Seed Grant Award for RET Enterprises

Remarks by Ahunna Eziakonwa,  UNDP Resident Representative

May 2018

Excellencies  Ministers,

Distinguished Participants,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to welcome you all to this evening’s small grant award dinner. Tonight we have the honour to recognizes and reward enterprises that are working on technologies that help rural communities to access clean, renewable and affordable energy.

Currently only 5% of rural households are served by distributed solar technologies and that is why the private sector engagement is necessary to meet growing demands and meet Ethiopia’s commitment of ensuring energy Access to All by 2030.

There is no doubt that renewable energy is key for Ethiopia’s transformation – especially given the fact that the country has the second highest population number in Africa and the fastest growing economy.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our support for Ethiopia’s sustainable rural energy technology is a based on a strong partnership that brings together the Government, UNDP and UNCDF with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which is providing the necessary funding.

Our intervention is focusing on helping Ethiopia deliver on Goal 7, affordable and clean energy, that contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals – the SDGs that allow  global commitment to be met through local action.

Our approach to renewable energy is through two complementary lenses that tackles to major needs – addressing access, protect the environment, and at the same time helping to create jobs and expand markets.

Investment in renewable energy is also expected to reducing Ethiopia’s energy-related emissions by approximately 2 million tonnes in the coming few years.

In addition, the social benefits are expected to transform lives.  By 2020 approximately 800,000 households, around four million people will be targeted by the current project so that they benefit from investments in small-scale solar home system products and improved cook-stoves technologies.

This intervention is also expected to contribute to efforts aimed at decreasing – and hopefully eliminating - the burden on women and girls, who culturally, and painfully bear the brunt of spending hours collecting firewood for household needs.

The health risks from smoke filled rooms, faced by these women and children will also be addressed meaning healthier families and less strain on the country’s strained health sector.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The argument for access to clean energy is strong but there remain a number of barriers standing in the way of transforming the market for off-grid renewable energy technologies for rural communities.

Through this joint intervention we are looking at addressing a number of these obstacles through strengthening the regulatory and legal frameworks based on national standards; promoting sustainable financial mechanisms; and encouraging private sector investment in renewable energy technologies through entrepreneurship and business incubators.

At the same time demand for renewable energy needs to grow as that is the best way to promote sustainable supply. That is why we are also helping the government address the need to raise public awareness in the rural communities on the benefits of renewable technologies.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today’s event focuses on one of our intervention components, namely business incubation and entrepreneurship, where we are trying to help the private sector develop viable, innovative and sustainable business solutions. 

Following a public call for submissions in all regions, today, we will recognize 14 enterprises who are “fighting the darkness” on the ground with their innovative business ideas.

The small grants handed over today will be accompanied by technical support to help these enterprises scale up and boost the renewable energy technology dissemination among the off-grid communities.

This is the first round of awards and we look forward to subsequent rounds attracting more engagement from across the country.

This process has helped us learn a lot of lessons that will help us going forward to strengthen our partnership around renewable energy technologies in Ethiopia. This is an area that UNDP will continue to be passionate  - and forms a key part of our new global strategic priority that focuses on supporting countries through six signature solutions that UNDP will align its resources and expertise around as of this year – and these six signature solutions are focusing on Poverty, Environment, Energy, Gender equality, Governance and Resilience. 

This focus will help us going forward to enhance our support for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Ethiopia and deliver on the global commitment to Leave No One Behind.

Let me conclude by thanking Ministry of water, Irrigation and Electric; the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Development Bank of Ethiopia and UNCDF for partnering with us on this exciting intervention.  

Thank you for your attention.