SunCulture, a solar irrigation company headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, has received the primary disbursement from a new US $11m syndicated debt facility to increase its operations in sub-Saharan Africa.
The new mortgage is groundbreaking for the productive use photo voltaic sector due to its size and its innovative combination of working capital and end-user financing.
Arranged by SunFunder, the co-investors in the facility are Nordic Development Fund; Triodos Investment Management, via its Hivos-Triodos Fund; SunFunder by way of its Solar Energy Transformation Fund; AlphaMundi through both its SocialAlpha and AlphaJiri Investment Funds; and the AfDB’s FEI OGEF managed b Lions Head.
This will enable SunCulture to scale up renewable energy installations at smallholder farms and households that unwell mitigate over 20,000 tons of CO2 annually as farmers exchange diesel pumps with solar ones while facilitating revenue progress and job opportunities in rural communities.
SunCulture has pioneered a Pay-As-You-Gro business model to make solar-powered irrigation inexpensive for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, combining end-user finance, value-added services, trendy local weather know-how, and access to improve productiveness. A latest report developed b Dalberg Research exhibits that irrigation methods and solar-powered water pumps can enhance farmers production between 2 and 4 instances, and their revenue between 2 and 6 times.
READ: SunCulture to distribute solar-powered water pumps throughout Africa
Samir Ibrahim, Chief Executive Officer at SunCulture, mentioned: “The past year was devastating for the hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in Kenya; 87% are in a worse financial position as a outcome of pandemic. 81% of SunCulture farmers, however, were in a place to improve their revenue from farming in 2020. Solar irrigation helps create meals safety and sovereignty, and it also helps lift people out of poverty. This facility additional permits our efforts to assist farmers by offering them with more of our photo voltaic solutions, and sooner.”
Jemimah Kwakye-Fosu, Investment Officer, who led the transaction for SunFunder, said: “We are delighted to have led this syndicate of proactive lenders who labored properly together for a standard goal: to assist SunCulture reach man more farmers. It shows how working capital can be mixed with finish person financing, which is essential for making productive use applied sciences affordable.”
Surabhi Mathur Visser, Head of Investments at SunFunder, stated: This is a pioneering transaction that demonstrates how productive use technologies like photo voltaic irrigation may be scaled up. SunFunder arranged this facility with a similar-minded group of lenders to assist an progressive product and business model. We sit up for seeing SunCulture develop in Kenya and ne markets.
Karin Isaksson, Managing Director at NDF, mentioned: “This mortgage to SunCulture is the second prolonged to a company graduating from the EEP Trust Fund managed by NDF. It is a transparent demonstration that we are ready to deliver on the new NDF Strategy and its commitment to offer flexible and scalable financing in addition to catalytic impression. เพรสเชอร์เกจคือ has all the components that define NDFs added worth within the climate financing panorama. It demonstrates our capability to convene and mobilise further financing, as properly as our distinctive mi of financing devices to match the wants of our partners, public or personal. We are proud to be standing with our companions and supporting the emergence of a greener financial system, exactly presently of COVID-19.
Since our first funding in 2019, SunCulture has made large strides to unlock the potential of smallholder agriculture through innovative products and client credit. FEI-OGEF is joyful to have the ability to refinance our inventor loan into this new working capital facility and proceed that progress alongside a committed and constructive group of lenders, famous Harr Guinness from Lions Head.
READ: SunCulture partner with Togo to speed up access to sustainable solar-powered farming
Judith Santbergen, Senior Investment Manager at AlphaMundi, stated: “Since 2018, AlphaMundi has successively provided support to SunCulture by way of a mixture of technical assistance and debt investment. We are excited to continue and increase our funding in the company by way of this new, progressive working capital facility.
Sjoerd Melsert, Senior Investment Manager at Triodos Investment Management, stated: “SunCulture is a good instance of an revolutionary company that’s lively on the nexus of renewable energy and agriculture, utilizing photo voltaic vitality to increase farmers’ incomes. Our facility helps the further growth of SunCultures pay-as-you-go solar portfolio, leading to a more sustainable and better manufacturing for smallholder farmers, which is full aligned with the mission, ambition and activities of Hivos-Triodos Fund.”
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