For the East African Clean Energy Challenge there was no overall prize, instead all five of the finalists in the competition will be receiving financial support from GVEP International thanks to the generous sponsorship of Barclays Bank and Sir Ronald Grierson.
All five finalists in the East Africa Clean Energy Challenge will be receiving financial support from GVEP International to help them grow their businesses.
Skylink, a biogas business in Kenya will receive grant support to assist in the scale up of the business, and GVEP staff in Kenya are working with the company to help it expand.
The Clean Energy Company in Mozambique, which won third prize in the Nature Challenge, will receive a small grant to help meet the costs of equipping a workshop for the manufacture of small wind turbines.
PECOL, which plans to make fuel oil out of recycled tyres in Kenya, will receive grant funding and equity investment.
Mafuta Sasa, which makes biodiesel from waste cooking oil in Tanzania, will receive grant support and equity investment.
Calimax in Rwanda, a developer of small hydro projects, will receive funding for a feasibility study and the creation of a full business plan for a development at Rubagabaga.
Seven other businesses which submitted plans to the challenge are also being considered for support. Thanks to generous backing from Barclays Bank and Sir Ronald Grierson GVEP will be providing a mixture of grant and investment support to these various ventures and will be working with the entrepreneurs to help them raise the additional finance they need to realise their plans.
The investments are being coordinated with E+Co who are considering financing some of the entrepreneurs. Other investors in the BiD Network are also in discussion with GVEP about helping to fund these businesses. GVEP and E+Co staff in East Africa will provide on going assistance to these entrepreneurs.
Thierry Sanders, the founder of BiD Network, said: ‘It was really great to have GVEP-I involved with the energy challenge. Normally we offer a small cash prize to the best entrepreneur in each business category. GVEP’s approach of mobilising funding to support to a whole group of entrepreneurs and then working with those entrepreneurs to help them achieve their total funding goals is a brilliant innovation. We are very appreciative of the support given by Barclays and Sir Ronald and are looking at how we might adopt a similar approach for other sectors.’
