Biomass has historically been a cheap and accessible source of fuel for Uganda’s population, but the level of demand, coupled with unsustainable harvesting and poor management of forests, means that the country is approaching something of a biomass crisis. This provides a context in which the economics of briquette production become feasible and as more ventures are starting to appear, there is much scope for growth within an industry that is still in its infancy.
This report investigates the conditions in which micro and small-scale briquette producers in Uganda are operating and examines their potential for growth. It presents an overview of GVEP’s work with 139 briquette microenterprises including case studies and profiles of some of the most prominent briquette businesses and projects in the East Africa region.
Authors: Hamish Ferguson
Download the Briquettes Businesses in Uganda.
Green Power for Mobile (GPM) published its bi-annual report, in partnership with the International Financial Corporation (IFC). The fifth edition summarises the developments within the programme and the sector. It focuses on key trends for success within Green Power for Mobile; innovation from the Indian subcontinent and Community Power from Mobile (CPM). This report features GVEP's study about phone charging micro-businesses in East Africa. Moreover, Community Power from Mobile wrote a case study about GVEP for its second White Paper "Harnessing The Full Potential of Mobile for Off-Grid Energy".
This report summarises findings of a market study that aimed to assess the potential commercial market for off-grid hydropower plants in Rwanda with a generation capacity of less than 50kW. It focuses on the evaluation of demand, client requirements and purchasing power in order to inform a sector strategy.
Authors: Dr. Thomas Meier and Gerhard Fischer, Entec AG
Editors: David Disch and Rehema Kahurananga, GVEP
Download the report on the pico and micro-hydropower market in Rwanda.
This short paper draws on GVEP’s experience in working with women entrepreneurs in East Africa under the Developing Energy Enterprises Programme (DEEP). It provides an overview of the emerging outcomes and impacts of the interventions especially in relation to linking female entrepreneurs with finance.
Author: Phyllis Kariuki and Patrick Balla
Download the report on working with women entrepreneurs.
Mobile network operators in Africa identify rural customer’s problems with charging phones as a major challenge in expanding their businesses. Recent studies suggest that the need to recharge phones is a significant driver of demand for rural electrification services. This study looks closely at a series of phone charging businesses in Uganda and Tanzania, in order to better understand the market dynamics and the potential for growth and possibly diversification into sales of solar lanterns and lighting systems. The study also seeks to understand the impact that the GVEP’s programme has had on the development of these businesses.
Author: Simon Collings
Download the phone charging report.
This report summarises findings from a study undertaken by GVEP (Global Village Energy Partnership) under its Developing Energy Enterprise Project East Africa (DEEP EA) implemented in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It reviews the current marketing strategies being employed by energy micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and the marketing challenges they face. The study also looks in depth at how marketing theories are being applied on the ground for specific DEEP EA supported technologies and provides recommendations on how entrepreneurs can improve their marketing activities. The report is produced to create an increase in knowledge base for energy practitioners working with MSEs in Africa
Author: Laura Clough
Download the marketing report.
A consolidated report of three market studies conducted in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to examine how GVEP-International could work with Financial Institutions (FIs) and Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) so as to increase the access for investment finance and stimulate demand for energy products. It is part of a USAID funded Energy Sector Grants Program project.
Author: Phyllis Kariuki, Kavita Rai et al
Download the market survey study.
An in-depth study into the Kenya briquette industry to enhance the support the Developing Energy Enterprise Project is offering to start-up and existing briquette enterprises. The study investigated the success factors influencing briquette making.
Download the briquette industry study.
A new report from GVEP International that tackles the question of why the adoption of improved cook stoves has been so slow in developing countries. The report looks at the challenges associated with commercialising cookstove products and other reasons for market underdevelopment despite the enormous potential which improved cookstoves have as well as detailing several successes.
Download the cookstoves and markets report.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| briquette_businesses_in_uganda.pdf | 4.32 MB |
English
Español
Français