BII Fuels African Energy Revolution with $20 Million Investment in Acumen’s Hardest-to-Reach Initiative

British International Investment has committed $20 million to transform energy access across Africa’s most underserved regions through a groundbreaking partnership with Acumen’s Hardest-to-Reach Initiative. This investment represents a strategic bet on innovative financing models that could unlock clean energy solutions for more than 50 million people while addressing the continent’s chronic electricity deficit that affects nearly 600 million Africans.

The commitment comes through H2R Amplify, the debt-focused vehicle within Acumen’s dual-structure initiative, which has secured $123 million in commitments at first close. This pioneering approach demonstrates how blended finance mechanisms can attract commercial investment to markets traditionally considered too risky for private capital, potentially serving as a template for future development finance initiatives across emerging economies.

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Strategic Focus on Frontier Markets

BII’s investment targets 17 frontier African economies where national electrification rates range dramatically, from 59% down to as low as 12%. The initiative will deploy capital across Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo, Uganda and Zambia – countries that collectively represent some of the world’s most challenging investment environments.

The strategic focus on these markets reflects a broader recognition that while progress has been made in established East African energy markets, Western, Central, and Southern Africa account for 71% of the region’s unelectrified population but received just 24% of cumulative off-grid solar investment between 2012 and 2019. This geographic disparity has created pockets of energy poverty that traditional market forces have been unable to address effectively.

Mission 300 Momentum Building

The BII-Acumen partnership aligns with the broader Mission 300 initiative, the ambitious World Bank Group and African Development Bank collaboration that aims to connect 300 million people to electricity across Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. The initiative gained significant momentum at the recent Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where African leaders endorsed the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration and development partners pledged more than $50 billion in support.

Mission 300 represents an unprecedented mobilization of resources and political will, with the World Bank Group committing to connect 250 million people and the African Development Bank targeting an additional 50 million. The scale of this ambition is matched by the urgency of the challenge: Africa is home to 83% of the world’s unelectrified population, with the gap between those with and without electricity continuing to exacerbate inequality across the continent.

Innovative Financing Structure

The H2R Amplify vehicle employs sophisticated blended financing mechanisms designed to make commercial investment viable in high-risk markets. The structure offers impact-linked loans and receivables-backed financing to help solar companies manage working capital as they scale operations in challenging environments. This approach addresses a critical gap in the financing ecosystem, where established off-grid solar companies struggle to access growth capital needed to expand into underserved markets.

BII’s Chris Chijiutomi, Managing Director and Head of Africa, emphasized the institution’s commitment to inclusive energy solutions: “With nearly 600 million people in Africa still lacking access to energy”, the partnership reflects BII’s strategy of backing investments in the most challenging markets where capital can achieve maximum impact. The investment also qualifies under the 2X Challenge, demonstrating commitment to gender equality by creating economic opportunities for women as both consumers and employees in the off-grid solar sector.

Market Impact and Scale

The expected impact of this initiative extends far beyond immediate energy access. The investment is projected to provide first-time access to clean energy products for 40 million people while mitigating over 3 million tonnes of CO₂e by displacing highly polluting fuels such as kerosene. This environmental benefit contributes to broader climate objectives while addressing immediate health and economic challenges faced by energy-poor communities.

The initiative builds on Acumen’s extensive experience in the sector, with H2R Catalyze, the patient capital arm, having already raised $57 million since 2023 and invested in early-stage companies across the targeted geographies. Recent investments demonstrate the approach’s effectiveness: $2 million to Yellow Malawi is expected to reach 182,000 individuals, while $1.25 million to Zambia’s RDG Collective will enable energy access for 66,000 people.

BII’s Expanding Africa Portfolio

This investment reinforces BII’s position as a leading development finance institution focused on African markets. The organization committed £1.09 billion to African companies in 2024, representing a nearly 40% increase from the previous year despite challenging macroeconomic conditions. Climate finance has become a particular focus, with BII’s climate commitments reaching $903 million in 2024, representing 41% of total commitments and demonstrating dramatic growth from just $104 million in 2020.

