The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) continues to demonstrate the power of market-based, results-driven financing to expand access to clean and affordable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the BGFA Annual Results Report 2025, companies supported by the programme established over 845,800 connections and enabled electricity access for over 4.3 million people by the end of 2025, despite increasingly challenging operating environments.
In 2025, more than 235,000 new sustainable energy service connections were achieved across BGFA countries, via a combination of small solar home systems, battery rental services and productive-use-of-energy services, bringing total energy service subscriptions to over 845,800 by the end of the year. This represents 45% of the programme’s overall target. In addition to providing electricity access for over 4.3 million people so far, the BGFA programme has supported approx. 7,500 African businesses.
“BGFA has shown that competitive, results-based financing works, even in the most challenging contexts,” said Olle Bergdal Mjengwa, Chair of the BGFA Steering Committee and Programme Manager at Sida. “By combining disciplined subsidies with strong sustainability requirements, we are scaling energy access while safeguarding long-term market viability. The progress made during 2025 confirms that it is possible to deliver impact at scale without over-subsidising the sector.”
Now at the midpoint of its implementation period, BGFA has disbursed approximately EUR 26 million in results-based financing. BGFA operates in fragile and underserved markets, providing competitive, results-based financing, complemented by targeted technical assistance. The programme incentivises only verified, sustainable connections, ensuring value for money while crowding in private capital and supporting long-term market development.
In 2025, progress was particularly strong in Zambia and Uganda, in terms of energy connections delivered, despite the ongoing parallel World Bank funded programme in Uganda. In relative terms, the greatest progress was recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Liberia. In Liberia, the programme achieved a significant milestone in commissioning the first privately developed renewable mini-grids in the country. The DRC and Burkina Faso remain challenging operating environments for portfolio companies, largely due to ongoing security concerns that require agile and adaptive responses to rapidly evolving conditions.
BGFA’s model places strong emphasis on market sustainability, incentivising higher-tier connections that support productive use of energy, income generation and local economic development. Digital verification tools and strict sustainability criteria ensure that public funds are disbursed only for active, reliable energy services.
“Our results confirm that market-based incentives, when combined with robust verification and targeted technical assistance, can unlock private sector delivery at scale. BGFA’s role is to bridge gaps left by a lack of private finance, supporting companies to operate, grow and deliver sustainable energy access to people in high-risk and underserved markets”, comments Kari Hämekoski, Fund Manager of BGFA at Nefco.
Beyond supporting private companies, BGFA plays a catalytic role at the policy and institutional level through the deployment of Off-Grid Task Forces (OGTFs) in all partner countries, strengthening coordination between governments, the private sector and development partners. In 2025, OGTFs contributed to regulatory reforms, fiscal incentives and improved frameworks for mini-grids, off-grid solar and e-waste management.
As global momentum builds around energy access initiatives such as the World Bank’s Mission 300 and ASCENT programmes, BGFA’s experience offers valuable lessons on how results-based finance can be designed to maximise impact, cost-efficiency and sustainability. By 2028, BGFA aims to deliver up to 1.9 million energy connections, benefiting more than 9.6 million people across six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
For further information about the Annual Results Report 2025:
- Read the Annual Results report 2025
- Download the report for printing
For further information, please contact:
Kari Hämekoski, Fund Manager of BGFA and Senior Programme Manager at Nefco
kari.hamekoski@nefco.int, +358 10 618 0660
Petra Mikkolainen, Senior Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Manager at Nefco
petra.mikkolainen@nefco.int, +358 10 618 0588
Lia Oker-Blom, Communications Manager at Nefco
lia.oker-blom@nefco.int, +358 10 618 0671
About BGFA
The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) is a multi-donor facility established and managed by Nefco – the Nordic Green Bank. Nefco is an international financial institution based in Helsinki, Finland, focusing on environmental and climate investments and fund management. BGFA is implemented by Nefco, with the support of two project implementation partners: NIRAS, a development and engineering consultancy company headquartered in Denmark, and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), an international multilateral partnership based in Vienna, Austria.
The current EUR 110+ million BGFA programme was established in 2019 on Sweden’s initiative through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). It has since been developed by Nefco into a multi-donor programme funded by Denmark through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany through its development bank KfW, Norway through the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation Norad and Sweden. Read more at www.beyondthegrid.africa
Photo: Site visit to portfolio company in Zambia – Jason Mulikita for BGFA/Nefco