vision
Our vision is a world where everyone has access to affordable and clean energy.
Mission
Our mission is to extend credit to underserved households in developing countries to strengthen their economic empowerment and improve quality of life through clean energy technology.
We work towards our vision and mission without the aim to make a profit and exclusively for the good of our beneficiaries.
“Full transparency with the end-user, as well as the donor, is key to OUR mIssion.”
Judith Joan Walker | Founder director
Goals
We believe that true financial inclusion is not just “banking” unbanked customers, but using financial services to help them save costs, become more independent and expand the offering available to a customer.
SDG ACE Foundation has identified energy as a major expense that is financially and environmentally inefficient (not to mention deadly) and sees a way to re-allocate those wasted expenses through micro-financing services that save the customer money and improve their quality of life.
Give Directly
Provide donors the opportunity to invest in vulnerable and underserved people directly and transparently.
Circularity
Manage a revolving fund that tends directly to the needs of the end user.
Transparency
Commit to open and transparent loan management, through vetted implementing partners, without the aim to profit.
WANT TO SUPPORT US?
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What sets the SDG ACE Foundation apart?
Our Work
Context and challenge
It is estimated that 2.6 billion people in the world still cook on open fire, with more than half living on $2-$3 a day. The foundation's first demographic focus are unbanked individuals located in rural areas of developing markets, who live off of the main electrical grid and cook using traditional methods. Most of the beneficiaries have extremely limited access to modern energy, with long distances travelled per month to access fuels and electricity. The most vulnerable customers are often older women in the rural areas, who depend on their own harvest for survival.
Cooking on open fire is not only a financial constraint, but also a health risk. The World Health Organisation estimates that over 4 million people die every year from illnesses attributable to prolonged exposure to open fire smoke (Indoor Air Pollution). Women and children traditionally spend the most time around the domestic hearth, thus they are the most exposed.
Pre-financing high-quality energy products that will deliver increased thermal and electrical energy efficiency to Bottom-of-Pyramid consumers
The conventional wisdom has been that people in the developing world are unwilling or unable to pay for high-quality products. The market is dominated by low cost, limited efficiency products because too often, poor is seen as synonymous with cheap.
SDG ACE Foundation believes organisations should treat consumers in the developing world like real customers, and they should be offered the highest quality, durability and reliability. Products don't have to be cheap, but they do have to be affordable. That is where we can make the biggest difference.
Lay the groundwork for the financial inclusion of all BoP customers.
Oftentimes BoP consumers find themselves in tough circumstances where a lack of financial history prohibits them from gaining access to capital, and they are left without a means to escape the poverty trap and invest in something that would build a credit profile.
SDG ACE will prioritise working with Implementing Partners with transparent and detailed loan management systems so sufficient data can be collected on the affordability and willingness to pay of the Borrowers. We will also insist that partners prioritise financial inclusion and target customers with limited access to financial services and unbanked individuals. Detailed reports on the Loan Portfolio will be requested from each partner at least once per year and SDG ACE will share anonymised aggregated results with our donors/funders and aim to contribute to relevant research.
Partners
The foundation already works in close collaboration with African Clean Energy (ACE BV), a company producing and distributing their proprietary solar-biomass hybrid, the ACE One energy system, on a commercial basis in the developing world.
The ACE One symbiotically combines clean biomass combustion and solar electricity to create an integrated solution for addressing users' energy needs in a cost-effective way. The product decreases fuel need by 50-85% and it can burn any type of solid biomass, which opens up more fuel alternatives such as agricultural residue or even dried cow dung. It also comes distributed with a 10V/10W solar panel to support device charging and lighting, which for poor consumers oftentimes constitutes the bulk of the monthly energy cost. The ACE One is built with high-quality, durable materials and every new customer receives 2 years warranty with their purchase.
When your donation circles through the fund, it lifts a new family out of poverty each time.
Why Join us?
Our key differentiator is that we will never seek to profit from the provision of micro-loans because our mission is to ensure the affordability of micro-loans to beneficiaries who want to invest in their energy access needs.
But we also want to approach financial inclusion in an innovative and inclusive way:
Transparent Reporting
SDG ACE Foundation will always ensure we receive frequent and detailed reports on the loan portfolio health. We also ensure there is a focus on ensuring women and vulnerable customers have equal access to the loans provided through the foundation.
Quantify your Impact
We will ensure that loans are attributed to you as the donor where possible, and ensure no loans are double funded. Therefore, each donor will be able to quantify exactly how many and what profile of borrowers their donation has benefitted.
Your money, spent wisely
The Implementing Partners cover the operational expenses of loan management as part of commercial operations, meaning donor contributions are passed exclusively to the borrowers for consumer credit purposes.You decide whether your contribution can be used to contribute to our minimal overheads.
Ready to help?
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Stichting SDG ACE - RSIN: 859108557 - KVK: 72436530