Clean Energy and Energy Inclusion for Africa (CEI Africa) Foundation
Funded By:
Consortium Partners:
Countries: Sub-Saharan Africa
Timeline: 2021-2038
Description:
The Clean Energy and Energy Inclusion for Africa (CEI Africa) Foundation is a unique “One Stop Shop” for financing off-grid energy companies, offering a suite of financing instruments—including Results-Based Financing (RBF) and Outcomes-Based Grants, concessional debt, junior/senior debt, equity, and Technical Assistance—in collaboration with private capital providers.
CEI Africa, which has currently raised €83 million in total capital, was established by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in 2021, with additional funding from the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), to improve access to energy for rural households and enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. CEI Africa supports the delivery of electricity access by financing green mini-grid (GMG) developers, off-grid solar companies, and distributors of productive use of energy (PUE) appliances in Sub-Saharan Africa through two investment windows and multiple types of investments, combined with technical assistance.
GreenMax is part of the fund management consortium with Triple Jump B.V. and Persistent Energy managing implementation of CEI Africa. GreenMax manages the grant and concessional debt products under the Smart Outcomes Fund (SOF) Window.
The SOF Window, which has been allocated €54 million in funding, offers RBF, outcomes-based grants, Forgivable Loans, and Technical Assistance (TA) to GMG developers and PUE distributors in Sub-Saharan Africa under three components:
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An output-based RBF Component, which provides grants and Forgivable Loans for verified new mini-grid connections;
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An outcome-based Smart Outcomes Fund (SOF) Component, which provides outcome-based grants and Forgivable Loans for productive use of energy—both powered by existing GMGs and standalone solar; and
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A Technical Assistance (TA) Component, which provides TA to private sector operators.
The RBF Component launched calls for applications in 2022 and 2023 in four countries: Benin, DRC, Kenya, and Mali, and has already committed funding for 7 developers installing nearly 40,000 new mini-grid connections. A third call will be issued in Q3 2025 for Kenya, Benin, Mali, and Sierra Leone.
The SOF Component launched two calls in 2023 and 2024, targeting seven countries: Benin, DRC, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. It has already committed funding for 24 developers/distributors to support the sale of more than 9,000 PUE appliances.
To participate in future Calls for Proposals, please register on the Odyssey Energy platform here: https://ceiafrica.odysseyenergysolutions.com/#/oes/home
RBF and SOF Component grantees are eligible to apply for pre-financing of a portion of their grants in the form of our groundbreaking Forgivable Loan product. Qualifying applicants may receive up to 35% of their awarded grant amount as a 1% concessional loan upon proof of equipment orders. Principal and interest are fully forgiven upon verification that 35% of the contracted new connections have been realized or 35% of the contracted PUE appliances have been deployed.
Under the TA Component, GreenMax provides pre-implementation and post-implementation technical assistance to GMG developers and PUE distributors (either implemented by mini-grid developers or off-grid solar businesses under the SOF Component).
Persistent Energy manages the Crowdlending Window, which provides a suite of investment products including senior debt, junior debt, equity, quasi-equity, and technical assistance. The Crowdlending Window invests alongside crowdlenders and other lenders sourcing private retail capital in GMG developers and other companies providing services in the off-grid solar space, including solar home systems (SHS), commercial and industrial (C&I) off-grid systems for MSMEs and service providers, pico solar PV, and solar-powered PUE appliances such as grain mills, pumps, or cold storage solutions. The window’s investment instruments are blended with senior debt from the private lenders. For GMGs, the current focus is on countries supported by the SOF Window to enable grantees to access CEI Africa’s full selection of financing products. For other off-grid energy companies, the current focus countries are Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia.
Program Achievements / Impacts to Date:
As of mid-2025, under the RBF Component, CEI Africa has financed 38,000 new solar mini-grid connections being installed by seven developers across Benin, DRC, Kenya, and Mali—bringing electricity access to over 180,000 rural residents through a mix of RBF grants, concessional debt, and junior debt in collaboration with private crowdlenders.
Under the SOF Component, 24 PUE grants have been awarded across Benin, DRC, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Uganda for both standalone PUE business models and PUE businesses implemented by mini-grid developers. The productive use applications supported include a mix of solar grain mills and other agricultural processing equipment, e-mobility solutions, cold storage, water pumps, and more.
Learn more about CEI Africa here.
For more information or inquiries related to CEI Africa, please contact the following members of our team:
- Ifechukwude Uwajeh: CEI Africa – Managing Director [iuwajeh@greenmaxcap,com]
- Daniel Kitwa: CEI Africa – RBF Window Lead [dkitwa@greenmaxcap.com]
- Shelmith Theuri, CEI Africa – Smart Outcomes component Lead [stheuri@greenmaxcap.com]
- Robert Wangoe, CEI Africa – Technical Assistance Manager [rwangoe@greenmaxcap.com]
- Kokou Lagassou, (French Speaking), CEI Africa – Productive Use of Energy Manager [klagassou@greenmaxcap.com]