Women and girls often bear the brunt of energy poverty as they spend hours each day collecting firewood, cooking on smoky cookstoves, and doing household chores in poor lighting. Access to clean energy can make a huge difference to them. It also creates countless entrepreneurial and income generating opportunities.

We are providing technology, business and financial mentoring to thousands of women entrepreneurs in rural parts of East and West Africa, so that they can strengthen their own entrepreneurial skills and increase access to energy in their communities. These women are manufacturing efficient cookstoves and fuels, retailing clean energy products and pay-as-you-go solar equipment and operating solar kiosks or phone charging stations.

Energy 4 Impact also advises women engaged in a variety of other economic activities – farming, fishing, cattle-rearing, agro-processing, services, trade and entertainment – on ways to increase their profitability and diversify their sources of income though improved access to solar energy or solar-powered equipment, such as fridges, driers and phone charging kits.