Shell Foundation

#ShellFoundation empowers underserved populations to earn a living income through access to clean energy in Africa and Asia.

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

🌱 When 30–50% of perishable produce is lost before reaching consumers, farmers and micro-entrepreneurs lose income too.

Better technology can help, but lasting scale depends on business models that are affordable for customers and commercially viable for suppliers.

A new report from @ShellFoundation and @500GlobalVC, developed with support from the Transforming Energy Access (#TEA) platform through funding from the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (#FCDO), explores the most promising pathways to advance sustainable cooling and clean cooking in Kenya, Nigeria, and India.

The findings highlight clear opportunities in first-mile cooling, helping protect agricultural incomes, and in clean cooking solutions that can strengthen margins for small food businesses.

The focus is simple: back solutions that can raise incomes, lower emissions and scale sustainably.

🔗 Read the full report: https://t.co/orGf4UHwIy

#CleanEnergy #ClimateFinance #Cooling #CleanCooking

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

🏍️ We’re pleased to welcome Yamaha Motor to the Africa Corporate Innovation Program.

Delivered by Shell Foundation in partnership with Double Feather Partners, the programme helps connect Japanese corporates with African startups to test practical solutions in real-world markets.

Through this collaboration, Yamaha Motor will work with selected startups and local partners across East Africa to explore new mobility services across three areas: electric mobility, mobility financing and mobility ecosystem operations.

Supported by UK International Development through the RIDE programme, this work aims to generate evidence for scalable partnerships that can improve access to transport, logistics and economic opportunity while supporting lower-emission mobility.

🔗 Read the full press release to learn more: https://t.co/bwIQ958HSK

#SustainableMobility #Innovation #Africa #ClimateFinance

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

📊 New trends. New signals. New opportunities.

Our latest #MarketIntelligenceDigest explores some of the developments shaping inclusive energy transition markets across #Africa and #Asia, from evolving electric mobility policies and battery-swapping ecosystems to clean cooking finance, digital commerce infrastructure and changing agricultural value chains.

This edition highlights:
🔹New policy momentum for electric mobility in South Africa, Morocco, Egypt and Kenya
🔹Growing investment and commercial progress in e-mobility and clean cooling markets
🔹The increasing importance of interoperability, localisation and after-sales services
🔹Emerging insights on farmer incomes, diversification and resilient agricultural value chains

We also share key industry events taking place over the coming months, including the Africa Food Systems Forum, Climate Week NYC and Africa E-Mobility Week.

Read the latest digest here: https://t.co/kAiL4WxCot

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

🌱 Africa’s next generation of agribusinesses does not need to be built from scratch.

Family-owned agribusinesses across Africa have built trusted farmer networks, deep market knowledge and strong processing capabilities. Yet many still face barriers to reaching new markets and accessing long-term capital.

That is why Shell Foundation has invested alongside Small Foundation in Unmarkets, in partnership with the UK Government through @FCDOGovUK.

Unmarkets partners with established agribusinesses to build new businesses that combine local expertise with brand development, management capacity and long-term capital.

Across its portfolio, Unmarkets aims to reach 200,000 smallholder farmers, at least 60% women, and increase farmer incomes by at least 20%.

Stronger businesses. More reliable markets. More value for farmers.

Find out more: https://t.co/75C7H5j91v

#SmallholderFarmers #Agribusiness #ImpactInvesting #Africa

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

🌾 @ShellFoundation Business Advisor Devi Murthy will be speaking at the AVPN Global Conference 2026 in New Delhi on 27 August.

Devi will join the session Financing Farmer-Led Food Systems in South and Southeast Asia, exploring a persistent challenge: how to get more capital flowing to the small farms that underpin much of the region’s food supply.

The discussion will look at the barriers holding investment back, where collaboration can help, and the growing opportunities to build more inclusive and investable food systems.

📍 New Delhi
📅 Thursday, 27 August | 2.30–3.45pm

#ClimateFinance #SmallholderFarmers #FoodSystems

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

🌱 We're delighted to welcome @AnfaniEnergy to @ShellFoundation's portfolio.

🇳🇬 Across #Nigeria, millions of micro-entrepreneurs rely on expensive, unreliable power that limits business growth and profitability. Through this partnership, we are supporting Anfani to pilot a shared productive-use energy model that gives microenterprises, particularly women-led businesses, access to clean-energy-powered equipment through affordable pay-per-use, subscription and lease-to-own models.

