03 Jun Solar Energy Company Kingo Distinguished Finalist of the 2021 Growth Stage Impact Ventures Initiative
Washington, DC – June 3rd – SEAF is pleased to announce that Kingo, one of the portfolio companies in our Colombia Agribusiness Fund, was distinguished as one of 12 exceptional finalists of the 2021 Growth Stage Impact Ventures (GSIV) initiative, centered on three main topics: Reducing and Recovering Waste, Access to Quality Health Care, and Access to Affordable and Clean Energy. Put on by the SDG Finance Geneva Summit, which is part of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to promote SDGs aligned investments, Kingo, along with the 11 other finalists, went through an extremely competitive process to be chosen out of 240 nominations. Together, the 12 finalists impact the lives of 1,240,000 people in need, serve 22,300 businesses globally, and represent $48 million USD in investment opportunities. GSIV named Kingo as one of 2021’s best solutions to provide access to affordable clean energy.
Kingo is the leading distributed solar energy service provider to the off-the-grid (OTG) market in Central America and Colombia. More than 1.2 billion people around the world have no access to electricity, exacerbating illness, unsanitary conditions, lack of education, and poverty in their communities. The majority of people without electricity live in difficult-to-access geographies and have little or no opportunity of getting connected to the electrical grid for years to come. These are the very customers Kingo serves, offering clean energy at lower costs than competitors. 96 percent of customers report being more productive because of Kingo’s service; 92 percent are saving money; children are studying 250 percent longer, resulting in 85 percent of them improving their performance in school; and no accidents or burns have occurred due to fires in Kingo homes, whereas 56 percent had suffered such accidents prior to initiating Kingo’s services.
Kingo generates long-term relationships with customers through its distribution network (local shops), enabling it to increase product and service usage, while improving the lives of the off-grid and largely women-owned and operated shops distributing Kingo products. Kingo’s measurable social impact helps alleviate many of the socio-economic problems associated with lack of access to affordable electricity and connectivity, enabling increased productivity and providing a significantly better quality of life.
This well-deserved honor bestowed by GSIV distinguishes Kingo as one of the most innovative, investment-ready, impact-focused, and SDG-driven companies today.
SEAF manages the Colombia Agribusiness Fund as one of 40 funds dedicated to achieving high impact and commercial returns in underserved markets around the world.
About Growth Stage Impact Ventures (GSIV)
According to McKinsey, by 2025, 50% of the world’s largest companies will be based in developing countries. Innovative corporates from the Global South will be leading social change, creating jobs, and servicing the yet untapped markets at the bottom of the pyramid. The purpose of the selection is to identify the enterprises that focus not only on emerging customers, but provide them with products and services that will help them reach their full human development potential. GSIV aims to identify innovative solutions for the SDGs in developing countries (defined in this case as having a GDP per capita of US$ 12,000 or less as per the latest World Bank data) that already have a proven business model, have raised their Series A or have reached break-even of their operations, and can grow and deliver large impact while demonstrating their profitability.
About the SDG Finance Geneva Summit
The SDG Finance Geneva Summit (SGS Geneva) is an initiative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to promote SDGs aligned investments. The event promotes best in class, catalytic and bankable innovation from developing countries that focuses on reducing inequality through better access to health and energy services and on supporting circular economy by reducing and recovering waste. Twelve advanced growth stage entrepreneurs – sourced through global accelerators, impact funds, family offices, and venture philanthropists – will pitch products and services that advance the implementation of the SDGs. An invitation-only event, the SDG Finance Geneva Summit offers unique and valuable networking opportunities. Some 250 participants are due to attend, including innovative start-ups, impact investors, development finance actors, Fortune 500 representatives, development agencies, and more. In the past, more than 100 investors participated.
About SEAF
SEAF is a global impact private equity manager focused on providing growth capital and operational support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets. Utilizing an ESG+ investment approach, SEAF selectively makes structured debt and equity investments in locally-owned enterprises with high growth potential to actively build resilience within SMEs themselves and more largely within their communities, focusing on climate, food security, and inclusion. SEAF is a global organization headquartered in Washington D.C., with 15 offices in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past three decades, SEAF has managed more than 40 Funds across 33 countries. SEAF’s on-the-ground presence in our countries of focus, coupled with our proactive and responsive business model, enables us to source opportunities and work closely with local entrepreneurs, providing the capital, hands-on operational support, knowledge, and networks they need. SEAF also supports ten Centers for Entrepreneurship and Development (CEED) worldwide to provide training, mentoring, and global access to professional networks and entrepreneur-run businesses.