The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and social enterprise incubator Villgro Innovation Foundation have jointly launched a $2.5 million initiative to support at least five enterprises in India that are deploying innovative, clean energy-powered livelihood appliances.
The initiative, named ‘Powering Livelihoods’, will enable the selected enterprises to undertake large-scale commercial deployments over the next three years. The initiative will offer grant support of upto $250,000 to each enterprise to help them kick-off the commercial deployment of their product/appliance and to allow financial leverage for further fund raising in the form of equity/debt.
Based on needs assessment, enterprises will also be provided support services (upto $100,000) through strategic partnerships. This includes mentoring, capacity building, financial planning and modelling, and assistance on compliance and legal issues, with an end-goal to scale up commercial deployment.
The core focus areas of the initiative include agriculture & allied value chain/ cold storage sector, in which enterprises deploying appliances such as clean energy-powered and/or energy-efficient commercial food processors, cold storages, juicers, dryers, milk chillers, flour mills, milking machines, rice hullers and oil expellers.
Another focus is the textile sector, where enterprises are deploying appliances such as solar charkhas, sewing machines, paddle looms, jute machinery, and silk reelers which could improve productivity and reduce drudgery without harming the environment.
Applications for the initiative close on 15th January, 2020. For details, go to: http://poweringlivelihoods.org
“India alone has more than $50 billion worth of market for clean energy solutions for rural livelihoods. ‘Powering Livelihoods’ aims to catalyse the transformation of India's rural economy by scaling up the accessibility and commercialization of clean energy-based solutions,” Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW said in a statement.
