Invest in Women! Invest in a Bright Future!

What is Energy Poverty?

Inadequate access to energy leaves those affected dependent on burning solid biomass in inefficient and polluting ways, leaving those, typically in rural and remote communities, in a cycle of unproductivity and poverty.

Access to energy is fundamental to alleviating poverty and advancing health and education, particularly for women and children. Affordable, reliable, and efficient electricity increases productivity, generates jobs, and enhances living conditions and socioeconomic success.  Despite this, over one billion people globally lack access to energy, with deficits increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa¹ and with women and children disproportionately bearing the brunt of its negative impacts.

Why are Women Disproportionately Impacted?

• Women can spend up to 10 hours a week collecting fuel for energy use, often leading to young girls being removed from school for firewood collection and preventing women from participating in other income-generating activities.

• Walking great distances for fuel leaves women vulnerable to physical attacks.

• Cooking with these fuels, and inhaling the toxic smoke, endangers women's and children’s health.

As primary household energy managers with powerful social networks, women are uniquely positioned to bring clean energy to millions of last-mile communities. Business opportunities for women that provide access to gainful employment while addressing affordable, clean energy solutions can finally address these interlinked root causes of inequality, leading to economic empowerment for women and sustainable development capable of addressing the planet’s energy needs. Until this is recognized, sub-Saharan Africa, and the world, will remain behind on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) targets related to poverty, health, education, gender equality, and clean energy access.

Our Mission

In off-grid, remote communities of sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 597 million people have no access to energy, 940 million people rely on harmful fuels for cooking, and 480 million people live in extreme poverty, Solar Sister aims to eradicate energy poverty by investing in women’s clean energy businesses. We put clean power in the hands of the people.

Our Three Pillars of Impact

• Energy Access: Energy poverty is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa. Solar Sister drives impact by investing in women’s clean energy businesses in Africa and bringing clean energytolast-milecommunities,providinglocalafter-salesservices,andofferingadiverse product mix to their customers.

• Gender Equity: Women’seconomicempowermentiscentraltorealizingwomen’srightsand gender equality. Solar Sister eradicates extreme energy poverty by empowering African women with economic opportunity and providing essential services and training that enable women entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses.

• Climate Justice: Environmental degradation and climate change have disproportionate impacts on women and children. Solar Sister is a climate solution that also improves humanwell-being,boostsequity,andhelpsusherinprosperityforpeopleinsub-Saharan Africa who are least responsible for the climate crisis.

Where We Work

• Tanzania - In Tanzania, 38 million people don’t have access to electricity, 30 million people live below the extreme poverty line, and women are 28% less likely to have the same opportunities as men.

• Kenya - In Kenya, 16 million people don’t have access to electricity, 8.9 million people live below the extreme poverty line, and women are 27% less likely to have the same opportunities as men.

• Nigeria - In Nigeria, 95 million people don’t have access to electricity, 88.4 million people live below the extreme poverty line, and women are 36% less likely to have the same opportunities as men.

To date, you've brought light to over 3,700,000 people, created opportunity for more than 8,500 women, and mitigated more than 1,100,800 metric tonnes of CO2e emissions!

“First, the business plan training at the start of the year inspired me and showed me how much profit I could make by selling a specific group of products.  Many of my customers are market women who need lighting for their enterprises or their children at night. Solar lamps let my kids study at night without harming their eyes. Every home needs light. ”- Entrepreneur Taibat Zakariyah

Better Every Day: Our Evidence-Based Approach

Our Program and Monitoring & Evaluation teams are always listening to our data, the teams on the ground, and the women themselves to improve our work and be 'Better Every Day.' We are constantly learning, innovating, and creating programs and projects that best exemplify our three pillars within the ever-evolving state of the world. 

Building Wealth-Generating Pathways: Business Booster & Advanced Training Curriculum

As capacity building along the off-grid renewable energy value chain is vital for long-term operation and sustainability, our model includes a twelve-month training curriculum coupled with ongoing mentorship for women entrepreneurs.

Additionally, we believe that to increase gender equity, it is essential to provide Solar Sister Entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses the opportunity, support, and skills to advance in the clean energy marketplace. Upon completing the core Solar Sister curriculum, we received feedback from entrepreneurs that they wanted additional advanced training to grow their businesses. 

Project:

In 2022, Solar Sister continued to create wealth—generating pathways for women by providing our   Advanced Training Curriculum to all entrepreneurs who have been with Solar Sister for at least two years. This training builds on the already robust core training curriculum provided by Solar Sister but focuses explicitly on growing a business rather than building a business. The training curriculum encompasses 12 modules that focus on building essential skills, including product knowledge, marketing, sales strategies, and financial literacy.

In 2020 and continuing into 2022, we implemented our “Business Booster” program by selecting experienced Solar Sister entrepreneurs to help them grow their Solar Sister businesses and increase their income. Business Booster Entrepreneurs received marketing materials and Solar Sister IDs to help their businesses look and feel more formal, along with tailored one-on-one business coaching and access to a revolving zero interest-rate credit mechanism, whereby they could purchase solar products through a 30-day loan of up to $200.

Digitizing Entrepreneurs Businesses

Solar Sister’s Digital Literacy Program was designed to provide our entrepreneur's knowledge, skills, self-confidence, hardware, and software. As part of this program, Solar Sister provides entrepreneurs who have smartphones with digital literacy training – teaching them how to use this technology to digitize and grow their businesses. Modules cover topics such as online marketing, sales, and using social media for business. As part of our digitization program, in 2022, we also gave entrepreneurs access to data for the first time to help them identify where ideal customers live. This, in turn, allows the entrepreneurs to sell more efficiently, thus driving access to clean energy solutions.

Project:

In 2022, we scaled up Solar Sister’s digital literacy program to 212 entrepreneurs.

The digital literacy training, piloted with 100 entrepreneurs in 2021, was refined in 2022 based on feedback from entrepreneurs and Business Development Associates (the field staff who recruit, train, and support them). Training content in 2022 focused on how social media can be used to develop and showcase personal brand techniques and how entrepreneurs can craft tailored and meaningful posts to promote and grow their businesses. It also taught our entrepreneurs how to use popular apps like WhatsApp to communicate with customers and generate new sales. The training content incorporated examples from entrepreneurs and several activities focused on practicing and using digital platforms. 

"The phone has helped me to arrange meetings with other community women groups that have  resulted in me making more sales."

"Sending SMS has helped me notify my customers about my new products and has made my job easier."

Links:

• Website
• Our Impact
• Impact Stories