RENEWABLE ENERGY & MICROFINANCE – A EURO-AFRICAN JOINT VENTURE

The conference represents the effort of Omega Investment research to promote renewable energy, particularly in rural areas in over 40 countries in Africa.  They have absolutely no doubt that microfinance could be helpful in funding renewable energy rural-electrification projects.The reasons they say this are

·While there is no doubt that rural development – whether economic, cultural or from a health and social point of view – is directly linked to rural electrification, the fact is that rural-electrification by grid-connection is both technically difficult and more often than not economically prohibitive.

·Off-grid solutions by renewable energy is the only way.

·One way of meeting the lack of funding for rural-electrification is by way of microfinance.Small projects in a low-income context, don’t attract the interest of international funding organisations for banks.

·Microfinance, on the other hand, is very appropriate for small projects in a low-income context dealing with local development.

This conference therefore is intended not simply to explore the application of microfinance to renewable energy, but to actually bring together the projects with the funding.This, therefore, is a genuinely practical collaborative initiative.

The conference has got off to an excellent start with the following major international microfinance players already supporting the event and committed to looking at ways of working with renewable energy players:

·ARC Finance (Pune – India)

·PlaNet Finance (France)

·Bank of Uganda (Uganda)

·Triodos Facet (The Netherlands)

·Pentax Management Consultancy Services (Ghana)

·Monitor Group (UK)

·AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics (Lahore – Pakistan)

·Centre for Inclusive Banking in Africa (South Africa)

·SIDI (France)

For more information about delegate registration, marketing & speaking opportunities, please contact Kim Smith on +27 (0)21 689 7881, email kims@omegainvest.co.za or visit www.omegainvest.co.za