USADF Off-Grid Energy Initiative is Transformative- Tom Coogan

By Belinda Ayamgha, GNA
Accra, April 22, GNA - Tom Coogan, Regional Director of the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), has lauded the Off-Grid Energy Challenge's ability to nurture African businesses.

He said the intervention is helping to address the power problems of locals in the off-grid sector in sub-Saharan Africa.

He gave the commendation at the opening of a two-day cross-fertilisation workshop for grantees from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Zambia, under the USADF's 'Beyond the Grid' initiative.

Mr Coogan noted that the African Development Foundation (ADF) is the only organisation committed to funding only African and managed enterprises.

He said, it is the Foundation's desire to see African enterprises presenting the technologies and solutions to the power problems.

'You know the issues, you know the problems, you know how to address those problems and you can do it in a cost effective and profitable way and that's a very important thing,' he stated.

'You are committed to your country, you're not committed to any company that is based in Canada or China,' he said

He said the importance of citizens working themselves to address the problems in their countries, citing some of the of USADF grantees who after retirement started their organisations to help bring electricity to underprivileged areas.

He said the model is transformative, both for the communities it serves and for the overall growth of the beneficiary countries.

The two-day workshop, the second to be organised by the ADF, is to engender cross-learning about technology, such as solar technology, the challenges that the companies using them are encountered and project implementation.

The workshop would also address issues of follow-up financing for the enterprises.

Touching on the sustainability of the initiative after the Obama administration, Mr Coogan stated that it is expected to continue as other initiatives started by previous presidents such as the Millennium Challenge Compact under former President George Bush are being sustained.

He added that, the Power Africa Initiative has support across board from both Republicans and Democrats.

'We fully expect that whoever is president a year from now, will carry on with Power Africa.'

He stated that although interventions by Power Africa cannot completely solve Africa's power problems, it could make significant inroads towards addressing it, with support from its outside partner organisations such as DFID in the United Kingdom.

Mr Christoph J.M Anagbonu, Managing Partner at Mensah JB &Associates, the local implementing partner for Ghana, said, the impact of the initiative in Ghana has been great, having helped grantee organisations, most of which were startups, to grow and expand their businesses.

Ghana Nuts Limited, a local company, which was one of the first round grantees for instance, has been able to grow very quick with ADF assistance and is now a well-established company.

He added that the Power Africa Off-Grid projects undertaken, had also helped to improve the lives of the people in the beneficiary companies, some of who said they had not expected to be hooked onto the national grid in their lifetimes.

Mr Anagbonu said people now have solar power connected to their homes as well as providing cold storage systems for farmers and fishermen.

The project had also helped others to get access to potable drinking water by using solar power to purify the water and also power irrigation for farmlands.

The grantee companies in Ghana include Solar Light in Accra, NewEnergy in Tamale, Wilkins Engineering in Accra, Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture in the Ashanti region and Bungtungwa Ventures.

The Off-Grid Challenge is funded by USADF, USAID and GE Africa to promote innovative solutions that develop, scale-up or extend the use of proven technologies for off-grid energy, increasing access to reliable, affordable and sustainable power by giving winners grants of 100,000 dollars each.

About 50 grants have been given now in the nine participating countries and is expected to increase to about 75 projects in the phase two of the projects, which is ongoing.

GNA