By Hillary Asemota
Nigeria and 15 other West African Countries have been earmarked to benefit from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP) grant initiative for SMEs for the year 2024.
This was disclosed in a statement made available to the Media by Mr. Odutayo Oluseyi at a workshop organized by the ECOWAS /ROGEAP for its media network.
Being the second meeting of the network, journalists were sensitize on the activities of ECOWAS/ROGEAP since inception 2 years ago.
The information and awareness workshop of the network of Journalists of the Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP) had 19 member states of the ROGEAP Project which recently participated in the project in 2024 in Lomé (Togo).
Presenting the ROGEAP activities since kick-off, Mr. Syila ELHADJI of ECOWAS represented, said about $3387 (USD) have been earmarked towards the funding of the project by the World Bank, CleanTechnology fund and the Directorate General for International Cooperation of Netherlands while the project will be implemented by ECOWAS through its Project Funds Managers (PFM).
Other fund managersalso spoke on milestones achieved within 2023-2024 to include Pilot Implementation/Launch of ROGEAP in for six countries, Provision of Entrepreneurship and Financial support to SMEs under the ROGEAP Entrepreneurship Business Workshop for 6 countries which include: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivorie, Mali and Mauritania.
A total of 245 SMEs and 39 Female led businesses have been established, while speaking further, the PFM enumerated ROGEAP’s varying stages of grants and the modalities and criteria of obtaining the Grant and Grant structure to SMEs.
The statement added: Grant Type Matching Grant Market Entry Grant Performance-Based Grant. Grant amount $10,000 – $25,000, $50,000 – $150,000, $150,000 – $250,000
Stages of Business Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
Business categorization and eligibility: Start-up company/Stage 1. $10,000 – $25,000 < 3 full-time staff <300 solar home kits or < 1,500 lanterns sold annual revenue of <$100,000. Early-stage company/Stage 2. $50,000 – $150,000.
3–25 full-time staff 300 – 30,000 solar home kits or 1,500 – 50,000 lanterns sold Annual revenue of <$3,000,000, Growth-stage company/ Stage 3. $150,000 – $250,000, >25 full-time staff>30,000 solar home kits or > 50,000 lanterns sold Annual revenue of the PFM has a dedicated team of 23 seasoned, regional and international experts inclusive and diverse experts from 13 countries for providing required support to SMEs and have strategically located regional offices to ensure reach of SMEs.
With the next call for grant in April, 2024, the objective of ROGEAP is surely being realized ROGEAP aims to improve access to sustainable energy in the fifteen ECOWAS member countries including Cameroon, Chad, Mauritania, and Central African Republic by building a regional market for off-grid solar (OGS) products and supporting value chain for stakeholders.
