Jacqueline Novogratz

But less than 800 million want to off-grid solar.

That's less than 0.1 percent.

And it makes no sense.

Because climate finance isn't scarce.

It's scared.

And maybe at first glance, you can understand it.

Customers make a few dollars a day.

Macroeconomic headwinds, like inflation, depreciation, have pummeled markets.

Inequality, lack of jobs, in some places, uncertain leadership.

OK.

But if we focus only on narratives that talk about the problem, we miss the much bigger narrative of the opportunity.

Electricity is foundational.

And we can solve this problem, but we need the right kind of capital to open up new energy markets.

And a lot of people have been thinking for a long time about how to do that in ways that are more important today in a post-AID era.

My organization's been building on

our investing work for many years to create an initiative called The Hardest to Reach.

It's essentially a multilayered capital stack that's a blend of philanthropy, impact investing, funds from development finance institutions and a commercial bank.

It starts with 60 million dollars in philanthropy so that we can take early-stage, patient capital investments in those companies operating in the most challenging climates.

Philanthropy lets you go fast.

So already, we've invested 12 million dollars in eight companies in Sierra Leone, Benin, Malawi, the DRC, and most recently, Somalia.