Access to reliable, clean energy remains a critical challenge across sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of people live beyond the grid, relying on expensive and polluting alternatives such as kerosene or diesel generators. The consequences are far-reaching: limited educational opportunities, constrained small-business growth, and higher household costs.
Impact investor Acumen aims to tackle this challenge through its $250 million Hardest-to-Reach (H2R) Initiative, a multi-pronged effort to bring affordable clean energy to the continent’s most underserved communities.
The H2R Initiative, launched at COP28 in 2023 with a $65 million anchor investment from the Green Climate Fund, combines public, private, and philanthropic capital to fund clean energy solutions in areas that traditional financing often overlooks.
With its recent $250 million fundraising, H2R now has the scale to reach nearly 70 million people across 17 countries, including 50 million first-time energy users. The initiative also aims to reduce carbon emissions by approximately four million tonnes, offering both social and environmental impact.
Acumen structures H2R around two complementary strategies: Catalyze and Amplify. Catalyze provides catalytic capital through a mix of equity, debt, and grants. Its purpose is to lower risk for energy enterprises operating in hard-to-reach markets, helping them grow while maintaining affordability for end-users. Amplify, on the other hand, is a debt fund designed to scale companies that have already demonstrated success, allowing them to deepen their reach and handle larger transactions. This combination ensures that both early-stage and growth-stage energy providers can participate, creating a sustainable pipeline of projects.
The latest fundraising includes the final close of Amplify at $180 million, complemented by $7.8 million from the Swiss Agency for Development, as well as $18 million in grant capital dedicated to impact-based rewards for borrowers.
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These resources give Acumen the flexibility to support a variety of financing structures and reduce the financial risk that has historically hindered energy deployment in remote areas.
H2R focuses on tangible outcomes. By targeting communities that have never had reliable electricity, it enables new economic opportunities. Schools can operate after dark, students gain access to digital learning tools, and small businesses can expand production hours.
In turn, households save on costly and hazardous alternatives, improving both health and financial stability. By aggregating projects across 17 countries, H2R also builds investor confidence in the off-grid sector, attracting more private capital into areas that previously appeared too risky.
Acumen emphasizes accountability and measurable impact. Investments are closely monitored, with performance tied to outcomes such as the number of first-time energy users reached and CO2 emissions avoided. This data-driven approach ensures that the $250 million capital is used efficiently and that energy access projects deliver both social and environmental returns.
The H2R Initiative represents a model for blended finance in the global energy transition. By combining grants, concessional debt, and equity, it unlocks opportunities for markets that would otherwise remain underserved. The structure also aligns incentives across multiple stakeholders: donors, private investors, and local energy enterprises all share in the success of the projects, creating a self-reinforcing ecosystem of growth and sustainability.
Acumen’s $250 million Hardest-to-Reach Initiative is a strategic intervention designed to transform energy access across sub-Saharan Africa. By providing capital, reducing risk, and supporting both new and expanding energy providers, H2R addresses the fundamental barriers that have kept millions of people off the grid.
The initiative’s scale, targeting nearly 70 million people, combined with its measurable outcomes, positions it as one of the most significant efforts to bring clean energy to underserved African communities. In a region where access to electricity can determine educational, economic, and health outcomes, H2R’s work has the potential to be transformative.
By Thuita Gatero, Managing Editor, Africa Digest News. He specializes in conversations around data centers, AI, cloud infrastructure, and energy.
