From 29 May to 8 July 2019, EDF invites African SME and start-up companies to participate in a call for projects as part of the third edition of EDF Pulse Africa Competition Award. Key objective: spotlighting and supporting African entrepreneurs committed to the development of African energy industry. Endowments ranging from 5 000 to 15 000 Euros as well as a comprehensive support programme are at stake.
Riding on the success of the first two editions, EDF is back with the 3rd edition of the EDF Pulse Africa Awards, aiming to spotlight and support African entrepreneurs committed to the developing African energy industry. For over a month, SME with less than 50 employees and start-up companies are invited to participate in three categories: off-grid power generation; electrical power applications and services; access to water through the use of electricity (farming and drinking water).
For this 3rd edition, EDF innovates for the sake of SME and start-up companies from 7 countries where the EDF group operates, including Ghana. Following a project-screening through the registration platform (www.africa-pulse.edf.com), entrants from Ghana will be invited to present their projects to a local panel of experts on September 17th, 2019. This will be arranged in conjunction with African incubators and institutional partners. Selected projects will directly be entered into the final stage of the competition, which will take place in Paris.
Valérie Levkov, EDF’s Senior Vice President in charge of the Group’s Africa business: “Since the launch of the EDF Pulse Africa Award Competition in 2017, EDF has provided 8 African start-ups with support. In its first two years of existence, the competition also helped us to build up a network of African incubators and training organisations to provide continuous and locally-based oversight. We are now making the competition’s framework evolve in order to reveal, directly in the field, new technologies and products that will address the African continent’s energy challenges as well as aligning them with our business portfolio in Africa”.
Customised assistance
In addition to project development endowments ranging from 5 000 to 15 000 Euros, prize-winners will be comprehensively supported:
- Operational/financial advice
- Project development partnerships with local players such as “Energy Generation” (incubator and training centre specifically geared towards energy start-ups, based in Togo) and with EDF experts, via its subsidiary EDF Pulse Croissance www.edf.fr/pulse/croissance
- · Access to EDF’s innovation ecosystem: EDF’s own R&D and creativity labs
“EDF AFRICA TOUR” in 7 countries
Following a project-screening through the registration platform (www.africa-pulse.edf.com), SME and start-up companies from 7 countries where EDF operates (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire Morocco, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Togo) will be invited to present their projects to a local panel of experts on the following dates:
- MOROCCO: Wednesday 4 September in Casablanca
- SENEGAL: Thursday 12 September in Dakar
- GHANA: Tuesday 17 September in Accra
- SOUTH AFRICA: Thursday 19 September in Johannesburg
- COTE D’IVOIRE: Tuesday 24 September in Abidjan
- TOGO: Tuesday 1 October in Lomé
- CAMEROON: Thursday 3 October in Yaoundé
Entrants from the 47 other African countries will be pre-selected using the same criteria as in previous years via the on-line platform: https://africa-pulse.edf.com/. The final and award ceremony will be held in Paris on the 21st of November.
“EDF Pulse Africa 2018” in Ghana
Last year, the 2nd prize was given to Black Star Energy Ltd, a company based in Ghana and specialized in the development of mini-grids. The company already operates 15 of them in the country serving 6500 people living in rural communities in the Ashanti region. The system has a very high capability factor (over 98%) and allows clients to track their energy usage and pay their bills via smartphone. The company also launched a successful leasing program in 2018 allowing their customers to lease high quality energy efficient freezers at a low cost so that they can start up businesses in their communities.
Olivier Clément, EDF representative in Ghana: “You are a start-up or a SME and you would like to be supported by EDF? Be part of EDF Pulse Africa 2019. It’s time to apply to EDF Pulse Africa directly on our website: www.africa-pulse.edf.com!”
A key player in energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated electricity company, active in all areas of the business: generation, transmission, distribution, energy supply and trading, energy services. A global leader in low-carbon energies, the Group has developed a diversified generation mix based on nuclear power, hydropower, new renewable energies and thermal energy. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to approximately 39.8 million customers, including 29.7 million in France. The Group generated consolidated sales of €69 billion in 2018. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.