Dear valued stakeholder,
Husk was #24 of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World & #1 in the energy category
The most innovative energy company on the planet. That was the honor bestowed on Husk Power in Fast Company’s highly-regarded annual list of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World. Husk ranked #24 overall and #1 in the energy industry. Besides an innovation focus, we are also fully committed to gender diversity, and we proudly welcomed the first – and certainly not last – woman to our C-suite. Meanwhile, the company announced securing $20 million in debt financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to grow our minigrid fleet nearly 10 fold in Nigeria.
There was also further validation of our leadership in a new World Bank report on minigrids, which featured Husk Power’s success in scaling in both Asia and Africa. Plus lots of great media, including an op-ed discussing the urgent need for public private partnership (PPP) between state utilities and minigrid operators (see “In the News”).
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Manoj Sinha, Co-Founder & CEO
MARKET FOCUS
C&I, including rooftop solar and irrigation pumps, is taking off at Husk Power
Husk is well known as the global leader in community solar, operating roughly 300 minigrids. But with over 15 years of EPC experience constructing our own generation and transmission projects, Husk is also becoming a powerhouse in solar solutions for commercial & industrial (C&I) in rural and peri-urban markets, both for turnkey and PPA projects. In Q1 2024, we continued to lay the foundation to grow our C&I business from MWs to GWs. We hired Jatin Bali, based in Abuja, to head our C&I business across Africa as vice president. Bali has extensive experience developing megawatts worth of C&I and IPP projects across the continent. Meanwhile, in India the country’s premier MSME lending body, state-owned Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), named Husk an official channel partner, giving us access to project financing at priority sector lending rates that will allow us to rapidly expand our rural C&I footprint. As an official Referral Channel Partner for Solar Power Installation under SIDBI's 4E Financing Scheme and Green Finance Scheme, SIDBI will extend up to 100% project financing for the cost of rooftop solar projects developed by Husk.
FINANCIAL OUTLOOK
The European Investment Bank (EIB) provided Husk with the largest-ever corporate debt financing for the community solar minigrid industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. This was also the first time a minigrid company has accessed corporate-level debt. The $20 million will fund construction of solar hybrid minigrids in 150 new communities in Nigeria, installation of rooftop solar for commercial & industrial (C&I) customers, expansion of appliance sales to households and businesses and the scaling of value-added services such as agro-processing and e-mobility. Currently, Husk has more than 20 minigrids operational in Nigeria, and has set a target of at least 500 within the next 5 years. Nigeria is the world’s largest off-grid market, with about 90 million people still living without access to electricity and a massive dependence on polluting diesel fuel. Commenting on the financing, EIB Vice President Ambroise Fayolle said that “thousands of homes and businesses will benefit from more reliable access to solar power and battery storage that eliminates the need for more expensive diesel generators.”
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP
Husk is making progress on gender diversity, internally and externally
Each year, one of the most anticipated corporate rankings is Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World. In 2024, Nvidia topped the list (with OpenAI and Microsoft also in the top 10). Husk Power debuted this year at #24 overall, and was named #1 in the energy industry. Needless to say, this is a huge validation of our commitment to ending energy poverty by embracing “frugal innovation”, with technologies such as predictive AI and new rural business models like e-commerce for appliance sales and financing. Husk is pushing the envelope on other fronts as well, including gender diversity. Although we’re not there yet, Husk is 100% committed. On International Women’s Day, we named Anubha Shukla as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), our first woman C-level executive. Said Shukla: “Rural communities are still largely an afterthought for most companies. As the CCO at Husk, I will be laser focused on creating products and services that are tailored to what I call ‘Generation Rural’.” Rural consumers spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year. It’s time to treat them with the attention and care they deserve.”
IN THE NEWS
Below are highlights of recent Husk media coverage:
Read the full article in Fast Company about how Husk is innovating new ways to bring clean, modern energy and related services to rural Africa and Asia.
The World Bank published an in-depth case study (p 59-71) about Husk’s integrated energy platform in India and Nigeria, including a spotlight on the industry roadmap we put forward in late 2022.
Desh Deepak Verma, former top regulator of India's Uttar Pradesh state, and CEO Manoj Sinha laid out a clear rationale for PPP between minigrid developers and state utilities in the Hindustan Times.
Value for Women wrote up a summary of our ground-breaking work in India to engage women entrepreneurs: Investing in a Priority Market: Combining Sales, Marketing and Business Support to Attract and Retain Women Customers.
CEO Manoj Sinha appeared on CNBC Africa to discuss the EIB financing, calling for greater scale from the finance community - i.e. BILLIONS, not millions.
CMO William Brent spoke about the need for sector advocacy in The Minigrid Industry podcast, and also outlined Husk’s plans for India with Saur Energy.
