The aim was to accelerate the spread of solar energy systems in Uganda by forging partnerships between the solar energy companies at the national level and the best microfinance providers in the country.

I started talking to all the serious solar distributors to get them to enter into their own partnership project with a microfinance company focused on rural market development. The approach was split into 3 phases: (1) proving the business model in the field, (2) scaling up, and (3) replication. In the end, 6 partnerships were launched in this way. Our role after the start of the projects was focused on monitoring and coaching.

The partnerships with the three best microfinance institutions hardly yielded any results. The management was very enthusiastic and this was also evident in the selected best field offices. However, the companies involved did not do very much themselves, because they apparently assumed that the MFIs would sell their products. The loan officers in the best branches, however, were not at all interested in growth or new products. After all, they were already doing well. The director can be so committed, but almost nothing happens in the field. On the other hand, there was a lot of success with the companies that worked directly with weaker financiers, such as formal and informal savings groups, SACCOs, dairy farmer groups, even groups that organised themselves and raised money voluntarily. It worked especially well when the representative of the solar companies in the field worked directly with the loan officers or field coordinators of those savings and loan groups. For them, it became a kind of joint group selling.