Webinar: ESAF Small Finance Bank - Pioneering a retail distribution network for financing clean energy, 25 October
In India, energy access is a huge challenge; 80 million households have little or no access to grid electricity due to the lack of grid access in certain geographies. Providing quality, safe and reliable alternatives to kerosene and other traditional fuels means addressing two main challenges: distribution and affordability.
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are ideally positioned to solve both of these challenges. They can offer innovative financing mechanisms that make lighting systems affordable, and, because of their client networks, can reach millions of people. At the same time, by offering energy loans, MFIs are able to diversify their portfolios and develop new business channels.
To develop profitable energy lending programs, MFIs need technical assistance (TA) to navigate the many potential hurdles along the way. The PACE-D TA Program works with several MFIs, energy solution providers, and other stakeholders to facilitate and scale up financing for energy access. To date, the Program has reached over 1.3 million household members across nine states in India.
ESAF began as the Evangelical Social Action Forum, which expanded to include ESAF Microfinance and, in 2017, it became ESAF Small Finance Bank. Working in states where solar penetration across rural and peri-urban markets is growing due to the inconvenience of the inconsistent grid, ESAF is a genuine pioneer in the Indian clean energy finance sector. It has an extraordinarily broad retail offering that ranges from solar home systems and water purifiers to washing machines, offered with a loan model and cross-selling strategy that makes the company as much an asset financer as a microfinance institution.
In this way, ESAF is one of the most important players in the distributed renewable energy sector – an early mover, with its clean energy business operated through the broad ESAF retail distribution network, and now with a Small Finance Bank licence, which means reaching a wider network of new customers.
Please join us on October 25, 2017 to hear about ESAF’s energy finance program, how the PACE-D TA Program has worked to scale it up, the outcomes and lessons learned from this initiative, and ESAF’s future plans.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2017
4:30 - 5:30 PM IST
(7:00 - 8:00 AM EST)
Moderator:
Sam Mendelson, Microfinance Consultant, PACE-D TA Program
Speakers:
Anurag Mishra, Senior Clean Energy Specialist, USAID/India
Nicola Armacost, Lead Microfinance Consultant, PACE-D TA Program
Christudas K.V., Lead Adviser, Sustainable Banking, ESAF Small Finance Bank
Q&A Submission:
Have a question for the session? Please email at etandon@nexant.com
The webinar is free and open to all. To attend, please register in advance by clicking here
For more information on the PACE-D TA Program click here
Webinar: ESAF Small Finance Bank - Pioneering a retail distribution network for financing clean energy, 25 October
In India, energy access is a huge challenge; 80 million households have little or no access to grid electricity due to the lack of grid access in certain geographies. Providing quality, safe and reliable alternatives to kerosene and other traditional fuels means addressing two main challenges: distribution and affordability.
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are ideally positioned to solve both of these challenges. They can offer innovative financing mechanisms that make lighting systems affordable, and, because of their client networks, can reach millions of people. At the same time, by offering energy loans, MFIs are able to diversify their portfolios and develop new business channels.
To develop profitable energy lending programs, MFIs need technical assistance (TA) to navigate the many potential hurdles along the way. The PACE-D TA Program works with several MFIs, energy solution providers, and other stakeholders to facilitate and scale up financing for energy access. To date, the Program has reached over 1.3 million household members across nine states in India.
ESAF began as the Evangelical Social Action Forum, which expanded to include ESAF Microfinance and, in 2017, it became ESAF Small Finance Bank. Working in states where solar penetration across rural and peri-urban markets is growing due to the inconvenience of the inconsistent grid, ESAF is a genuine pioneer in the Indian clean energy finance sector. It has an extraordinarily broad retail offering that ranges from solar home systems and water purifiers to washing machines, offered with a loan model and cross-selling strategy that makes the company as much an asset financer as a microfinance institution.
In this way, ESAF is one of the most important players in the distributed renewable energy sector – an early mover, with its clean energy business operated through the broad ESAF retail distribution network, and now with a Small Finance Bank licence, which means reaching a wider network of new customers.
Please join us on October 25, 2017 to hear about ESAF’s energy finance program, how the PACE-D TA Program has worked to scale it up, the outcomes and lessons learned from this initiative, and ESAF’s future plans.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2017
4:30 - 5:30 PM IST
(7:00 - 8:00 AM EST)
Moderator:
Sam Mendelson, Microfinance Consultant, PACE-D TA Program
Speakers:
Anurag Mishra, Senior Clean Energy Specialist, USAID/India
Nicola Armacost, Lead Microfinance Consultant, PACE-D TA Program
Christudas K.V., Lead Adviser, Sustainable Banking, ESAF Small Finance Bank
Q&A Submission:
Have a question for the session? Please email at etandon@nexant.com
The webinar is free and open to all. To attend, please register in advance by clicking here
For more information on the PACE-D TA Program click here
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