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Access to finance is often cited by companies and consumers through the supply chain as one of the biggest barriers to entering the off-grid lighting market in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lighting Africa recognizes the importance finance plays and is working on identifying the financing needs of stakeholders in order to inform the development of solutions and financial products appropriate for the market.
Current financing information, products and services that Lighting Africa is developing include:
- Research on financing needs and potential market demand for financial products in the market- Gain a clear sense of the market and sharing this information will serve as basis for engaging financing partners.
- Development of a credit facility to support local supply chain financing by local financial partners- By designing and implementing a financing program to help make commercial financing available to support the supply chain in African markets.
- The provision of equity financing to support businesses providing modern lighting off-grid, either through direct financing of enterprises, commercial seed capital or equity provided to enterprises able to produce, distribute, or finance modern lighting products to off-grid markets thus creating new business models and enterprises able to scale-up.
- Develop and implement a trade finance facility to support import of modern lighting products or components to the African market- Develop a functioning trade finance facility supporting importers and exporters of modern lighting products and components which will help accelerate the import of qualified modern lighting products and components.
- Investigating opportunities for obtaining carbon credits through voluntary and compliance carbon market schemes- Develop a method and cost-effective approach for obtaining carbon credits for the CO2 emission reductions from displacing fuel-based lighting in Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., kerosene, candles), with a focus on LEDs.
- Provide funds for innovative lighting products and delivery services- Through our one time Lighting Africa Development Marketplace competition, our program awarded funding for 16 early stage, innovative, sustainable non-fossil fuel based lighting projects throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
LIGHTING AFRICA FINANCING GUIDE NOW AVAILABLE!!
To learn more about Lighting Africa's Financing programs, including a summary of the very successful 2008 Development Marketplace Grant Competition and Carbon Finance Programs, click on the Financing Program Sub Topics in the right hand navigation or follow the links below:
Concessional Finance: LIGHTING AFRICA DEVELOPMENT MARKETPLACE GRANT COMPETITION 2008
Carbon Finance: LIGHTING AFRICA CARBON FINANCE PROGRAM
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