Supporting Energy Access Entrepreneurs in Africa and Asia

2021 Winners

Five entrepreneurs were selected to receive the third-of-the-series “Energy Access Booster” awards. The winners were announced during the COP26, held in Glasgow, Scotland on October 31 – November 12, 2021. The awards are offered to sustainable mobility entrepreneurs operating in Africa or Asia and are sponsored by TotalEnergies, Enea Consulting and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL).

The five winners of the 2021 energy access booster call for projects are:

 

BasiGo

 

They remove the barriers to e-bus adoption in Africa via an innovative battery subscription model in Kenya.


   
MellowVans

 

Operating in South Africa, they build and distribute world-leading light electric delivery vehicles that provide low cost, efficient and clean delivery services


   
Mobility for Africa

 

Who provides electric three-wheeler carriers to rural communities in Zimbabwe, targeting rural farmers and women, suffering lack of transportation means from farms to communities


   
SMV Green Solutions

 

In India, their main mission is to allow drivers to own their electric rickshaws and improve their daily earnings


   
Tuverl

 

A public transportation app, aiming at simplifying and increasing efficiency for customers and transportation operators in Kenya and Zimbabwe

 

The winning entrepreneurs will be supported in their development during the next 12 months for the purpose of reaching the investment stage. They will receive strategic advisory consulting support and/or a financial contribution of up to $50,000 per entrepreneur, operational/local support, and visibility of the project.

 

 


Energy Access Booster Call for projects 2021 ended on August 15th

 

Sustainable Mobility, defined as,  green, efficient, safe and universally accessible movement of people and goods and services from point to point. Sustainable Mobility is a nascent sector that is gaining momentum.

Like Energy, mobility is a fundamental catalyst for any economy. Mobility solutions are a prerequisite of social inclusion by providing access to jobs and essential services such as health care and education.

Developing countries, and particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, host 98% of the 1 billion people in the world without access to transport. Yet an additional 187 million Africans are expected to live in cities over the next decade, suggesting 1.5 million people will move to cities every month[1]. Developing countries will thus continue to confront the largest mobility challenges including access to, and safety of, mobility solutions as well as their efficiency and environmental impact. The most impacted populations are urban and rural low-income households – population segments which also typically lack access to energy. The nexus between energy and mobility can be leveraged to provide access to affordable and safe sustainable mobility services.

To support this sector, TotalEnergies, Enea Consulting and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) are launching the Energy Access Booster 2021 call for projects to support Sustainable Mobility entrepreneurs operating in Africa and Asia[2].

The 2021 edition targets projects at the development stage and companies focusing on the following sub-themes of Sustainable Mobility:

Eligibility criteria:

Successful applicants will benefit from one or more of the following support schemes, depending on their needs and the applicable eligibility criteria:

The call for projects opens to applicants on June 21st, 2021 and will close on August 15th, 2021.  The selection of the successful applicants is scheduled to take place between mid-August 2021 and November 2021.

 


[1] The Sustainable Mobility For All (SuM4All) initiative.
[2] For any project operating in a country under economic sanctions, the application will be reviewed on a case by case basis by the organizers.
[3] Up to $5,000 of the financial contribution will be used by successful applicants to subscribe to a product & public liability insurance which complies with the international standards, if none is in place.
[4]Only if the project takes place in an eligible region: these are countries and regions that are categorized as “normal vigilance” or “enhanced vigilance” by the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs.
See: https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/africa/ and https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/asia-and-oceania/
The strategic advisory mission’s aim is to position ventures on a path to profitability  and growth. Enea Consulting will work with winning start-ups to identify issues that need to be addressed to grow their business. Enea Consulting’s support can include assessment of: operational, sales and distribution strategy, unit economics analysis, business model analysis, customer acquisition and retention, geographical expansion, among others.