George Kibala Bauer

Director, Digital Utilities,

George Kibala Bauer is a Director in the GSMA Digital Utilities programme. In this role, he focuses on developing and managing strategic research and advocacy partnerships, conducting research on the role of digital solutions and innovative partnerships in essential urban utility service provision, supporting utility start-ups in low- and middle-income countries in their journeys to scale, and representing the Digital Utilities programme at external events. George joined the GSMA in August 2018 as a Knowledge Manager on the programme.

Prior to joining the GSMA, George gained experience in consulting and strategic communications with Portland Communications, economic research with Euler Hermes, development finance with the European Investment Bank, and government affairs with the Ministry of Economy in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

George holds a MSc in international economic policy from Sciences Po Paris, a BA in economics from McGill University, as well as certificates in project finance, impact evaluation, and urban planning. He was also selected to take part in the On Deck Climate Tech Fellowship, a programme bringing together start-up and climate experts to catalyse climate tech innovations.

Posts by George Kibala Bauer

Closing the Urban Finance Gap through Digital Solutions and Innovative Partnerships: Our World Cities Day reflections

Cities across the world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), are confronted with multiple concurrent challenges including rapid urbanisation, climate change, lack of investment and growing inequality. While cities are rightly considered engines of ...

Piloting Digital Innovations in the Water Sector: Overcoming hurdles with Imagine H2O and the GSMA

This blog was co-written by Kelly Trott, Mayci Hicks, and Taylor Evans from Imagine H2O and Zach White and George Kibala Bauer from the GSMA. Imagine H2O and the GSMA are two of the four of this year’s Work Water Week Key Collaborating Partners. We’ve welcomed the ...

IoT and Digital Payments: A game changer for results-based financing?

We would like to thank Susan Smith, VP Finance Solution, Public Sector at Odyssey, for her input on this blog. Results-based financing (RBF) is a development financing and public policy approach that seeks to link payments to the achievement of specific results or ...

Innovator Spotlight Series: Tackling the urban energy challenge through digital innovation

Through this series of blogs, the GSMA Digital Utilities programme will be profiling innovative companies using digital technology to respond to some of the most important energy access and reliability challenges facing African cities. These innovator spotlights will ...

MWC Barcelona 2023: Velocity for climate action and innovative urban services

From 27 February to 2 March, the GSMA ClimateTech and Digital Utilities programmes attended MWC Barcelona 2023. The programmes collaborated on a range of engaging sessions, met with key stakeholders working at the intersection of digital innovation, social impact and ...

Innovative Finance, Digital Adoption, and Partnerships: Our reflections from World Water Week 2022

The GSMA Digital Utilities programme was pleased to join water and sanitation professionals from over 130 countries at World Water Week in Stockholm from 23 August to 1 September. We contributed to the conversation by hosting two virtual sessions. ...

The role of mobile coverage data in integrated energy planning: The case of the Democratic Republic of Congo

The rise of integrated energy planning in low- and middle-income countries Data-driven integrated energy planning strategies have become a critical tool in coordinating and accelerating investments in energy access. These strategies also serve as a foundation for ...

Smarter subsidies and digital innovation: Implications for utility services

This blog is the second in a two-part series. Subsidies in the utility sectors Utility services – particularly water and energy – are among the most heavily subsidised sectors globally. Government subsidies to water and sanitation total $320 billion annually, ...

Smart subsidies and digital innovation: Lessons from Togo’s off-grid solar subsidy scheme

This blog is the first of a two-part series. Mobile money-enabled digital payments have become central to the off-grid energy sector – particularly due to the rapid expansion of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar-home-systems throughout many African countries. In 2019, 2.19 million ...

Digital solutions to COVID-19 and urban challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa

On 21 May, Judd Devermont, the director for the Africa Programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) moderated a discussion on ‘Digital Solutions to COVID-19 and Urban Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa’ featuring Max Cuvellier, Head of ...

An effective response to COVID-19 requires innovative water and sanitation services

As Indian novelist and critic, Arundhati Roy, has reminded us so eloquently in the Financial Times: “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the ...

