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Decen­tral­ized ener­gy sup­ply in Sub-Saha­ran Africa

Star­tups + Inno­va­tions: Sub-Saha­ran Africa

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Image: eWa­ka

Mobil­i­ty Start­up eWa­ka receives $541k Loan from SECO

  • Tech­build Africa 
  • SECO Start-up Fund has offered a 500,000 CHF($541k) loan that will sup­port eWAKA’s 2023 plans to accel­er­ate a growth strat­e­gy focused on pro­vid­ing inno­v­a­tive and sus­tain­able mobil­i­ty tech­nol­o­gy in Africa through the local pro­duc­tion and pro­mo­tion of the mobil­i­ty startup’s sig­na­ture elec­tron­ic bike known as the Shujaa. 
Image: Stiftung Solarenergie

Sec­ond-life bat­tery sys­tems for afford­able ener­gy access in Kenyan pri­ma­ry schools

  • Nature 
  • In this research, we explore the fea­si­bil­i­ty of using sec­ond-life bat­ter­ies (which have been retired from their first intend­ed life) and solar pho­to­voltaics to pro­vide afford­able ener­gy access to pri­ma­ry schools in Kenya. Based on inter­views with 12 East African schools, real­is­tic sys­tem sizes were deter­mined with vary­ing solar pho­to­volta­ic sizes and lithi­um-ion bat­tery capacities. 

Kenyan start­up Eco­mo­bilus uses old lap­top bat­ter­ies to pow­er bikes

  • Africa News 
  • Eco­mo­bilus col­lects frames from old motor­bikes, removes the engines and replaces them with a bat­tery and a motor to pro­pel the bike. They run on a 60V direct cur­rent. The bat­ter­ies take hours to charge but can take 45 min­utes if on a fast charg­er. The bikes are being used around the city by couri­ers and deliv­ery drivers. 
Image: Kabisa

KABISA Is Launch­ing An Awe­some Elec­tric Mobil­i­ty Ecosys­tem In Rwanda

  • CleanTechnica 
  • The Rwan­dan ven­ture KABISA wants to dis­rupt the auto sec­tor by pro­vid­ing a com­plete elec­tric vehi­cle ecosys­tem. KABISA’s mis­sion is to increase access to green, safe, and effi­cient trans­porta­tion. To achieve this, KABISA is not just sell­ing and leas­ing elec­tric vehi­cles, but also set­ting up a pub­lic charg­ing net­work, and open­ing an elec­tric vehi­cle main­te­nance garage in Kigali. 
Image: Jalome Chir­wa | Unsplash

AFSIA: These are the four main trends in Africa’s solar industry

  • AFSIA 
  • The AFSIA report “African Solar Out­look 2023” iden­ti­fies four major trends in the grow­ing solar indus­try: com­mer­cial and indus­tri­al (C&I), green hydro­gen pro­duc­tion, solar pow­ered mobil­i­ty and pro­duc­tive use of ener­gy. Down­load the report here… 
Image: IT Web

Blockchain start-up allows cus­tomers to buy, resell solar power

  • IT Web 
  • Momint, a Cape Town-based blockchain start-up, has devel­oped a blockchain-based offer­ing that aims to help ease South Africa’s ener­gy cri­sis by allow­ing any­one to invest in solar pow­er and resell it to insti­tu­tions. Accord­ing to the com­pa­ny, peo­ple liv­ing in Limpopo, West­ern Cape and Mpumalan­ga can pur­chase solar cells – a con­stituent part of solar pan­els – from as lit­tle as R150. 

Meet the Investor: Sacha Haider, Glob­al Ventures

  • Dis­rupt Africa 
  • The start­up space in Africa, Haider says, is “unbe­liev­ably excit­ing”´: “Entre­pre­neurs across Africa are bridg­ing the infra­struc­ture gap through tech­nol­o­gy and inno­v­a­tive prod­ucts. Whether it’s TeamApt dri­ving finan­cial inclu­sion through agents and POS ter­mi­nals, or MAX cre­at­ing access to pro­duc­tive assets for dri­vers; founders are tak­ing many sec­tors and spaces on the con­ti­nent from zero to one.” 

How DER became a one-stop shop for star­tups in Senegal

  • techcabal 
  • Délé­ga­tion de l’Entrepreneuriat Rapi­de (DER), which loose­ly trans­lates in Eng­lish to Gen­er­al Del­e­ga­tion for Rapid Entre­pre­neur­ship of Women and Youth, has been described by many as one of the cat­a­lysts behind the growth of the Sene­galese entre­pre­neur­ial and tech ecosystem. 

Nige­ria: Financ­ing options and invest­ment incen­tives under the Start­up Act

  • Den­tons Acas-law 
  • The Start­up Act aims to cre­ate an envi­ron­ment for star­tups to thrive whilst ensur­ing Nige­ria leads the con­ti­nent with respect to dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy. In this pdf we will con­clude by high­light­ing the var­i­ous financ­ing options avail­able to star­tups under the Start­up Act as well as the incen­tives for investors which may increase the avail­abil­i­ty of finance to labelled startups. 

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Pic­ture cred­its cov­er pho­to: © Solar Ener­gy Foun­da­tion Ethiopia; Anna Tolipo­va | Dreamstime.com; Sat­acre­ative | Dreamstime.com

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