Deadline: February 28, 2021
Applications are open for the USADF-All On Off-Grid Energy Challenge 2021. The Nigeria Off-Grid Energy Challenge is a joint initiative of the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) and All On and is designed to achieve the following results:
- To increase electrical generation to unserved and underserved communities through sustainable business model solutions;
- To expand electricity access – delivered through off-grid solutions such as home systems or micro-grids;
- To increase access to electricity for productive and/or household use – while this may include power to meet household consumer needs, emphasis is also given to the delivery of power to productive or commercial activities including agricultural production and processing, commercial enterprises, and others.
The Off-Grid Energy Challenge is a key element of the Beyond the Grid sub initiative of Power Africa, a U.S. Government-led partnership launched in 2013 to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 by increasing installed power capacity by 30,000 MW and creating 60 million new connections. Of these targeted 60 million new connections, as many as 25-30 million are expected to be added through off-grid solutions.
Benefits
Winning applicants will receive:
- An investment in the form of a convertible loan at an affordable interest rate and/or an equity investment.
- Seed capital from All On in the form of grants, and from USADF in the form of Community Reinvestment Grant (CRG) funds. The CRG intends for grant recipients to recommit a percentage of grant funding to a local organization to further support community-level projects in Nigeria.
- Access to intensive local technical assistance and governance support.
Funding
- Proposals of up to US$100,000 in 50/50 blended financing (grant/ debt or equity) per award will be considered, with a maximum of twenty (20) awards anticipated.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be 100% African-owned, majority Nigerian-owned and -managed private companies registered in Nigeria and must be operating in Nigeria.
- Passports or other government-issued IDs of all owners and senior managers must be submitted with the applications.
- If the applying company is owned wholly or in part by another company, passports or other government-issues IDs of its owners must also be provided.
- The applying companies must be for-profit enterprises and must not be government-owned or operated in any way.
- Applicants may be developers of their own technology and/or may be acquiring and implementing technology developed elsewhere.
- Applicants need to be legally registered in Nigeria and demonstrate the capacity to track and manage the project resources and operate in good standing with the local governments in which they operate.
Application
All applicants are required to use the linked business proposal template. The completed proposal template along with the required documentation should be submitted by email on or before February 28, 2021, to the following email address: [email protected]
For more information, visit USADF.
