Nefco announces investment facilitation partnership with GET.invest to support the Modern Cooking Facility for Africa and Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa programmes

In its capacity as Facility Manager for both the Modern Cooking Facility for Africa (MCFA) and the Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA), Nefco – the Nordic Green Bank partners with investment facilitation programme GET.invest to accelerate clean off-grid energy and cooking solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nefco has signed a partnership arrangement with GET.invest to mobilise further capital for the growing portfolio of companies under the BGFA and MCFA results-based financing instruments. Both BGFA and MCFA require co-financing from the contracted companies and for these investees to secure additional leveraging of finance throughout the lifetime of their agreements with Nefco. Currently, the BGFA investees aim, for a leveraging ratio of greater than 3:1, i.e. each euro of public (BGFA) funding mobilises another three from private/concessional finance.

“The essence of the BGFA and MCFA approach is to provide limited public financing to de-risk private companies entering the off-grid and clean cooking markets and to help them bring their businesses to scale. This requires mobilisation of private capital. We are delighted to partner with the proven investment facilitation programme GET.invest to support our investees in this endeavour,” comments Ash Sharma, Vice President and Head of BGFA and MCFA programmes at Nefco.

GET.invest is a European programme that mobilises investment in renewable energy, supported by the European Union, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. At its heart, it provides tailored financial advisory and business development support services to companies and projects to access finance, serving as the Team Europe One Stop Shop for green energy investments.

Nefco and GET.invest share a mutual objective – supported by several common donors to both programmes – to increase investment to clean energy and cooking projects and companies in Sub-Saharan Africa at scale and contribute to advancing the common Sustainable Development Goals and Just Transition.

As a first step of the partnership, Nefco organised an online webinar on 20 April where GET.invest and the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN) presented their combined services to an initial cohort of about 20 clean energy companies linked to BGFA.

In addition to supporting companies access finance, the two organisations are already collaborating to help BGFA investees leverage their data to improve bankability through piloting Prospect – an open source data platform for customised data flows in the energy access sector, together with the Access to Energy Institute (A2EI).

“We are excited to build on our established track record with Nefco and further deepen our partnership to harness synergies for faster and more aligned support to clean energy and cooking companies,” says Michael Franz, Team Leader at GET.invest.

For further information, please contact:

Nefco: Ash Sharma, Vice President of Special Funds at Nefco, Ash.sharma@nefco.int

GET.invest: Michael Franz, GET.invest Team Leader, michael.franz@get-invest.eu

About GET.invest
GET.invest is a European programme that mobilises investment in clean energy projects. Services are primarily aimed at private sector companies, project developers and financiers to build sustainable energy markets in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. They comprise tailored access-to-finance advisory for clean energy developers, a funding database, market information, and financial sector support to increase local currency financing. Since 2022, GET.invest serves as the Team Europe One Stop Shop to help developers navigate and access European support and financing instruments. The programme is supported by the European Union, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria. Find out more at www.get-invest.eu.

About Nefco
Nefco – the Nordic Green Bank is an international financial institution based in Helsinki, Finland, owned by the five Nordic countries, focusing on environmental and climate investments and fund management. Nefco is Pillar Assessed by the European Union to manage EU funds and accredited by the Green Climate Fund. It currently has a pair of results-based financing instruments addressing clean solutions for rural electricity and cooking. Nefco’s headquarters is located in Helsinki, Finland. Read more at www.nefco.int

About Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa
The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) is a multi-donor energy-access facility established and managed by Nefco. The current EUR 126 million programme was established in 2019 on Sweden’s initiative and has since been developed by Nefco into a multi-donor programme funded by Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. It currently has a portfolio with over 20 investees, which is expected to grow during 2023. Further information is available at www.beyondthegrid.africa