E+Co.
In addition to investments ranging from USD 25,000 to USD 1,000,000, E+Co also provides individualized capacity building services to clean energy entrepreneurs. These services include initial market assessments, financial modeling and expansion planning. The goal is both to increase entrepreneurial capacity at the local level and at the same time to mitigate the risks associated with energy investments in small and growing businesses.
E+Co’s approach of working with local entrepreneurs with a special focus on clean energy sources fills important market gaps for SME enterprise development services and seed as well as growth capital. Their activities provide investors with triple bottom line returns: financial, social, and environmental. Social returns include the creation of new enterprises, and employment and economic opportunity, combined with health and quality of life improvements. Environmental returns include the elimination of dangerous and dirty fuels, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and the protection of natural resources. E+Co's current investment portfolio includes over 150 active energy SMEs ranging from micro-hydro developers in Nepal to solar retailers in Nicaragua and efficient cook stove manufacturers in Ghana. Collectively E+Co's investees have provided access to clean energy to over 5.6 million people around the world.
SIFEM has committed USD 4.0 million in a joint structured debt financing with Norfund in the amount of USD 11.5 million which will finance businesses in Africa (Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal, Ethiopia, Mali, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, and Lesotho) and Central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Panama). The agreement between SIFEM, Norfund and E+Co will expand the financing resources for enterprises providing clean energy services, thereby contributing to poverty reduction, economic development and environmental sustainability