Prosper
Prosper, a new product by Bright Life and FINCA Uganda, is designed to bring clean, affordable energy and financial services to Ugandan families. It allows households to acquire solar home systems from Bright Life using pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) financing, build a credit history, and access savings, loans, and other financial products from FINCA Uganda.
BrightLife and FINCA Uganda Collaborate to Improve Energy and Financial Access
FINCA launched its first program in Africa when it brought Village Banking™ to Uganda in 1992. Today, FINCA Uganda serves nearly 100,000 clients in a country where 67 percent of adults lack a financial institution account.
Prosper-ity: Overcoming Energy Poverty and Financial Exclusion
Norah Basembera lives in the town of Masindi in western Uganda. For Norah, like many in her community, electricity is a luxury. And while she has a job—which makes her better off than many other Ugandan women, her pay is low, and she faces stiff odds to get ahead.
FSD Prosper Paygo launch HD
FINCA launched its first program in Africa when it brought Village Banking™ to Uganda in 1992. Today, FINCA Uganda serves nearly 100,000 clients in a country where 67 percent of adults lack a financial institution account.
Uganda hoping to Prosper with clean energy initiative
In Uganda, clean energy and financial inclusion are coming together within an innovative model headed by FINCA-derived social enterprise, BrightLife. These are early days but the initial indications are positive. Martin Whybrow reports.
Lighting a Path to Financial Inclusion
Through a program called Prosper, BrightLife is lighting a new path to financial inclusion in partnership with FINCA Uganda. The new program is improving energy and financial access in Uganda by bringing clean and affordable household energy and responsible financial services to some of the most marginalized families.Lamp Library
The “Lamp Library” is BrightLife’s new project that it’s piloting at a select number of schools. The project provides each school with 100 portable solar lamps.
Solar “Lamp Library” to Light Up Education in Rural Africa
FINCA International’s BrightLife is piloting a new initiative that brings solar lanterns to rural schools in Uganda. The project, led by FINCA UK with funding from a FINCA UK supporter and the Signify Foundation, allows students to use solar lanterns in school and borrow them to take home—much like you would borrow a book from a library—to facilitate evening studying for off-grid households.
Lending Out Light in Africa
FINCA International’s BrightLife program is a social enterprise that makes clean energy options available to people in rural Uganda living without electricity. By providing various financing options, BrightLife enables these people to acquire solar lamps and lighting systems to which they would not normally have access. This improves their productivity and quality of life by increasing the amount of time they have to work, study, or simply eat dinner after sundown.UNCDF Cleanstart
The UNCDF program focused on energy contributes to achieving SDG 7 on affordable and clean energy for all, and SDG 8 focusing on decent inclusive work, economic growth, and, more specifically, financial inclusion.
Pairing Microfinance and Social Enterprise for Clean Energy Access
This month, hundreds of international development practitioners, social entrepreneurs and policy-makers descended upon a tiny country to tackle big challenges. It was European Microfinance Week 2018 and I was in Luxembourg participating in a panel sponsored by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) CleanStart program.
UNCDF CleanStart key takeaways from European Microfinance Week 2018
In November 2018, UNCDF CleanStart hosted a session at the European Microfinance Week 2018 with MEI, Mobisol, Brightlife, and Village Power. The session was focused on the role of pay-as-you-go and Microfinance Institutions in expanding energy access.
Renewable Energy Challenge Fund (2016-2020)
In 2017, the Renewable Energy Challenge Fund (RECF) has become fully operational, completing the first challenge window on clean cooking solutions and initiating the second challenge window on solar PV.