The Spark concept was born out of the urgent need to address the vast energy access deficit experienced by many African businesses today by providing them with access to affordable and reliable clean energy solutions.

Across the continent’s commercial and industrial (C&I) sector, this shortfall in energy is stunting economic growth, with studies from South Africa and Ghana estimating losses in GDP growth of between 1-5% each year as a result of poor-quality power provision.1, 2 Only through significant economic growth, which will be underpinned by significant increases in energy usage, can the region lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and create the jobs needed to capitalise on Africa’s potential demographic dividend.

At the same time, Africa is already experiencing the devastating impacts of global warming, with 2023 seeing some of the worst droughts across Southern Africa in recent history and extreme flooding in East Africa. As such, ensuring Africa’s economic development takes a lower carbon pathway is essential for meeting the Paris Agreement goals, keeping global mean temperature increases to within 1.5ᵒC and preventing runaway climate change. Decarbonising Africa’s C&I sector, which contributes 75% of the continent’s total power consumption, is therefore a central piece of the climate puzzle on the continent.

Spark is committed to growing the sustainable energy sector in C&I responsibly and is doing so through a partnership approach with local companies experienced in project development, construction and operations. By providing our carefully selected development partners (DPs) with access to streamlined finance, Spark is helping these companies grow their balance sheets and increase their capacity. We also directly support our DPs in executing projects in line with international best practice and, through Spark’s shared value creation model, share in the benefits of asset ownership.

During 2023, Spark increased the number of DPs from six to nine, significantly expanding our DP presence across Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria, resulting in a USD 90m pipeline of identified C&I opportunities. Over the course of the year, Spark transitioned from pilot phase to commercial operations, announcing our first round of USD 25m in institutional capital commitments at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi in September, and subsequently announcing a follow-on investment from Fortis Green Renewables in November. This capital raise has enabled Spark to shift its focus to scaling deployment and expanding its portfolio of executed projects.

By the close of year, Spark had established itself as an emerging force in the sustainable development of Africa’s C&I sector. This is momentum we are carrying into 2024, where we expect to see significant ramp-up of our pipeline and expansion of our partner network. I would like to thank our investors, DPs and C&I customers for placing their confidence in us. With your support, we look forward to scaling Spark’s impact significantly during 2024 and beyond.