Newly released report shows how clean energy leads to new opportunities for households

BGFA Sftf OOLU Altech Annual Results 2025 School Girl In The DRC Able To Read And Study

School girl in the DRC able to read and study after dark after the installation of an off-grid solar home system (Photo by Jason Mulikita for BGFA)

More than 4.3 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa had gained access to electricity by the end of 2025 through the Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA), according to the programme’s newly released Annual Results Report. Behind these numbers are stories of entrepreneurs, families, and communities positively impacted through clean, affordable energy. Meet Tinta and Mutaba, two examples of lives transformed.

In Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where many rural households still face unreliable or no access to electricity, local BGFA-supported businesses like OOLU and Altech are helping change that reality. Through off-grid solar home systems and other renewable energy services, they are bringing affordable power to underserved communities.

For Tinta Setou’s neighbours, her well-lit house seemed fully powered to run appliances. It was an easy mistake to make – hers was one of the few homes in a neighbourhood in Bobo-Dioulasso that glowed after sundown.

So when she received inquiry after inquiry to purchase cold drinks, Tinta recognised a business opportunity. The problem was that the limited power available in her home, drawn mostly from charcoal and gas, improved only lighting but could not power appliances like a refrigerator.

Determined to change that, Tinta searched for a sustainable energy system and discovered OOLU, a provider of off-grid solar systems and solar kits.

Through project monitoring and institutional support, NIRAS is supporting BGFA, which aims to broaden access to off-grid energy markets in six countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. The programme uses a results-based financing model, where funding is disbursed to firms like OOLU and Altech after verified and sustainable energy connections have been established. By the end of 2025, the programme disbursed around €26 million to scale clean energy access.

4300000

lives impacted

845800

energy connections supported

7500

African businesses benefitted

OOLU in numbers:

40 jugs of fresh juice produced daily by Tinta
€470 monthly income earned by Tinta
2,700 energy connections targeted by OOLU by the end of BGFA

When OOLU learned about Tinta’s situation, the provider supplied her and her family with solar kits and set up a power hub in their home, giving them increased energy access that was easy on their pockets.

“With the solar kit, I can work, earn money, and support my family,” Tinta shares. “I am no longer waiting for electricity to arrive — I have created my own opportunity.”

The impact was immediate. Today, she concocts drinks made from millet, hibiscus, and ginger, serving clientele from neighbours to restaurants. Soon she plans to buy another solar system, and eventually a freezer, to sell ice alongside the juices she sells.

BGFA Sftf OOLU Altech Annual Results 2025 Tinta Setou

Tinta Setou stores bottles of juice in her refrigerator. (Photo by Salia Konaté for BGFA)

Tinta’s story reflects a broader trend highlighted in the BGFA’s 2025 Annual Results Report: the programme increasingly supports higher-tier energy connections designed not only for lighting homes, but also for productive use, enabling entrepreneurship, income generation, and local economic growth.

Growth stalled until the right support arrived

In the DRC, Altech, a distributor of clean energy products founded in 2013, had a promising start delivering clean and affordable energy to households. But operating costs and logistical hurdles slowed its momentum, clouding prospects for long-term growth.

Everything changed when BGFA invested a total of €5 million in results-based financing, helping Altech expand its inventory of solar home systems, widen its distribution network, and continue its mission of making energy access affordable for its customers.

[We have] been able to expand its solar solutions to new communities and customer segments that previously had no access to electricity. Today, thousands of families and entrepreneurs can light their homes, grow their businesses, and improve their daily lives thanks to clean and accessible energy — something that would not have been possible without the BGFA grant.

Iréné Yacouba, Customer Experience Manager and Sales Supervisor at OOLU

Read BGFA's Annual Results Report 2025

Click here

BGFA Sftf OOLU Altech Annual Results 2025 Altech

Altech Shop Manager in Malambwe, Musumba Mulongo Jures (Photo by Jason Mulikita for BGFA)

“The most significant change has been the professionalisation of our operations,” Altech’s Chief Financial Officer Manuela Bock shares. “With BGFA’s support, we transformed from a local provider into a national leader with the financial stability to plan for the long term.”

For Salia Konaté, a key expert in the programme, BGFA’s tremendous impact clearly ripples through thousands of households. He says:

“I saw first-hand how each solar kit considerably reduced the darkness in the lives of its beneficiaries. I saw mothers and fathers thank BGFA for allowing them to have bright nights and to follow the news together on TV. I have seen teachers and students very happy to have fans in their classrooms. A teacher even told me, ‘Mr Konaté, please give our sincere thanks to the entire BGFA team. Every life you illuminate is a step towards a more secure and harmonious world.’”

BGFA Sftf OOLU Altech Annual Results 2025 Employees

BGFA employees in Zambia (Photo by Jason Mulikita for BGFA)

Altech in numbers:

26 provinces where Altech is active today
60% of DRC’s solar home systems are supplied by Altech
€5 million in results-based financing granted to Altech

Today Altech’s products are helping households like Mutaba’s. Before buying a solar home system from Altech, she had a challenging time cooking dinner in the dark and had to leave home to charge her phone.

And Mutaba is far from alone. Across communities served by Altech, children can study after dark, families can watch television for news and entertainment, and households have more flexibility to earn an income.

Together, OOLU and Altech illustrate the kind of transformation captured in BGFA’s latest Annual Results Report, where clean energy is not only lighting homes, but also powering livelihoods, resilience, and opportunity. As BGFA moves toward its target of 1.9 million energy connections and more than 9.6 million beneficiaries by 2028, stories like Tinta’s and Mutaba’s show what these numbers look like in practice.

Gabriela Wise Garcia

Project/Tender Manager

Stuttgart, Germany

+4915141896928

E-mail

Integrated energy solutions for a low-carbon economy

As a trusted advisor in sustainable energy projects across the globe, NIRAS International Consulting delivers innovative, climate-smart solutions that power a just and inclusive energy transition. We help governments, institutions, and private actors transform ambition into action—offering expert support in renewable energy (RE), energy access, energy efficiency (EE), green hydrogen, and sustainable finance. Backed by our deep local insight and our #GREENsition commitment to become Scandinavia's leading consultant on RE, we combine technical know-how with systemic thinking to drive impact across the energy landscape—from policy to project implementation.

BGFA Sftf OOLU Altech Annual Results 2025 Link

Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa

An increasing number of companies in Sub-Saharan Africa already offer solutions that employ innovative consumer payment schemes, often via mobile money, to ensure that the cost of clean energy is lower than that of candles and other traditional energy sources. However, despite great demand, the markets in which these companies operate are still viewed as risky by investors, and even successful companies face great difficulties accessing finance to scale up their businesses. BGFA aims to help businesses overcome these challenges with the goal to contribute to inclusive and sustainable development in its focus countries, to further climate change mitigation and adaptation, energy access, gender equality and other relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

Supporting the scale-up of energy access in six Sub-Saharan African countries

The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) programme, a multi-donor results-based financing programme aims to build markets for off-grid energy to bring access to clean, affordable off-grid energy to reach at least 6 million people by 2025. NIRAS joins the next phase as project implementation kicks off Burkina Faso, Liberia and Zambia.