhi Mathur Visser, Head of Investments at SunFunder, mentioned: This is a pioneering transaction that demonstrates how productive use applied sciences like photo voltaic irrigation can be scaled up. SunFunder arranged this facility with a similar-minded group of lenders to support an progressive product and business mannequin. We look forward to seeing SunCulture develop in Kenya and ne markets.
Karin Isaksson, Managing Director at NDF, mentioned: “This mortgage to SunCulture is the second extended to an organization graduating from the EEP Trust Fund managed by NDF. It is a clear demonstration that we can ship on the model new NDF Strategy and its commitment to offer flexible and scalable financing in addition to catalytic influence. It has all the elements that define NDFs added worth in the local weather financing panorama. It demonstrates our capability to convene and mobilise extra financing, as properly as our unique mi of financing instruments to match the wants of our partners, public or non-public. We are proud to be standing with our companions and supporting the emergence of a greener economy, exactly right now of COVID-19.
Since our first investment in 2019, SunCulture has made large strides to unlock the potential of smallholder agriculture via revolutionary products and shopper credit score. FEI-OGEF is joyful to have the ability to refinance our inventor loan into this new working capital facility and proceed that development alongside a dedicated and constructive group of lenders, noted Harr Guinness from Lions Head.
READ: SunCulture companion with Togo to speed up entry to sustainable solar-powered farming
Judith Santbergen, Senior Investment Manager at AlphaMundi, said: “Since 2018, AlphaMundi has successively provided help to SunCulture through a mixture of technical assistance and debt investment. We are excited to proceed and increase our investment within the firm via this new, progressive working capital facility.
Sjoerd Melsert, Senior Investment Manager at Triodos Investment Management, mentioned: “SunCulture is a great instance of an revolutionary company that is lively on the nexus of renewable vitality and agriculture, using photo voltaic vitality to extend farmers’ incomes. Our facility supports the additional progress of SunCultures pay-as-you-go photo voltaic portfolio, resulting in a more sustainable and higher manufacturing for smallholder farmers, which is full aligned with the mission, ambition and activities of Hivos-Triodos Fund.”
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