Africa has another crowd-funding platform, this platform is for small and medium sized business (SMEs) operating in sub-Sahara Africa and was launched by the African Biofuel and Renewable Energy Company (ABREC). ABREC was founded by African nations and financial institutions to promote the continent’s transition to clean energy.
The new platform, known as ABREC.FinanceUtile, developed jointly with FinanceUtile, is intended, to support entrepreneurs, as well as the private sector by facilitating the transfer of know-how and technology and access to reliable electricity generation in sub-Saharan Africa.
Unlike traditional crowd-funding platforms, ABREC.FinanceUtile will provide more than just access to project finance as it will be supported by a team of specialists who will evaluate the commercial and technical merits of projects submitted for project financing, consider the levels of project finance required, and provide project management expertise to SMEs to facilitate delivery of their projects. With access to experts in the renewable energy sector, the ABREC.FinanceUtile team will provide practical support to successful applicants throughout their respective projects’ lifecycles.
Applicants which are selected to raise project finance through ABREC.FinanceUtile will be able to seek crowd-funding for an amount between €500,000 and €5 million. Additionally, successful applicants will also be able to draw on advice and support from ABREC.FinanceUtile, including how to structure their financial and business models and receiving general project management/project delivery support. Successful applicants will also be given access to ABREC’s and FinanceUtile’s commercial networks with a view of assisting successful applicants to explore future opportunities in Africa and Europe.