Bio-digesters to supply energy to 10000 farms
Energy 4 Impact partners with Senegal’s National Biogas Programme to increase access to cleaner and reliable energy for households in rural parts of the country.
The National Biogas Programme is an initiative of the Senegalese government, whose objective is to deploy 10000 bio-digesters across the country to increase access to cleaner and reliable energy for rural households. An estimated 90000 people will benefit from the new power source.
Energy 4 Impact is leading the programme’s market and enterprise development activities and providing training in business, finance and marketing to local bio-digester producers; as well as advising on the design of business and consumer financing models.
The first training sessions, which took place in Kolda and Thiès, included a wide scope of business advisory including legal advice, accounting, finance and marketing, allowing the selected biogas enterprises in charge of selling and installing the systems to:
- Explore the advantages and disadvantages of different types of businesses;
- Understand best practices of financial management regarding income, expenses, savings and loans;
- Better manage resources and relationships with financial institutions;
- Understand the best financial options and improve business welfare;
- Understand the key concepts of marketing;
- Build and design appropriate marketing strategies;
- Identify weaknesses and seek solutions from lessons learned.
The National Biogas Programme’s aim is to ensure the trained businesses perform well over time by taking into account producers’ specific needs.
My business will benefit greatly from the financial training, which provided some practical tools to better plan and manage our activities.
- says Mouhamadou Mansour Ba, one of the entrepreneurs who participated in the training session.
The energy source is produced by converting animal dung into biogas and compost, providing a sustainable source of energy all year round. It is an alternative to cooking fuel, especially in areas where wood and coal are scarce and expensive. Households with bio-digesters can use the compost for their own needs, such as fertilisation for agriculture, or sell it to generate extra income.