AfricaGoGreen Fund secures $47 million to support tech-focused green projects in Africa
The AfricaGoGreen Fund (AGGF) has raised $47 million in combined investments from top financial organizations, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), and the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA).
The AGGF is the first structured debt fund in Africa focused on energy efficiency solutions. The fund targets reaching between $230 million and $250 million at the final close. With the current fundraising round, the organization’s total funding stands at $138 million, demonstrating that the fund is getting traction to reach its full scale.
In the latest round of funding, IFC provided $17 million in equity, which includes financing from the IDA20 Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility. In addition to equity, IFC committed $30 million in debt to the fund, providing AGGF with long-term capital to complete the second close fundraise.
Among projects that AGGF has funded since its launch in 2021 is Solarise Africa, a solar solutions provider as well as AkivCo, a telecom energy services company, to develop clean energy solutions for powering telecommunication towers in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, and Niger. There is also BBOXX, a pay-as-you-go solar-powered solutions provider, to accelerate access to clean cooking solutions for millions of Africans.
“IFC is partnering with AfricaGoGreen because its innovative energy efficiency focus is making critical capital available to businesses that are supporting the region’s energy transformation while also expanding access to electricity, green building, and e-mobility solutions,” said Henrik Elschner Pedersen, IFC Regional Industry Director in Africa for Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services.
African Development Bank’s Director of Renewable Energy And Energy Efficiency Daniel Schroth said that this is a collaboration of partners “with the same ambition to build a more climate-resilient Africa and support the decarbonization of African countries.”
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