Alexander O. Onukwue
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Small and medium scale enterprises in Africa receive about $70bn of credit each year. But the International Finance Corporation estimates that the gap exceeds $300bn.
Why does the gap exist?
Michael Famoroti, chief economist at Stears gave two reasons during a recent TechCabal Live event on financing renewable energy companies in Africa.
First, there is an information problem.
Credit providers seem to lack enough information with which to assess the risk worthiness of many borrowers. This problem exists at the retail level as most bank customers who have tried to take personal loans will be aware.
MTN’s Q1 results show fintech progress
MTN Nigeria recently released its financial report for the first quarter of 2021, and there’s a lot to unpack from the results.
Policies have consequences: When the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said in December 2020 that it was suspending new SIM card registrations, it seemed like everyone, but the regulator could see the second-order effects.
MTN’s Q1 results show one of those effects as the telco’s mobile subscribers declined by 5 million. It’s not peculiar to MTN alone; other telcos have suffered churn because while they’ve lost customers, they weren’t able to register new ones for months.
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Daystar Power, a leading provider of hybrid solar power solutions to businesses in West Africa, today announced a Series B investment of $38 million. The round was led by the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), the Danish development finance institution (DFI).
IFU is joined by new investors STOA, a French impact infrastructure fund, Proparco, the French DFI, backed by a guarantee from the European Union under the African Renewable Energy Scale-Up facility (ARE Scale-Up) and Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Taking into account the previous round by Verod Capital and Persistent Energy, Daystar Power has received equity investments totaling $48 million.
Daystar Power, a leading provider of hybrid solar power solutions to businesses in West Africa, today announced a Series B investment of $38 million. The round was led by the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), the Danish development finance institution (DFI). x
IFU is joined by new investors STOA, a French impact infrastructure fund, Proparco, the French DFI, backed by a guarantee from the European Union under the African Renewable Energy Scale-Up facility (ARE Scale-Up) and Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Taking into account the previous round by Verod Capital and Persistent Energy, Daystar Power has received equity investments totaling $48 million.
Daystar Power raises $38mln to boost solar energy supply in West Africa Wednesday, 13 January 2021 16:20
(Ecofin Agency) - Daystar Power, which specializes in solar energy supply in West Africa, has raised $38 million in a Series B round to boost its activity. The operation was led by the Danish development bank (IFU) and saw the participation of three foreign investors: French STOA and Proparco, and American Morgan Stanley.
Several factors motivated this investment, including the customer base, technologies, expertise and skills of the Daystar Power team, said Thomas Hougaard, IFU s Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa.
This financing comes one year after Daystar Power s initial equity investment and brings to $48 million the total investment mobilized to date by the Nigerian energy company, which plans to deploy its solar solutions across West Africa.