Seeking sustainable solutions for water and sanitation in emerging economies

The GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) Utilities Programme was pleased to join over 3000 water and sanitation sector professionals from 90 countries at the bi-annual IWA Water and Development Congress and Exhibition, which was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 1 – 5 December. ...

Streamlining the complexity of urban sanitation with digital solutions

This blog concludes a blog series leading up to World Toilet Day (today!). The first blog of the series focused on highlighting the challenge of sanitation service provision in developing countries, and the potential of mobile-enabled solutions to help bridge the gap. The ...

Rapid urbanisation, innovators to the rescue? Takeaways from Afric’Up

The GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) Utilities team was excited to speak at the Afric’Up Tech and Start-Up summit on 24 and 25 September in Tunis, which focused on how innovative start-ups can address the challenges associated with rapid urbanisation across Africa. ...

Innovation, inclusion, investment – identifying the key ingredients for SDG 6 at World Water Week

The GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) Utilities Programme was pleased to join over 3,300 water and sanitation professionals from 130 countries at World Water Week in Stockholm from 25 – 30 August. We hosted a session on, ‘Scaling mobile-enabled water and sanitation models ...

Why off-grid energy providers are increasingly paying attention to urban areas – insights from the DRC and beyond

On 2 and 3 July, the GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) Utilities team was pleased to join several pay-as-you-go (PAYG) service providers, donors, mobile operators, and investors in Kinshasa for a conference entitled, ‘The Renewable Energy Investment Opportunity in the ...

Mobile technology is driving the digitisation of water utilities in emerging markets

This blog was originally been published by the International Water Association (IWA) as part of our contribution to the IWA’s Digital Water Programme Steering Committee. Despite some progress in extending access to safely managed water services in developing countries, the ...

Water in the context of other global development challenges: Our takeaways from the KfW Water Sector seminar

On 12 June, the GSMA Mobile for Development Utilities team was pleased to participate in Kreditanstaltfür Wiederaufbau’s (KfW) Water Sector seminar near Frankfurt. The seminar brought together KfW’s water sector professionals from country offices throughout the world, as ...

Oxford Business & Poverty Conference: Why market-creating innovations are critical in the fight against poverty

On Wednesday, 29 May, the Mobile for Development Utilities team was pleased to attend the fifth annual Business & Poverty conference at Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. The conference brought together a range of innovation scholars and practitioners ...

Mini-grids, macro impact?

Lacking access to electricty is one of the biggest barriers to structural transformation and private sector development in emerging markets. Of course, there is no silver bullet to extending electricity access, especially given the complex and highly unequal energy landscape ...

What does rapid urbanisation mean for utility service provision? Our takeaways from the AfricaWorks! conference

On 8 and 9 April 2019, the GSMA Mobile for Development Utilities team was thrilled to co-host a workshop on ‘Digital and IT for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)’ at the AfricaWorks! conference on the future of African cities, in Rotterdam. AfricaWorks! is the flagship ...

Supporting waterless flush sanitation through mobile technology – Loowatt

Access to basic sanitation services is a major development and public health challenge in Madagascar where only 10 per cent of the population use at least basic sanitation services[1]. Providing basic sanitation is particularly challenging in Madagascar’s capital, ...

Delivering water to urban homes through smart metering and mobile payments – CityTaps

Water supply disconnections due to non-payment or faulty meters is a common issue for urban residents of Niamey, Niger[1]. Meanwhile, Niger’s national water utility faces challenges serving the poor with affordable and clean running water, while also reducing the physical ...

What does Intelligent Connectivity mean for utilities in emerging markets? Our takeaways from MWC Barcelona and 4YFN 2019

From Monday, 25 – Wednesday, 28 February, the Mobile for Development (M4D) Utilities team participated in Mobile World Congress 2019 (#MWC19) in Barcelona. This year’s overarching theme, ‘Intelligent Connectivity’, aimed to mark the beginning of a new era of highly ...

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