We are happy to announce the latest recipients of the Mobile for Development Utilities Innovation Fund.
In October 2014, the GSMA and DFID announced an additional £6M in funding to extend the GSMA’s work as part of its newly branded Mobile for Development Utilities programme. The programme builds on the early success of the first phase (Rounds 1 & 2) of the programme under the Mobile Enabled Community Services (MECS) banner, through which 13 grants, worth £2.4M, were awarded across 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Developing Asia.
This second phase of funding will award £3.2M through two rounds of funding to organisations trialling and developing innovations that improve access to energy, water and sanitation to underserved communities, by leveraging mobile technology and infrastructure. Nine grantees working across six countries have been chosen in this first round and the second round of grantees will be announced later this year.
We have been overwhelmed with the response to our calls for applications. The high number and exceptional quality of proposals demonstrates the untapped demand for additional risk capital to support early innovators, in their quest to leverage mobile solutions to support the delivery of critical infrastructure services. The addition of sanitation as a sector and utilities partnerships as a grant type has also resulted in new actors applying to the fund.
Mobile for Development Utilities Innovation Fund Grantees:
Brighterlite
Brighterlite, in partnership with Telenor Myanmar, will provide solar home systems through a fee for service model, using Telenor Myanmar’s agent network for acquiring customers and collecting payments. The seed grant will test the viability and impact of launching a mobile-enabled service in a green-field market.
Devergy
Devergy, in partnership with Tigo Tanzania, will scale their low-cost solar-PV micro-grids to provide access to basic lighting, charging and appliances to rural communities. This market validation grant will test the opportunities to integrate energy distribution with mobile distribution including the impact on mobile phone usage and mobile money uptake.
Gham Power
Gham Power, in partnership with NCell, will install solar micro-grids to provide energy to mobile towers, households and businesses, bringing energy access and mobile connectivity to remote communities in Nepal. This seed grant will test the impacts of mobile access and energy access on local businesses and the financial viability of this business model.
Loowatt
Loowatt will develop and test an ICT platform and mobile application to improve the coordination of waste collection logistics and customer service associated to their waterless toilets for households in an urban area of Antananarivo, Madagascar. The seed grant aims to prove the value of ICT and mobile services on reducing the cost of waste logistics, improving the likelihood of safe waste disposal and collecting mobile payments from customers for their sanitation needs.
Product Health
Product Health will provide remote battery monitoring to three solar home system (SHS) manufacturers and distributors in Tanzania (NIWA), Bangladesh (BGEF) and Kenya (Barefoot Power). The seed grant will test the value of remote monitoring and Smart Batteries for producers and distributors of SHS for improving battery performance, reducing OPEX and supporting pre-emptive customer service and sales.
Sanergy
Sanergy, in partnership with SweetSense, will develop and test the use of sensors to determine the fill levels of Fresh Life Toilets, operator-owned waterless toilets designed for informal settlements. The seed grant will aim to test whether sensor technology works in the sanitation environment and is appropriate to optimise waste collection routes and reduce operating costs.
Smart Metering Systems
Smart Metering Systems plc in partnership with Mobile4Energy, Airtel Kenya, and My Green Electricity, will develop and deploy a mobile-enabled turnkey meter-to-cash solution for utilities supporting rural electrification in Kenya. The seed grant will test whether by using an independent cross-sector mediation platform, mobile operators’ existing prepaid billing and collections infrastructure can be used to service other industries such as utilities.
Upande
Upande, building from their previous work, will partner with BRCK and Kericho Water and Sanitation Company (KEWASCO) to develop and implement WaSHGIS 1.0, including a dashboard, job card, alert modules and low-cost solar-powered data loggers. The seed grant will test the value of a real time monitoring system to reduce non-revenue water losses for KEWASCO.
Wonderkid
Wonderkid will customize and deploy the IMUM (Integrated Mobile Utility Management) solution to four water utilities (Kisumu Water, Muranga Water, Nanyuki Water and Kakamega Busia Water) in Kenya to support mobile meter reading, self-meter reading and complaint management. The utilities partnership grant aims to test the viability of using mobile-enabled solutions with various utilities to improve operational efficiencies and customer service.
In the near future, we hope to dedicate more time and support to the many worthy applicants who were unsuccessful in our process due to the limitations of our grant fund, by sharing our pipeline with other interested grant makers and investors. If the opportunity is of interest to you please do not hesitate to get in touch with us – [email protected]