Commercial and Industrial Window

Private sector companies that are commercially active in the renewable energy market in Nigeria

Para serem elegíveis para financiamento, as empresas do sector privado devem satisfazer os seguintes critérios

• Request a grant within the stipulated range.
• Be legally registered and physically established in Nigeria as a for-profit company and must have operated for a period of no less than two (2) full accounting years at the time of application. Must not have received a grant within six (6) months before the application time.
• Be a registered (or willing to register before the start of the investment), private sector enterprise that is aligned with the focus value chains.
• Have been in operation for a minimum of two years, with the ability to produce two years of audited accounts.
• Passes AECF’s Know Your Customer), AMT/CFT (anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism), PEP (politically exposed person) and IDD (integrity due diligence) screening, based on the information submitted as part of the concept note.
• Be able to show commitment to matching AECF funding based on the ratios stated in the matching contributions.
• Cumprir as leis e regulamentos fundamentais do país, incluindo as leis de conformidade fiscal.
• Be compliant with international human rights, labor standards, and environmental management laws.
• NOT be involved in any act of corruption. AECF requires that the applicant (including its staff, contractors, and suppliers) not be involved in offering third parties, or seeking, accepting, or being promised by third parties, for themselves or any other party any gift, remuneration, compensation, or benefit of any kind whatsoever, which could be interpreted as an illegal or corrupt practice.]
• NOT be associated with activities prohibited by the government of Sudan, terrorism, money laundering, or a list that prohibits trading with some businesses (IFC, USAID, UN, EU, and any other networks), United Nations Security Council resolutions issued under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The screening will be conducted for all applicants and associated parties against provisions such as https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/, worldbank.org/debarr, World-Check, EU sanctions list, etc
• NOT be a representative of a government or a semi-governmental agency of any sort. This includes government-owned or partially owned enterprises or companies that have ownership or substantial business ties with government or quasi-government bodies. Any subsequent identification of such links will lead to the immediate termination of the grant agreement.
• Allow regular due diligence

As empresas elegíveis devem demonstrar que as suas ofertas são acessíveis e económicas, beneficiam diretamente as mulheres e as mulheres jovens e incentivam a adoção de tecnologias, produtos ou serviços adequados ao clima e ao género.

Para serem elegíveis para financiamento, as iniciativas propostas podem abranger qualquer parte da cadeia de valor, mas devem demonstrar a ambição de enfrentar os desafios sistémicos que impedem as mulheres de participar mais eficazmente nos mercados agrícolas. Exemplos de modelos de negócios que serão atraentes incluem (mas não estão limitados a):

• Agregadores de mercado que proporcionam oportunidades de mercado fiáveis e novas para que as mulheres ou as empresas detidas por mulheres aumentem os seus lucros e rendimentos.
• Empresas de informação e comunicação social que prestam serviços de informação sobre o mercado às mulheres e às empresas detidas por mulheres através de plataformas tradicionais e digitais.
• Serviços electrónicos/tecnológicos (mercados, finanças, tecnologia e conhecimentos) que ligam os actores da cadeia de valor aos produtos e serviços das PME detidas por mulheres.
• Transformadores e/ou empresas transformadoras e/ou agentes de mercado que criam oportunidades económicas para as mulheres através da criação de emprego e/ou como fornecedores de produtos/serviços ao longo da cadeia de valor e empregados.
• Modelos de produção e distribuição que apoiem o empreendedorismo local e o crescimento das PME e dos grupos de mulheres nas cadeias de valor agrícolas em Kano.
• Modelos de negócio que ofereçam incentivos às mulheres para acederem e adoptarem uma melhor utilização de soluções e tecnologias respeitadoras do ambiente e inteligentes do ponto de vista climático.
• Modelos empresariais que abordam soluções e tecnologias inteligentes em termos climáticos a nível doméstico, de produção, transporte e transformação nas cadeias de valor.
• Empresas de tecnologias da informação que fornecem plataformas digitais para criar ligações entre os intervenientes nas cadeias de valor para o acesso aos factores de produção, o acesso ao mercado e/ou o acesso ao financiamento.
• Soluções que tenham ligações a vários níveis das cadeias de valor agrícolas.

 

O pacote de apoio inclui:

• Provision of grants
• Provision of targeted technical assistance on business development services as required by the investee.

Access to further funding through investment advisory and investment facilitation support.

Applicants are expected to submit a short funding application with their concept, justifying their requirements for the project to be funded, the funding amount, and the project duration.  Shortlisted applicants will be requested to submit a more comprehensive full proposal and business plan.

