USAID Power Africa and Open Capital helped 30 companies across 17 African countries to develop robust finance functions. Lasting three to six months, this tailored assistance aided the companies to evaluate, plan, and analyze their finances; manage their risks; become more investment ready; and handle transactions. Power Africa and Open Capital also helped the companies gain access to capital and enhance the skills of their finance teams.
This handbook “Financial Management Handbook for Offgrid Solar Companies” reviews the challenges off-grid companies faced in establishing robust finance functions and offers ways for off-grid companies to improve their sustainability. The handbook discusses six lessons that emerged from the support provided to off-grid energy companies, demonstrating what companies should expect and how they should act.
This new handbook gathers the lessons yielded from this first-hand experience working with off-grid companies. It explains how to:
✔ Optimize financial evaluation and management (through unit economics, performance tracking, financial controls, and workforce planning).
✔ Manage business risks.
✔ Engage with investors professionally by knowing what they expect.
