21th Impact for Breakfast Zurich

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Can financial services help scale off-grid solar solutions for lower-income households in the developing world?

Why are so many people around the world (and especially in Africa and South Asia) still struggling to get access to electricity despite having ready-to-use solar system solutions and sunshine almost all year round?  Many of us know already that just because “the solution” exists doesn’t mean that market distribution, end user finance and access issues are resolved. Are there ways to sustainably tackle this challenge and bring off-grid solar energy to the most rural communities in Africa and elsewhere?

Speaker: Alexander Sotiriou, Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP, World Bank

Date: Tuesday, 19.11

Time: 08:30 – 10:30

Venue: Credit Suisse Piazza, 1st floor, Uetlibergstrasse 231, 8070 Zürich

CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) is an independent think tank dedicated to financial inclusion. Alexander Sotiriou and his team from CGAP are working with donors, investors and entrepreneurs to distill what makes some the world’s best off-grid solar solutions more successful than others. They look at different business models currently in use to bring off-grid solar power to people and find those approaches that have the highest probabilities of commercial success. Naturally, it will only be if solutions reach significant scale that they can be deployed across countries and provide a compelling enough business case for impact investors to allocate their capital and expertise. Alex will be looking back at his work in the space and sharing his thoughts on solving one of the world’s most pressing issues through collaboration, transparency and knowledge sharing.