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June 28, 2021
As COVID-19 continues to affect the world, New Energy Nexus, Uganda, is working hard to respond to the damaging economic consequences of the pandemic. Thanks to support from the Signify Foundation, New Energy Nexus Uganda has been strengthening its clean energy uptake initiative by supporting new and existing cohorts of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) with business assistance and robust marketing outreach targeted to meet rural energy demand with clean energy solutions.
The ENVenture program, under the Ugandan chapter of New Energy Nexus, was created to help provide clean energy access for all with technologies like improved cookstoves and solar. The program incubates and accelerates clean energy businesses through financing and capacity building for CBOs who; maintain intimate grassroots relationships with their communities, understand the energy gaps, and distribute essential clean energy technologies. Since 2014, 123 CBOs have become part of the program, reaching almost 100,000 people with these products.
For New Energy Nexus Uganda, the pandemic resulted in business closure and limited sales activities between April and June, which severely impacted the financial resilience and growth opportunities for the CBOs we work with. With the Signify Foundation Support we provided technical assistance to empower CBOs to revamp their clean energy businesses, enabling them to provide products at favorable terms for rural customers whose incomes reduced during the 2020 lockdown in Uganda.
To help each of the CBOs emerge from the COVID-19 crisis as a sustainable business, additional support provided by the Signify Foundation is bringing a more opportunities for offgrid communities in Uganda. The market recovery effort focuses on creating new CBO energy enterprises to continue creating and meeting clean energy demand.
“Partnering with Signify Foundation has been vital in our effort to scale our enterprises. The energy technologies exist but they are not readily available to off-grid communities, the majority of which happen to be rural-based” says Robert Birungi, the program’s Head of Credit.
We truly believe that ecosystem partnership is key to success. The market outreach program will continue to leverage the network of value chain partners such as improved cook stove manufacturers like Ugastove Limited with whom a recent training workshop was conducted for the ten CBOs to continue in this sustainability and entrepreneurship path.
Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) is the world leader in lighting for professionals, consumers and the Internet of Things. Our Philips products, Interact systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. In 2023, we had sales of EUR 6.7 billion, approximately 32,000 employees and a presence in over 70 countries. We unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. We have been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since our IPO for seven consecutive years and have achieved the EcoVadis Platinum rating for four consecutive years, placing Signify in the top one percent of companies assessed. News from Signify can be found in the Newsroom, on X, LinkedIn and Instagram. Information for investors is located on the Investor Relations page.
