NEW YORK—The Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), the impact investment arm of the Open Society Foundations, is investing $15 million in the Acumen Hardest-to-Reach Initiative (H2R), which aims to provide access to clean energy for 70 million low-income customers while improving climate resilience and driving inclusive, sustainable development in Africa, including by creating thousands of new clean-energy jobs. 

Acumen’s Hardest-to-Reach Initiative is unlocking clean energy in Africa’s most underserved markets, with $246.5 million committed to date toward a 10-year strategy spanning 17 of Africa’s least developed economies. The initiative invests in solar distributors, manufacturers, and innovators to deliver first-time access, scale proven solutions, and build inclusive energy markets.

In addition to providing access to clean energy for 70 million low-income customers, many of whom are gaining energy access for the first time, H2R will enhance climate resilience for 5.4 million people, bring online 120 megawatts of renewable energy, and slash or avoid an estimated 4 metric tons in carbon dioxide emissions.

Meeting the energy needs of the 770 million Africans without access to electricity through expanded access to affordable energy, including off-grid solar technology, is critical to a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Yet nascent markets with 71 percent of the region’s unelectrified population received just 24 percent of cumulative off-grid solar investment between 2012 and 2019.

SEDF is delighted to invest in H2R alongside such partners as the International Finance Corporation, the Nordic Development Fund, British International Investment, the Green Climate Fund, Signify Foundation, and Shinhan Bank.

Georgia Levenson Keohane, CEO of the Soros Economic Development Fund, said, “SEDF is proud to support Acumen’s Hardest-to-Reach Initiative, which aligns public, private, and philanthropic finance to expand clean—and often first-time— energy access across underserved markets in Africa. With H2R now fully operational, capital is moving, and poised for impact.”

“At a time when many are pulling back, this coalition is stepping up with capital designed not just to invest, but to solve,” said Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen’s founder and CEO. “This is the first time public, private, and philanthropic partners have come together behind a model built to reach the hardest-to-reach. It’s a clear example of what’s possible when capital aligns with purpose to tackle energy poverty at scale.”

Acumen has already invested over $10 million in companies in H2R geographies, including Somalia, Malawi, Zambia, and Benin, in companies like Yellow, RDG Collective, and KIMS Microfinance. These investments reflect H2R’s goal of reaching first-time energy users while building long-term, resilient markets.

Acumen is a global force of entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, and social innovators working together to build a world based on dignity. Founded on the radical idea that business, when cultivated with moral imagination, can break the cycle of poverty, it looks to invest in transformational companies, build sustainable markets, and prepare leaders with the tools they need to create a more just and inclusive future. 

Since 2001, Acumen has scaled companies and shaped markets in some of the hardest-to-reach communities on the planet, impacting over half a billion lives. To learn more, visit acumen.org.