Zembo SAS (FMO-64217)

Countries
  • Uganda
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Apr 9, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Zembo SAS
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Transport
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 1.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ FMO website

Updated in EWS Sep 1, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Nov 7, 2024

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Contact the EWS Team

Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, FMO provides a loan equivalent of up to USD 1 million to the Borrower (the "FMO Loan"). The FMO Loan finances the acquisition of batteries and chargers, while the acquisition of the corresponding motorcycles is primarily financed through other financing solutions. The increasing capital expenditure requirement associated with the sale of the E-boda bodas warrant a scalable and milestone-based pilot debt facility. This transaction qualifies as 100% Green and Reducing Equalities.

E-boda bodas address the lack of access to affordable public transport and are key to reducing pollution, congestion, and noise resulting from significant urbanization and population growth in Uganda. The FMO Loan enables the provision of affordable E-boda bodas to the Ugandan market and is fully aligned with FMO's strategy.
The FMO Loan supports affordable, non-polluting transport. Even with a higher upfront cost, and assuming no residual value, E-boda bodas are estimated to be more cost-effective than Internal Combustion Engine boda bodas ("ICEs") due to fuel and maintenance savings.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The investment is categorized as B due to limited environmental and social ("E&S") risks and impacts. Key risks relate to health and safety (primarily of E-boda boda drivers) and pollution prevention (primarily battery waste). Zembo provides safety equipment and health and safety ("H&S") training to its drivers. As Zembo retains ownership of the batteries under its swapping model, the second-life and end-of-life applications remain under direct company management to ensure safe battery recycling.
As part of its reporting obligations, Zembo is required to report on E&S (primarily H&S) and impact indicators, in line with current investor reporting requirements.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

A loan equivalent of up to USD 1 million.

Funding: Building Prospects

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Zembo SAS, a holding company established in France and founded in 2018, sells electric motorbikes (“E-boda bodas”) in Uganda through its wholly owned subsidiary, Zembo Motorcycles SMC Ltd (“Zembo UG”). Zembo sells electric motorcycles to drivers, either directly or through third parties, and provides a battery swap (battery-as-a-service, “BaaS”) solution through a network of 29 battery-swap stations. At these stations, drivers exchange discharged batteries for fully-charged batteries and pay for the energy consumed. Zembo has 75 employees, primarily in the main operational offices in Uganda, including staff across its battery-swap station network.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Zembo SAS Client -

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

https://www.zem.bo/

No contacts available at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

As part of FMO's ex-ante disclosure (disclosure of transactions before contracting), you can send requests or questions for additional information to: disclosure@fmo.nl

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF FMO

Communities who believe they will be negatively affected by a project funded by the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) may be able to file a complaint with the Independent Complaints Mechanism, which is the joint independent accountability mechanism of the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and the German Investment Corporation (KfW). A complaint can be filed in writing, by email, post, or online. The complaint can be filed in English or any other language of the complainant. The Independent Complaints Mechanism is comprised of a three-member Independent Expert Panel and it can provide either problem-solving, compliance review or both, in either order. Additional information about this accountability mechanism, including a guide and template for filing a complaint, can be found at: https://www.fmo.nl/independent-complaints-mechanism

How it works

How it works