FUNDED PROJECTS

4R Digital, in partnership with Davis & Shirtliff, aims to bring affordable, climate-smart solar irrigation solutions to up to 35,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya – spurring the transition away from unsustainable and inefficient hand, petrol and diesel pumps. With support from PREO, 4R Digital has developed and trialled a digital Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) platform to be incorporated into pre-existing solar pumping kits, supplied by Davis & Shirtliff. In addition to providing a payment facility, the platform also allows for remote monitoring and locking of the equipment whilst providing full visibility to customers of their own financial data through the account management system.

Access Afya, through the CURAFA™ initiative, is working to improve healthcare access and sustainability in underserved rural areas of Kenya by securing off-grid electricity for its healthcare facilities. With PREO funding, CURAFA™ has implemented an innovative business model that integrates primary healthcare services managed by local pharmacists and nurses. These facilities are powered by rooftop solar systems, ensuring a consistent power supply for essential operations, including e-health devices and patient data management. This project, covering five facilities in Kajiado, Machakos, and Kiambu counties, aims to enhance healthcare continuity and contribute to universal access to primary healthcare.

Afya Research Africa (ARA) is improving healthcare in rural Kenya by installing decentralised solar energy systems and implementing a digital health information management system called STONE across its network of medical centers and public health facilities. With PREO funding, the initiative aims to address challenges like inefficient paper-based health records, poor healthcare access, and inadequate clinical operations by providing the necessary technologies to enhance the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and quality of care, particularly benefiting young mothers.

Many rural smallholder farmers in East Africa struggle to afford mechanisation, leading to labor-intensive farming practices like ploughing and milling still being done by hand. With PREO funding, BODAWERK seeks to address this issue by creating the AgrE-Hub, a service provider offering mechanization powered entirely by renewable energy. The AgrE-Hub will feature E-traks, versatile electric two-wheel tractors, and swappable smart batteries, all supported by a cost-effective DC solar mini-grid. This integrated, scalable model aims to enhance energy use and overcome barriers to traditional mini-grid adoption, making clean energy a viable option for rural farming communities.

BURN designs, manufactures, and sells affordable, energy-efficient cookstoves to low-income households in developing economies. With support from PREO, BURN has expanded its product line by introducing the Kuniokoa TURBO Stove, a more efficient and cleaner-burning forced draft biomass stove compatible with Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) solar systems. The TURBO stove addresses the limitations of the earlier Kuniokoa model by using a fan to improve combustion, enabling it to burn various types of fuel, including wet wood and agricultural waste, faster and cleaner – producing significantly less smoke and air pollution when compared to traditional open fire solutions.

Café Kivu, a Congolese coffee company, seeks to address the global issue that local coffee growers earn only a small fraction of the profits from coffee sales, with most of the revenue generated outside the country of origin, and local consumers are priced out of the finished product. By sourcing, roasting, packaging, and marketing coffee locally in the Kivu region of DR Congo, Café Kivu captures more value at the origin and promotes economic development. With funding from PREO, the company aims to scale production using energy-efficient electric roasters powered by a solar hybrid plant, expand distribution through a franchise system, and create job opportunities for local young people and women. Additionally, Café Kivu seeks to reduce its coffee’s total carbon footprint from seed to cup expand into export markets in the US, Middle East, and Asia.

Founded in 2018, Charm Impact addresses financial exclusion for clean energy entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa by providing funding. The company’s investment model blends private, concessional, and philanthropic capital to help local businesses build credit history. In March 2023, Charm Impact received a grant from PREO to establish a first-loss provisioning pool, which mitigates investment risks and attracts more private investment. Over the course of an 18-month program, Charm Impact plans to issue five to seven loans ranging from £10,000 to £350,000, focusing on locally owned and female-led enterprises to help promote greater economic development and increased gender equality.

Founded in 2016 in Somaliland, ClearSky Power (CSP) is focused on meeting the region’s growing energy needs with renewable solutions. In 2021, with funding from PREO, CSP introduced 1 Shariah-compliant solar photovoltaic drip irrigation systems to local farmers, offering a novel financing option for renewable energy. The initiative is aimed at replacing costly diesel power with decentralised solar energy to boost farm productivity, reduce energy costs, and increase water efficiency. After two years of successful implementation, CSP plans to scale its impact by installing solar irrigation systems on 20 more farms.

Ecobodaa, a Kenyan e-mobility start-up, aims to offer affordable electric motorcycle taxis in Nairobi through a lease-to-own model. After a 2020 trial with 10 electric motorcycles, the company discovered that riders, who typically earn around USD $2.70 daily, struggled with upfront battery swap costs. In response, Ecobodaa introduced a digital micro pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) platform, allowing users to carry forward unused battery power financially, akin to petrol payments – improving cash flow management for drivers. In October 2022, Ecobodaa received a PREO grant to expand its fleet by 50 units and commercialise its PAYGO technology, promoting socio-economic development in the local community by supporting driver livelihoods and reducing urban pollution.

