Chinenye Anekwe First Recipient of the GEST Alumni Fund Grant

It is our great pleasure to announce that a €10,000 grant from the GEST Alumni Fund has been awarded to Chinenye Anekwe, GEST alumnus of 2018. Ms Anekwe is a Development Specialist at Solar Sisters, an NGO that has helped kickstart more than 5.000 women clean energy entrepreneurs and continues to deliver clean energy directly to homes in rural African communities.

Ms Anekwe receives the grant for the project Business Booster Programme for 100 Rural Women Energy Entrepreneurs. The grant will fund community sensitization programmes for 100 Solar Sister Entrepreneurs in each of the 25 states where the organisation operates. The project aims to support 100 participants to double their local clean energy business enterprises through targeted activities conducted to improve their capacity, expand their customer base and increase their market visibility. The grant will enable the Solar Sister Entrepreneurs to create additional impact by funding community-based market awareness and sensitization campaigns, as well as provide marketing materials that will build awareness of gender-inclusive business, increase the uptake of clean energy conversion, and provide enhanced economic opportunity to women entrepreneurs.

The project relates directly to GEST priorities and the proposal displayed a convincing connection to beneficiaries and their needs, as well as how project activities would lead directly to proposed outcomes. Moreover, project activities reflected realistically in both the timeline and the budget, and it was clear from the proposal that Ms Anekwe was unequivocally in charge of the coordination of the project, with strong support from the Country Director and Training Manager of her organisation.

We hereby extend our hearty congratulations to Ms Anekwe and look forward to witnessing the realisation of her project in 2021.