2025 was a year in which Spark grew in reach, impact and confidence.

Ending 2024 with the close of our first institutional capital raise, the Spark team’s focus for 2025 was to put our investors’ capital to work, targeting projects which help make African businesses more competitive, more resilient and more environmentally sustainable. Over the course of the year, Spark executed 12 new transactions across 8 countries for a combined capex of almost USD10m, whilst entering 5 new markets through the implementation of these projects.

We continued to prioritise deployment in impactful projects in the SME space, with 75% of projects completed in the year being for SME C&I companies, and 90% of all projects completed carried out by Spark development partners which are themselves categorised as SMEs. As touched on in last year’s annual report, this SME focus is intentional, recognising the key role SMEs play in creating employment across the continent, as well as the heightened barriers these companies face in accessing finance.

In 2025, Spark also deployed into some of its largest transactions to date, ensuring our primary focus on SMEs is balanced with opportunities to deploy at scale with strong, creditworthy clients. Highlights from the year include energy efficiency financing with GreenYellow South Africa, which involved the LED lighting retrofit of 93 Retailability retail outlets across Southern Africa, and the implementation of two large solar hybrid systems for two agri-processing clients in South Africa and Tanzania, for a combined installed capacity of 4.2MWp of solar PV and 9.2MWh of storage. This evidences Spark’s growing standing with reputable developers and C&I customers alike, as we position ourselves as the financing partner of choice for C&I clients implementing strategic power projects in the region.

Spark’s year concluded on a high, with strong deployment momentum and our full-year financial position showing a small profit — no small feat in our second year of trading. I thank our investors, development partners and clients for their support during the year. We are grateful you chose to work with Spark during 2025 and remain committed to delivering on our ambitious goals as we move into 2026 and beyond.