Funding must be additional – it must be used for a specific project, e.g., new C&I project, scaling up an existing project, or replication/expanding to a new market.

Investees can apply for a range of funding depending on their proposed project requirement:

• Minimum funding is EUR 100,000 while the maximum funding per investee is EUR 800,000.

Funding is subject to meeting the required level of match funding (see Matching Contribution). Businesses should apply for funding depending

on their project requirements and capacity to absorb funding for the proposed project. Funding will be in the form of non-repayable grants and will be disbursed in US dollars, Euros, and/or local currency equivalent.

Funding payments will be milestone-based, where disbursements are based on mutually agreed milestones that must be achieved/delivered. The first disbursement will not exceed 20% of the total amount awarded.

Funding payments for inventory may be disbursed in US dollars or Euro on behalf of businesses directly to suppliers. Operational Expenditure shall be disbursed in local currency equivalent.

Businesses are obliged to open bank accounts via an AECF local banking partner and provide invoices before each disbursement.

Duration of the funding agreement with investees: 12 months

Os modelos de negócio devem demonstrar como produzem e mantêm o impacto social nos seus mercados-alvo. Especificamente, isto significa o número de agregados familiares servidos pelo produto, serviço ou uma combinação de ambos, melhorias no rendimento das mulheres, inclusão das mulheres, estimulação do crescimento do mercado e envolvimento de micro, pequenas e médias empresas (MPME) detidas/dirigidas por mulheres nas cadeias de valor alvo das PME.

As empresas devem articular a sua estratégia para cumprir os seguintes objectivos:

• Incluir as mulheres, especialmente as jovens, na gestão da organização.
• Práticas de inclusão do género nas suas operações (por exemplo, conceção centrada nas mulheres e recolha de dados com base no género).
• Benefícios demonstráveis para as mulheres em termos de aumento do tempo disponível para outras actividades, melhoria da saúde, redução do trabalho pesado e aumento do poder de compra do agregado familiar.
• Cadeias de abastecimento lideradas por mulheres; demonstrar o envolvimento de mulheres, especialmente mulheres jovens, em micro e pequenas empresas como actores-chave na cadeia de abastecimento e oportunidades potenciais para que essas microempresas lideradas por mulheres se transformem em PME.
• Indicadores qualitativos relativos ao empoderamento das mulheres (por exemplo, capacidade de possuir activos; acesso ao crédito, utilização das estruturas de desenvolvimento das mulheres existentes para aumentar o acesso a tecnologias inteligentes em termos climáticos nas comunidades rurais e periurbanas).
• Demonstrar um mecanismo/estratégia claro para o utilizador final que permita às comunidades-alvo com rendimentos baixos/irregulares aceder a tecnologias, práticas e serviços melhorados e inteligentes do ponto de vista climático.
• Os projectos devem ser respeitadores do ambiente, sendo particularmente incentivada a promoção de soluções inteligentes do ponto de vista climático. Sempre que necessário, devem ser obtidas avaliações de impacto ambiental e medidas de atenuação aprovadas pelas autoridades reguladoras competentes.
• Ao longo da vida do financiamento, as empresas devem demonstrar que promovem resultados de desenvolvimento sustentável nas suas comunidades e mercados-alvo.

Os progressos na consecução dos objectivos acima referidos serão medidos através de:

• Número de novos postos de trabalho criados pela empresa (60% dos quais para mulheres).
• O volume de produtos ou serviços comprados a PME detidas por mulheres, em dólares canadianos ou equivalentes a dólares americanos.
• O volume de factores de produção e/ou serviços vendidos a mulheres e a PME detidas por mulheres.
• Número de pessoas pobres e vulneráveis abrangidas por programas de sensibilização sobre normas sociais, subprodutos e serviços.
• Número de empresas detidas por mulheres elegíveis que expandem as suas actividades

The ETCF requires a matching contribution from the applicant to demonstrate interest, commitment, and trust from the wider investor community. Acceptance of match funding is subject to approval by the Programme Manager. Proof of the availability of matched funding is required during the selection process and before any disbursement.