ENGIE Equatorial is a joint venture between ENGIE Energy Access, an international renewable energy solutions provider, and Equatorial Power, a local low-carbon energy infrastructure and services developer based in Kampala, Uganda. An estimated 30,000 fishing boats are operational in Uganda’s territory of Lake Victoria, almost all of
them powered by petrol engines. With support from PREO, ENGIE Equatorial has piloted 15 electric boats (e-boats) on Lolwe Island and powered them through its 600kWp mini-grid.

Good Nature Agro (GNA) aims to enhance agricultural productivity in Zambia by introducing solar-powered borehole and irrigation systems which will enable farmers to grow crops during the dry season – increasing farming seasons from one to up to three per year while boosting incomes. GNA’s initiative, with funding from PREO, focuses on sustainable intensification of land use, reducing deforestation, and supporting subsistence farmers in growing high-value legume seeds like soybeans and groundnuts. By offering irrigation and contracting programs, GNA seeks to double farmers’ annual incomes without expanding land area. Additionally, GNA provides crop guidance and market access while using a ‘grower rating’ system to improve productivity and potentially secure financing for further equipment investments.

The Solar for Sustainable Income in Dairy project aims to benefit the dairy sector in Uganda by introducing solar-powered milk chilling infrastructure at five dairy cooperatives, in regions where chilling infrastructure is lacking. This PREO-funded initiative, involving JESA dairy and led by Heifer International, seeks to increase dairy production, reduce post-harvest losses, and boost farmers’ incomes by overcoming financial and technological barriers. By implementing this two-year project in central and southwestern Uganda, the initiative also aims to reduce energy costs and cut carbon emissions by shifting from diesel to renewable energy.

Hinckley Associates, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Fan Milk, is leading a project to develop second life lithium battery packs to power fridge-freezers in Nigeria’s cold chain sector. Supported by funding from PREO, the initiative aims to reduce barriers for off-grid frozen product resellers by providing a cleaner, more affordable energy source. This innovation can enhance the business operations of Fan Milk and nationwide distribution network by reducing costs, improving fridge reliability, and increasing revenue through reduced stock spoilage. Additionally, Hinckley’s recycling efforts have provided valuable insights into environmental challenges, leading to expertise in energy storage and fridge processing, while fostering local job creation and economic value through sustainable energy solutions.

Imara Tech is addressing a lack of mechanisation and electricity access among smallholder farms in Tanzania by developing a portfolio of clean energy-powered agricultural machines. With 97% of these farms lacking machinery and less than half having community-level electricity, farmers are stuck with labor-intensive practices that limit productivity. Imara Tech’s initial products—a flour mill, peanut sheller, and oil press—are designed to enable off-grid farms to start profitable businesses by adding value to their harvests. With PREO funding, the company is scaling up local manufacturing and supply chains to ensure these machines, available in both AC and DC versions, can be widely deployed, with pilot testing throughout 2021 preceding full commercialisation.

Innovex, a Ugandan technology company, focuses on embedded systems, connected devices, and wireless communication technologies. In response to challenges in sub-Saharan Africa’s off-grid solar PV market, which is heavily reliant on Chinese-manufactured hardware, Innovex developed ‘Remot,’ an IoT solution for remotely monitoring and controlling solar PV systems. Initially, the hardware was designed in Uganda but manufactured in China, leading to delays and quality issues. With support from PREO, Innovex tested the viability of fully localising the design, manufacturing, and testing processes in Uganda, reducing costs and creating local jobs, while improving the accessibility and reliability of solar systems in the region.

InspiraFarms designs, develops, installs, services, and finances cold chain technology for fresh fruit and vegetables, flowers, and animal protein supply chains in Africa and other emerging markets. InspiraFarms found that traditional cooling methods were not effective for high value produce and that there was an unmet need for removing the field heat within hours of harvest. With support from PREO, InspiraFarms developed a pre-cooling solution and demonstrated financial viability of operating pre-coolers and created a market opportunity. Pre-coolers are a portable, quick, and field-level response to reduce external temperature shocks on fresh produce immediately after harvest – the units bridge the gap between the farmer collection point and the packshed, to reduce post harvest losses and increase revenue.

Under JUMEME’s new KeyMaker Model, the solar mini-grid company partners with village communities to harness local natural resources, leveraging reliable electricity from its mini-grids to create competitive products. With funding support from PREO, the venture aims to improve the local economy of Maisome island by creating jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities around Tilapia fish trading on Lake Victoria, which JUMEME collects, freezes using its own electricity, and delivers. This approach not only ensures high-quality fish for the market but also allows JUMEME to offer better prices to fisherfolk while maintaining profitability and increasing energy uptake from the local population (due to an improved economy).

In Nigeria, unreliable refrigeration causes fish traders to lose about 30% of their products due to spoilage from power outages and high diesel generator costs. To address this, Koolboks, with support from PREO, is developing a sustainable business model by offering female fish traders access to off-grid solar refrigerators. Partnering with local organisations in Lagos, Koolboks will introduce a lease-to-own program for solar-powered refrigerators, scaling up from a successful 2020 pilot. This initiative aims to provide 300 affordable refrigerators to over 200 female traders across 12 markets and evaluate the broader social and economic benefits of solar refrigeration, also extending the solution to other frozen goods vendors.