news - Shell Foundation and FMO sign MOU to increase funds for energy sector in Africa and India

Shell Foundation, a registered charity in the United Kingdom and FMO, the Dutch development bank, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to join forces on increasing the flow of funds for impact finance in the energy sector. They agreed on a broad cooperation including co-funding and co-creation of project opportunities to the energy access and clean energy sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa and India.

Shell Foundation and FMO agreed to cooperate in the fields of access to energy in Sub-Saharan Africa and India, and investment in financial institutions with specific goals to increase access to finance, reduce inequality and promote green financing and agribusiness. They will use various tools such as capital solutions (debt and/or equity), grants, non-financial support, social investment, leadership- and joint evaluation and advisory of funding opportunities.

Sam Parker, Director Shell Foundation: "This partnership with FMO is a significant step to help us deliver our common goals of achieving scalable and sustainable impact. Shell Foundation co-creates businesses that can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on access to energy and sustainable transport. We provide long term, patient and flexible funding to early-stage innovators as well as extensive business support.

The partnership builds on significant previous collaborations with FMO in the last ten years that have unlocked over EUR 70 million into high-impact enterprises providing essential services in Africa and Asia:

• Envirofit, a business that provides cleaner efficient cook stoves to low-income communities;
• responsAbility Energy Access Fund, an investment fund managed by repsonsAbility Investments AG that provides affordable working capital to the off-grid sector in Africa and South Asia;
• Grofin, a specialist SME financier that provides debt and business support to start-up and growing businesses across Africa and the Middle East;
• Aavishkaar, an India and Africa based fund manager investing in early stage social enterprises and MFIs;
• Orb Energy, a business that provides solar solutions to businesses and households in India and East Africa;
• and BIX Fund, a facility that supports impact monetisation for energy enterprises in rural areas.

Together FMO and Shell Foundation will co-create a fund to provide growth capital to social entrepreneurs, which we aim to launch in Q1 2018 in collaboration with the UK Department for International Development. We hope this partnership will further support other Development Finance Institutions to facilitate private capital into the impact investment sector."

Jurgen Rigterink, CEO FMO added, "Working together with the Shell Foundation means that we are able to fulfil one of our key objectives, increasing our impact through partnerships and leveraging these partnerships to mobilize more capital and catalyse investments in frontier markets. This is a perfect fit and we look forward to sourcing projects together that have great potential to make a difference."

Shell Foundation was joined by Trustee Alice Chapple, "This is exactly the type of partnership we need to see more of that can deliver a blended capital for high impact interventions that can help achieve the SDGs for which we will need billions of dollars in funding. FMO and SF are setting the pace for the sector through this initiative."

Pradeep Pursnani, Deputy Director Shell Foundation: "This partnership is the result of the hard work of both teams over the years where we have demonstrated our strategic alignment and trust in working together. We are very pleased to formalise the relationship and continue to grow it."