Under CEO Leslie Maasdorp’s leadership, BII has intensified its focus on frontier markets, recognizing that approximately 80% of the world’s population without electricity resides in Africa. The institution has invested over $1 billion in sub-Saharan African energy since 2017, currently supporting 50 projects across renewable power generation, transmission, storage and distributed renewable energy solutions.

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Technology and Innovation Focus

The partnership leverages technological innovations that make off-grid solutions increasingly viable for remote and underserved communities. Recent BII investments demonstrate this approach: a $7 million investment in MOPO, a UK technology company delivering sustainable energy solutions through battery rentals, is expected to reach over a million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo where energy access is severely limited.

Similarly, BII has partnered with Odyssey Energy Solutions to launch a $7.5 million financing facility for mini-grid deployment in Nigeria, supporting the country’s Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up program. These investments demonstrate how technology-enabled solutions can overcome traditional barriers to energy access while creating sustainable business models.

Gender Equality and Social Impact

The H2R Amplify investment’s qualification under the 2X Challenge reflects growing recognition of energy poverty’s disproportionate impact on women. In many African communities, women bear the primary burden of energy poverty, spending hours collecting fuel and facing health risks from indoor air pollution caused by traditional cooking methods.

Acumen will support this commitment through Gender Action Plans at portfolio companies and gender-focused technical assistance, helping improve gender-inclusive practices and data collection to track progress. This approach recognizes that sustainable energy solutions must address both access and equity concerns to achieve lasting impact.

Broader Development Finance Trends

The BII-Acumen partnership represents broader trends in development finance, particularly the evolution toward more sophisticated risk-sharing mechanisms that can attract commercial capital to challenging markets. The success of blended finance approaches like H2R Amplify could influence how development finance institutions structure future investments in climate and energy access.

The initiative also demonstrates the importance of patient capital in building sustainable markets. Unlike traditional commercial investment, development finance institutions like BII can take elevated risks and provide the patient, risk-bearing capital essential for the uncertain and lengthy process of energy project development in Africa’s frontier markets.

Regional Integration and Cross-Border Opportunities

While the immediate focus is on domestic energy access, the geographic scope of the H2R initiative creates opportunities for regional integration and cross-border energy trade. Countries like Chad, Niger, and Burkina Faso could benefit from shared technical expertise and coordinated investment strategies that leverage economies of scale across the Sahel region.

The initiative’s multi-country approach also enables knowledge transfer and best practice sharing between markets at different stages of development. Success stories from countries like Uganda and Zambia can inform approaches in earlier-stage markets like Guinea-Bissau and Somalia, accelerating overall program implementation.

Climate Finance Innovation

The investment structure addresses critical challenges in climate finance for developing markets, particularly the need for instruments that can manage currency risk and provide flexible repayment terms aligned with project cash flows. Impact-linked loans, where interest rates decrease as social and environmental milestones are achieved, create incentives for portfolio companies to maximize development outcomes while maintaining commercial viability.

This approach could serve as a model for other sectors beyond energy, including agriculture, healthcare, and education, where similar challenges exist in attracting commercial capital to serve low-income populations in challenging markets.

Future Outlook and Scaling Potential

The success of the BII-Acumen partnership will be closely watched as a test case for scaled development finance approaches to energy access. If successful, the model could attract additional commercial investors and development finance institutions, potentially unlocking billions in additional capital for energy access across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The initiative’s alignment with Mission 300 also positions it to benefit from broader policy reforms and infrastructure investments planned by African governments. National Energy Compacts being developed by participating countries could create more enabling environments for private investment, reducing risks and improving returns for initiatives like H2R Amplify.

As Acumen founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz noted, “BII’s partnership reflects a shared commitment to solving energy poverty in the hardest-to-reach markets”. The initiative holds promise to provide resilience, agency and dignity along with light and power, demonstrating how public and private institutions can mobilize the right kind of capital to build markets that endure and unlock human potential.

The broader implications extend beyond immediate energy access to economic transformation, job creation, and improved quality of life for millions of Africans. As the continent continues to urbanize and integrate into global value chains, reliable energy access will become increasingly critical for sustained economic growth and social development.

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By: Montel Kamau

Serrari Financial Analyst

24th September, 2025