Energy 4 Impact – Crowd Power Community (Learn More)

About

Women Integration into Renewable Energy (WIRE) is a two-year programme aimed at accelerating access to clean energy for poor and rural communities. The programme works by strengthening the role of women entrepreneurs (WEs) in the clean cooking (improved cookstoves, briquettes) and off-grid lighting supply chains in Kenya and Tanzania.

We are working with over 450 WEs based in Kenya and Tanzania. Typically, the WEs are engaged in solar, briquette or clean cookstove businesses, operating as informal businesses (a typical characteristic of micro and small enterprises in East Africa). Their businesses are spread across 25 counties in Kenya and 5 Lake Zones in Tanzania. 90% of the entrepreneurs have been in business for more than one year. A majority have been in business for 2-5 years. Most businesses are still at an early stage of development and require support to grow and to access finance.

Some of the WEs have expressed a need for funds to purchase raw material and/or equipment to grow their business. E4I’s Business Development Services (BDS) team, which works closely with the Capital Access Team, is supporting these WEs to build and grow their businesses with the wider aim of improving their livelihood. As part of the Capital Access Team’s support to WEs, we are constantly looking for potential sources of funding that are accessible to a WE and appropriate for her business.