KawiSafi Ventures Fund in East Africa (GCF-FP005)

Countries
  • Kenya
  • Rwanda
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Green Climate Fund (GCF)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Active
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
U
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
Nov 1, 2015
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
Acumen Capital Partners LLC
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Equity
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 25.00 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.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 110.00 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.
Bank Documents
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ GCF website

Updated in EWS Jul 29, 2020

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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.

Creating a new investment fund, KawiSafi, to drive off-grid solar power in East Africa. Investing in 10-15 clean energy companies, initially in Rwanda and Kenya, providing household solar technologies. Aiming to drive a low-carbon paradigm shift and leapfrog fossil fuel grids to clean energy, using equity capital from GCF to leverage investment, and grant capital to set up a Technical Assistance Facility.
Rwanda has 70% of its population living off-grid, and even a planned massive investment from the government will leave over 3.5 million without power. Energy costs are high, both for on- and off-grid customers, because of a heavy reliance on imported oil and kerosene. In Kenya, 80% live off-grid with 35 million without access to affordable and reliable electricity. Lighting costs in particular are very high for rural off-grid Kenyans, who spend around 26% of their income on kerosene, which is expensive, dangerous, and harmful to health. Rapid population growth is increasing demand for electricity and placing further demands on grid supply. The Fund will consider expansion to Uganda over time, which has even lower electrification levels and heavy reliance on fuel wood for cooking.
The KawiSafi portfolio will be the world's first climate change fund targeting low-income populations in developing countries. Investments of USD 2-10 million per company will be made in 10-15 clean energy small- and medium-sized enterprises. Lack of electricity and high kerosene use will be addressed through affordable clean household solar energy solutions such as solar lanterns, solar home systems, and solar mini-grids. KawiSafi will also invest in other parts of the ecosystem such as consumer finance, mobile payment, and metering/monitoring technologies. The Technical Assistance Facility will identify and address core needs of portfolio companies to support their scale and financial viability.

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

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.

Acumen Fund, Inc. (Acumen)
Mr. Sachindra Rudra
Tel: +1 91 98675 65707

Mr. Alexander Healey
Tel: +1 646 747 3855

Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)
Mithika Mwenda

Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA)
Stanley Kimaren Riamit

Ogiek Peoples' Development Program (OPDP)
Daniel M. Kobei

 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Requests for project information may be submitted using the IDP Request for Information by email to: disclosure@gcfund.org.

You can also submit an information request using this online form: https://www.greenclimate.fund/about/disclosure/form.  Additionally, if information requested is denied, an appeal can be filed to the Information Appeals Panel: iap@gcfund.org.  You can learn more about the Information Appeals Panel at: https://www.greenclimate.fund/about/disclosure/appeals.

 

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF GREEN CLIMATE FUND 

The Independent Redress Mechanism (IRM) addresses complaints by people who believe they are negatively affected or may be affected by projects or programmes funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The complainant can raise issues related to any of GCF’s policies and procedures, including those relating to social and environmental issues, indigenous peoples, gender, and information disclosure, among others. If you submit a complaint to the IRM, it may seek to address the issues raised by facilitating problem solving or conducting a compliance process. You can learn more about the Independent Redress Mechanism and how to file a complaint at https://irm.greenclimate.fund/.

You can access a video about the IRM (English) at: https://youtu.be/1LanbriVhfs.

A brochure about the IRM can be accessed in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Mandarin, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Russian, Ukrainian, Korean, German, and Kiswahili at: https://irm.greenclimate.fund/.

 

How it works

How it works