We sit at an interesting intersection between mobile giants and small enterprises trying to deliver energy access. Our role is to facilitate the mobile industry’s involvement in delivering energy access.

In this role we spend a lot of time speaking to smart, nimble and innovative enterprises trying to leverage the mobile industry to deliver energy products and services.  In our discussions we have heard time and time again of the challenges start-up energy companies face in raising seed capital.

In response, we have spent the last few months speaking with donors and impact investors to discuss the concept of Community Power from Mobile (CPM) and the challenges that pioneers face in raising the required money. The response has been encouraging.

Almost all organisations we spoke to understand that delivering energy access to off-grid communities falls outside the core competencies of a mobile operator and thus it can be hard for the mobile operator to raise the R&D money required to trial CPM trials.  They also understand the opportunity that partnering with the mobile industry presents; an opportunity to scale that greatly reduces the risks of investing in pre-commercial ventures.

It was also encouraging to hear that there is a growing understanding amongst investors on the need to partner and work together to fund early stage companies as is highlighted in Village Capital’s #9 Top Trend in Impact Investing 2012.  We also know of two meetings between early stage energy investors focussed on emerging markets taking place to discuss better coordination amongst actors.

We look forward to continuing the discussion with investors and donors and working together to define new and innovative ways to collaborate across the mobile and energy access industry to bring great ideas to fruition and give them the breathing room to grow.