The match funding requirements are:

• Matching contribution: 100% of the requested amount (At least 80% in cash and 20% in-kind)

Applicants who cannot provide matching funding in cash are still encouraged to apply, justifying why they cannot provide it. Applicants who provide cash matching funds will be prioritized in the selection process. Matching contributions can be made either all in cash or a combination of ‘in cash’ and/or ‘in kind’ as highlighted below:

 

In cash

Where at least one party (e.g., venture capital firm, impact investor, incubator/accelerator, foundation, or the founder) agrees to provide funding to the applicant. Evidence accepted includes a signed MoU or contract, a bank statement, and a letter confirming the total amount disbursed or to be disbursed by the other party. The submitted documents to the Fund of matching commitments must include all conditions, timescales, and any other considerations.

Examples include:

• Investment funding (equity funding)
• Impact investment
• Crowd funding
• Grants (from foundations or NGOs).
• Internal resources such as loans from founders, family etc
• Loans from financial institutions

In-Kind

In-kind matching includes any significant and quantifiable contribution to the project that is not financial. Applicants must quantify and demonstrate what results in any match given in kind will achieve for the proposed project.

In cases where in-kind matching is offered, the Fund will discuss with the applicant how best to agree on the match funding commitment and valuation. For example, a contractual agreement of support from a local incubator (providing the equivalent monetary value of the service).

Examples include:

• Use of goods, services, and facilities (such as software, real estate)
• Founders time
• Management time
• Provision and access to equipment.
• Special materials
• Technical assistance

This section defines the basis of making funding decisions. The AECF investment principles will guide the investment decisions. These principles shall be applied in evaluating project ideas and making final award decisions.

Princípios de investimento

1. Private sector demand-driven: ETCF is demand-driven and harnesses private sector initiative and implementation capacity to achieve economic and social outcomes.
2. Systemic Change: the funded projects must illustrate the potential for economic and social impact beyond their immediate Project impact, which will change the way the market works.
3. Address Market Failure or otherwise demonstrate additionality: The ETCF funds projects are constrained by market failure for access to finance within the context of the specific markets within which they are to be implemented.
4. Risk sharing: ETCF shares risk with private firms. The underlying principle is that the fund recipients have more risk in the venture than in the Programme. For practical purposes, recipient companies make financial contributions to the projects/businesses funded by the Programme as this maximizes resource mobilization and applicant commitment to successful implementation. Companies’ financial and in-kind contributions can be in the form of equity finance (external or shareholder equity injections), commercial or concessionary loans, and/or grants from other funding sources.
5. Competition: The ETCF application process and term sheets are available in the public domain to ensure that all eligible organizations have equal opportunity to compete for the available funds and ensure transparency.
6. Portfolio approach: The ETCF seeks to build a portfolio of investments that is diversified in terms of risk, sector distribution, and economic, social, and market impact.
7. Additionality, the funded projects seek to create social and economic benefits that would not have been attained without this support. Therefore, funded projects should clearly outline the additionality of the funding provided.

 

While we recognize that additionality is context-specific (e.g., geography, sector, etc.), below is a description of different types of additionalities: Faster: The company could be expected to invest in other sources in several years to come, meaning the development impact is delayed or lost. ETCF can be used to enable the proposed investment/business to launch sooner, create transformational changes quickly, and expose the business to attract additional investments. Bigger: The company could be expected to invest in other sources, but it would not be as large as ETCF funding, thus enabling scaling multiples of the development impact and market systems development. Wider scope: The company could be expected to invest in other sources, but AECF resources will enable it to expand the scope of the goods or services geographically or to different groups of beneficiaries to multiply the development impact, participation, and recognition of effort into its development. More inclusive: The company will be able to access people closer to the bottom of the pyramid than it would otherwise, enhancing the benefit of Women and youth. Women tend to be difficult and expensive to reach, requiring physical networks, smaller packages of goods with smaller profit margins (or none), longer repayment terms, actualized by irregular payment patterns, and/ or susceptible to greater payment default. Applicants/ companies should be able to demonstrate how ETCF funds will be used to cushion their businesses from such operating environment risks.

Se forem seleccionados, os candidatos devem comprometer-se a

• Colaborar com a AECF para finalizar os objectivos do contrato e os indicadores-chave de desempenho. Os indicadores e as metas são acordados com a AECF antes da assinatura do contrato.
• Partilhar dados, incluindo o desempenho em relação a indicadores e metas. Todos os dados serão tratados confidencialmente, salvo acordo prévio em contrário.
• Recolher, analisar e partilhar os ensinamentos do projeto com a AECF.
• Report according to agreed schedules and the requirements of AECF.
• Participate in AECF annual programme reviews.
• Assegurar que os dados financeiros e outros sistemas de gestão sejam acessíveis para efeitos de auditoria, mediante pedido.