The European Investment Bank (EIB), Triodos Investment Management, an investment fund manager located in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and the European Union’s (EU) Electrification Financing Initiative (EDFI) are all contributing to €19 million ($20.5 million) investment in electricity access provider WeLight. The funds will go toward a €28 million electrification project sponsored by WeLight.

The Madagascar-based company is the outcome of a collaboration between Tananarive-based Axian Group, Sagemcom of France, and the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (NORFUND). These existing WeLight stockholders will invest €9 million to the initiative. Solar mini-grids are planned to power 120 settlements.

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WeLight’s mini-grid is made up of a small solar power plant that is linked to a distribution network. These mini-grids are planned to deliver electricity to 45,000 residences and companies, which will be billed. “This new project will significantly improve rural electrification in Madagascar. It will also have a positive impact on hundreds of thousands of people, significantly improving the standard of living, the local economy and the well-being of the population,” says Romain de Villeneuve, WeLight Madagascar’s managing director.

The business predicts that its electricity initiative will assist 250,000 individuals. The project is being carried out with the assistance of the Madagascar Ministry of Energy and the Agency for Rural Electrification Development (ADER). WeLight has already installed 40 solar-powered mini-grids in eight different locations of Madagascar. The project, which is funded by the EIB, EDFI ElectriFi, and Triodos Investment Management, will allow the company to expand into four new locations.

“Access to affordable and clean energy for all is an important sustainable development objective and contributes to the green and just transition supported by the EU’s Global Gateway strategy,” said Isabelle Delattre Burger, the EU’s ambassador to Madagascar. 

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The island is one of the least electrified countries on the African continent, with the World Bank estimating a rate of only 33%.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard