⚡ One of the biggest blind spots in the green transition? Energy access is measured through connections made, systems deployed, or households reached. Not the opportunity it creates for people. Across India, Kenya and Nigeria, millions of small businesses rely on energy to earn a living but access alone is not enough. When energy is used productively, it can drive meaningful economic opportunity for low-income entrepreneurs. We find that PUE technologies, from refrigeration and cooking to textiles and digital tools, are already boosting productivity and income. For example, microenterprises adopting these solutions often see measurable income gains, highlighting their potential to transform livelihoods at scale. However, adoption remains slower than it should be. Suppliers face persistent barriers, including high upfront costs, limited access to finance, fragmented markets, and low consumer awareness, all of which make it harder to reach the businesses that would benefit most. The report sets out a clear agenda for scaling impact: 🔹 Expanding access to tailored finance for both suppliers and end users. 🔹 Strengthening last-mile distribution and market linkages. 🔹 Investing in consumer awareness and business support. 🔹 Addressing structural and gender-specific barriers to adoption. Productive use of energy has a critical role to play in turning energy access into income growth particularly for women-led businesses, who represent a large share of this market 📄 Read the full report: shellfoundation.org/news/exp… #EnergyAccess #Africa #InclusiveGrowth #ProductiveUse #EnergyTransition #Entrepreneurship

🛵 Around 30 million people across Africa rely on two- and three-wheelers to earn a living. Today, fewer than 200,000 of those vehicles are electric. In partnership with @KineticgreenEV, we are launching a new initiative to pilot and adapt electric two- and three-wheelers for African markets. For many transporters, a vehicle is one of their most important productive assets. Expanding access to electric vehicles that are affordable, durable and suited to local operating conditions could help strengthen livelihoods while lowering emissions. Through multi-country pilots, we will test how electric vehicles perform in African markets and generate practical learning on the charging and service infrastructure needed to support adoption at scale. Supported by catalytic funding from Shell Foundation and the UK Government through @FCDOGovUK's RIDE programme and the @TEAEnergyAccess (TEA) platform, the initiative aims to generate evidence that can help inform the future of electric mobility across African transport systems. Read more: shellfoundation.org/press-re… #EMobility #Africa #Transport #InclusiveGrowth

🎙️ #WEBINAR | How can clean energy investments deliver stronger economic outcomes for women? On 4 June, Caribou, Value for Women and Shell Foundation will host a webinar exploring the growing evidence behind the gender-clean energy nexus and what it means for investment design. Drawing on a synthesis of 115 studies and new financial modelling across 15 clean energy assets, the session will examine how financing structures, local context and bundled support models can significantly shape outcomes for women. The discussion will also explore: - The links between clean energy and women’s livelihoods - The impact of combining energy access with finance, training and market access - Why the same asset can generate strong returns or net losses depending on financing terms and local realities - Five key factors shaping gender-responsive investment design The session will feature speakers from Gates Foundation, Acumen, SunCulture and Koolboks, followed by a live Q&A. 🗓️ 4 June 2026 ⏰ 2pm GMT / 9am EST 📍 Virtual webinar Register here: shellfoundation.org/event/we… #GenderLens #ClimateFinance #EnergyAccess

🌍 For philanthropy to drive systemic change at scale, it needs to take on roles outside its comfort zone. At the Philanthropy Asia Summit, our CEO Jonathan Berman joined The Philanthropic Agenda panel to discuss how philanthropy can help unlock larger pools of capital for inclusive impact. Philanthropy is well positioned to pilot and prove new approaches. But few organisations are structured to help those solutions reach scale. At Shell Foundation, this often means taking early risks that commercial actors cannot yet justify, helping to demonstrate viability, reduce uncertainty and build confidence in emerging markets. This approach has helped unlock financing across sectors where perceived risk remains a barrier. In India, for example, early catalytic support helped reduce barriers to financing electric two- and three-wheel vehicles at a time when lenders lacked repayment data and confidence in the market. 🎥 Watch Jonathan’s full intervention below. #Philanthropy #CatalyticCapital #InclusiveGrowth #SystemsChange

🌍 This week, Shell Foundation is at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, one of the continent’s leading gatherings bringing together business leaders, investors, policymakers and entrepreneurs to shape Africa’s economic future. As discussions focus on growth, competitiveness and private sector development, one question remains central: how do we help more high-potential ventures move beyond early traction and scale sustainably? For Shell Foundation, this is where practical conversations matter. Across African markets, promising businesses are already building solutions that respond to real challenges, from energy access to productivity and livelihoods. But scaling them requires more than innovation alone. It requires the right financing, stronger partnerships, and business models designed for the realities of the markets they serve. Looking forward to exchanging with founders, investors and ecosystem partners in Kigali on what it takes to turn promising ventures into scalable impact. #AfricaCEOForum #Entrepreneurship #Startups #ImpactInvesting #InclusiveEconomy

🛵 EV readiness across Africa doesn’t automatically translate into adoption. While several countries show strong fundamentals for electrification, cleaner power systems, clearer utility incentives, uptake remains limited, even in more advanced markets. At the same time, momentum is building elsewhere. Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda are emerging as innovation hubs, with EV startups testing new business models and supportive policies, particularly in the two-wheeler segment. Scale remains modest, but progress is accelerating. What this shows is simple: it’s not just about being “ready”. It’s about whether the market works in practice. Today, business models are hard to replicate, financing does not match what companies need, and systems are not well connected. As a result, the markets that look most ready are not always the ones scaling fastest. At Shell Foundation, we are working with partners to test what it takes to make these markets work in practice, and to scale what does. Find our latest report, “Bridging the missing middle: moving Africa’s e-mobility to scale”, which explores these challenges and where progress is emerging: shellfoundation.org/learning… #Emobility #Africa #ClimateFinance #EnergyAccess

📊 How do we move capital to where it’s needed most? At the Semafor World Economy Summit, Jonathan Berman, CEO of Shell Foundation, speaks with NYSE TV about why capital doesn’t always flow to the most impactful opportunities, particularly across Africa and South Asia. From information gaps to mispriced risk, these barriers continue to limit investment in high-impact markets. The discussion highlights the role of blended finance in addressing this, using different forms of capital to better align risk and return. This is exactly where Shell Foundation focuses: taking early risk to help build investable markets and enable capital to flow at scale. 🎥 Watch the full interview. #EmergingMarkets #ClimateFinance #SustainableFinance

📊In India, women run nearly 20% of all micro and small enterprises, yet most still face limited market access and outdated tools. To help bridge these gaps, Shell Foundation, the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and Amazon Saheli have launched a new initiative supporting women-led small businesses across the country. Through this partnership, women entrepreneurs will access new markets via Amazon’s Saheli programme, benefit from GAME’s local network, and adopt energy-efficient technologies that boost productivity, increase income and reduce post-harvest losses in energy deficient scenarios, all grounded in a place-based, ecosystem approach that strengthens the conditions in which these women entrepreneurs grow. By combining clean energy access with greater market reach, this collaboration aims to help women entrepreneurs scale sustainable, resilient businesses across India. Read more: shellfoundation.org/press-re… #ShellFoundation #CleanEnergy #Women #Sustainability #India

🌱 How can green finance reach low-income entrepreneurs at scale? Access to finance remains a key barrier for many nano-entrepreneurs. Even when technologies exist to improve productivity, reduce losses and diversify income, accessing them can be difficult, not because they are not relevant, but because they are often perceived as too risky to finance. This is how Shell Foundation is working to address this challenge. In India, alongside the Small Industries Development Bank of India (@sidbiofficial), a $3.1M risk-sharing facility has been launched to enable financial institutions to lend to low-income entrepreneurs with greater confidence. By reducing risk for lenders, the facility supports access to income-generating solutions while strengthening the case for financing these technologies more widely. This forms part of a broader effort to ensure that solutions which improve incomes can also be financed and scaled through existing market systems. For more information, read the full press release: shellfoundation.org/press-re… @FCDOGovUK #GreenFinance #Climate #InclusiveEconomy #India #Entrepreneurship

🌍 The challenge is not a lack of solutions for women, it’s making them work in reality. At the Skoll World Forum, one theme kept coming back: scaling impact is not just about innovation. Too often, solutions fail to scale because the conditions around them are not in place. Less than 2% of global climate finance is gender-responsive . And without financing models that reflect how women actually earn and manage cash, access to energy assets, and the income opportunities they enable, remains limited. The implication is clear: impact doesn’t scale on technology alone. It scales when solutions are designed around real economic lives, combining energy, financing, and market access in ways that work for women. Evidence from our 'Clean Energy as a Catalyst for Women’s Economic Empowerment' report shows that clean energy can increase incomes, productivity, and resilience for women, but only under the right conditions. 📄 Read our report: shellfoundation.org/news/adv… #SkollWF #EconomicInclusion #CleanEnergy #SystemsChange

🌍🇯🇵 Cross-border collaboration is often seen as an opportunity. In practice, it remains difficult to make it work. The Africa Corporate Innovation Program (ACIP), launched by Shell Foundation with Double Feather Partners and @NEC, is designed to connect Japanese corporates with African startups to test practical solutions in real market conditions, with support from @FCDOGovUK (FCDO) via RIDE programme. Through structured pilot projects, startups will work directly with corporate partners to localise technologies, validate business models and demonstrate clear pathways to scale. Initial work will focus on improving market access and productivity, from farm-to-market logistics and reduced post-harvest losses to last-mile transport, across countries including Kenya, Ghana and South Africa. At Shell Foundation, this is where catalytic capital matters most: reducing early-stage risk and helping partnerships move from pilot to scale. What remains to be seen is whether these models can consistently deliver at scale, and translate into long-term partnerships. This conversation will continue at the SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 Conference on April 28, during the “Africa–Japan Ventures Connect” session exploring how to turn cross-border collaboration into scalable, practical partnerships. 📄 Find the full press release here: shellfoundation.org/press-re… #ClimateFinance #Africa #Japan #Innovation #InclusiveGrowth

🔥 Extreme heat is no longer a future risk, it is already shaping how people work. With @Swiggy as a key partner, Shell Foundation is working to address this challenge in India, where food delivery drivers operate daily in increasingly extreme heat. With over 2.4 billion workers globally exposed to dangerous heat, Shell Foundation’s SPACES (Scaling Passive Affordable Cooling for Environmental Sustainability) program is on a mission to bring affordable, innovative passive cooling solutions to Bottom of the Pyramid communities. Shell Foundation CEO Jonathan Berman spent time in Delhi with Swiggy food delivery drivers, listening directly to their experiences of working in extreme heat. No reports, no intermediaries, just real conversations with people facing heat stress every day. These insights are already shaping how the technology is refined, from comfort and usability to cost and durability. Because solutions will only scale if they work in the realities of those who rely on them. This pilot work, including passive cooling jackets developed with @Swiggy, is part of a broader collaboration with @Trane_Tech and @IntellecapTweet, focused on making passive cooling solutions viable and scalable. #ClimateResilience #Cooling #HeatStress

🌍 Financing doesn’t fail because capital is scarce, it fails when it doesn’t fit. At the @SkollFoundation World Forum, Shell Foundation and the @gatesfoundation are co-hosting a side event on innovative financing for women at the nexus of climate and entrepreneurship. Bringing together investors, practitioners and partners, the discussion focuses on a practical question: how to better align financing with the needs of women entrepreneurs and farmers facing climate risk. Because across many markets, the challenge is not only how much capital is available, but whether it is structured in a way that reflects how these businesses operate, grow and manage risk. From blended finance to new investment approaches, the session will explore what is already working, and where gaps remain. Getting this right is critical, not just to unlock capital, but to enable solutions to grow, reach more people, and deliver impact at scale. #SkollWF #ClimateFinance #EconomicInclusion #WomensEmpowerment

🔥 Clean cooking is often framed as a health or environmental issue. In reality, for many households, it is primarily an economic decision. Evidence from the field shows that clean cookstoves can reduce fuel use, save time, and lower exposure to harmful smoke, while improving safety and everyday productivity. Yet adoption remains uneven. Not because the benefits are unclear, but because they do not always align with how people manage cash day to day. Upfront costs, fuel access, and income volatility still shape decisions more than long-term savings. At Shell Foundation, this is where we continue to learn: 🔹 When do efficiency gains actually translate into real savings? 🔹 Which models make these solutions viable for households with irregular incomes? 🔹 And where are we still overestimating demand? The challenge is not only to demonstrate impact, but to make it work within the realities of everyday life. Insights from our work in India show that adoption accelerates when solutions improve productivity and make costs more predictable for users, particularly those operating with thin margins and irregular incomes. Find our article here: shellfoundation.org/news/fro… #CleanCooking #EnergyAccess #InclusiveGrowth #Climate

🔋 For India’s EV revolution to work, it must work for the driver. 2 million electric vehicles were sold in India in FY 2024-25. EVs are no longer a "niche" solution; they are the backbone of how people move and earn. But if we look closer at the Vahan registration data, a gap emerges. Adoption is booming in states like Maharashtra and Delhi, but remains uneven elsewhere. The bottleneck isn't a lack of demand—it's economics. For small operators and daily drivers, the switch to electric depends on a single factor: Does it improve their daily income? To scale truly inclusive mobility, we must solve for: Upfront costs: Making ownership accessible. Cash flow: Aligning payments with daily earnings. Downtime: Keeping wheels turning without long charging breaks. Through our partnerships with Mufin Green Finance and @AmpersandEnergy, @ShellFoundation is supporting models designed for these realities—leveraging flexible financing and battery swapping to lower the barrier to entry. The real measure of India’s EV success won’t just be the total volume of sales—it will be how effectively we reach diverse geographies and every income segment. #ElectricMobility #InclusiveGrowth #EnergyTransition #ImpactInvesting #IndiaEV

👩‍🌾 What does it actually take for clean energy to work for women entrepreneurs? Our latest report on Gender Results-Based Financing looks at how Results-Based Financing (RBF), implemented with @OdysseyEnergyS, can expand access to clean energy for women. Through the pilot, companies received performance-based incentives to reach more women customers and test new distribution and financing approaches. One insight stands out: access alone did not drive adoption. What changed outcomes was whether solutions aligned with how women run their businesses, including cashflow, risk tolerance, and daily operations. The report also shows a more structural shift. Even after RBF incentives were removed, participating companies continued to serve women as a viable customer segment. 🌐 Read the full report: shellfoundation.org/wp-conte… #GenderLens #ClimateFinance #EnergyAccess

🍳 Clean cooking scales when it fits how people actually work. Our latest report on e-cooking for street vendors in India, developed with @Finovista and supported by the UK Government via the @TEAEnergyAccess platform, shows that adoption is not driven by full fuel switching. Vendors integrate electricity into specific tasks such as boiling or reheating, while continuing to rely on other fuels where it remains more practical. This hybrid usage is not a transition phase. It is a stable operating model shaped by cost, speed, and reliability constraints. The report also makes clear where progress remains limited. Infrastructure constraints, equipment compatibility, and upfront costs continue to restrict how far adoption can go. 🌐 Read the full report: shellfoundation.org/wp-conte… #CleanCooking #EnergyAccess #InclusiveGrowth