Together, we aim to demonstrate a scalable pathway to lower energy costs, increase productivity and incomes, and accelerate access to clean energy for underserved businesses.

Learn more about Anfani and our partnership: https://t.co/azhHgTmeVc

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

👩🏾‍🌾👨🏻‍⚕️ At Shell Foundation, we start with the customer, not the technology.

Our work is built around three core groups: smallholder farmers, transporters and micro-entrepreneurs. Each faces different pressures, but the question is the same: can a clean energy solution help them earn more, reduce costs or run their business more reliably?

That is why we talk about customers, not beneficiaries.

Before we back a solution, we look at what matters in the real world: affordability, productivity, reliability and access to finance. Because even the most innovative technology will not scale if it does not make economic sense for the person using it.

Across the segments we focus on, productive uses of clean energy can unlock 40–100% income uplift, depending on the customer and solution.

For us, scale starts with solving a real economic problem.

Find out more about how we work and the customers we serve: https://t.co/ehiikS6mup

#CleanEnergy #InclusiveGrowth #ClimateFinance #CatalyticCapital

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

💵 What happens when a promising #market is still considered too risky for commercial investors?

That is where catalytic capital can make the difference: by taking on some of the early risk, it helps build the evidence commercial lenders need before they are ready to invest at scale.

Shell Foundation uses grants, guarantees and first-loss capital to test new models and reduce that initial risk.

When those models prove they work, banks and investors can enter the market with much larger amounts of capital.

We have seen this in practice in India, where a $200,000 loan guarantee helped demonstrate that women micro-entrepreneurs could be reliable borrowers, with zero defaults. That evidence helped unlock more than $10 million in mainstream bank lending.

The principle is simple: Shell Foundation does not aim to replace commercial finance. We take targeted early risk to help make markets investable, so commercial capital can follow and solutions can reach far greater scale.

That is the multiplier effect shown here.

#CatalyticCapital #BlendedFinance #ImpactInvesting #FinancialInclusion

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

After 17 years, Richard Gomes will be stepping down as our Chief Programme Officer this Autumn.

Since 2009, Richard has played a key role in shaping the Foundation’s strategy, partnerships and approach to inclusive finance and market transformation – helping us scale solutions that have enhanced access to energy and mobility for >290 million people, created >930,000 jobs, avoided 73 million tonnes CO2 and leveraged $10.5 billion in follow-on investment.

Thank you, Richard, for your tremendous contribution and for the judgement, integrity and values-based leadership you brought to our mission.

We wish you every success in the next chapter of your leadership journey!

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

⚡ What does it take to convince commercial banks to finance first-time borrowers?

For many low-income entrepreneurs in India, accessing finance for income-generating electric vehicles remained a major barrier. Not because the model didn't work, but because lenders still saw these borrowers as too risky.

In 2023, Shell Foundation partnered with Mufin Green Finance to help change that.

Through a targeted First Loan Default Guarantee (FLDG), the partnership helped reduce perceived risk and unlock mainstream banking capital for borrowers long excluded from the financial system.

Since then, Mufin has grown into one of India's leading green finance institutions.

🔹 230,000+ borrowers reached
🔹 $387 million+ in cumulative disbursements
🔹 $162 million+ in assets under management
🔹 Financing electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and solar energy solutions across India

This is what market building looks like, using catalytic capital to unlock commercial investment and expand access to clean, income-generating technologies.

Read more: https://t.co/WHIpMns20F

#MarketBuilding #FinancialInclusion #CleanMobility #India #CatalyticCapital

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

📷 Clean cooking is one of Africa’s biggest development opportunities.

Millions of households still rely on wood, charcoal and other polluting fuels, impacting health, forests, emissions, and the lives of women and girls.

Expanding access to clean cooking is not just an energy challenge: it’s an opportunity to improve livelihoods, strengthen public health and support sustainable growth.

At Shell Foundation, we work with partners to help make clean cooking solutions more affordable, accessible and scalable across Africa.

Swipe through to explore the key figures behind the challenge.

📷 Learn more about how we’re working to expand access to clean cooking solutions: https://t.co/au9RyloH5Q

#CleanCooking #Africa #EnergyAccess #InclusiveGrowth

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

🌱 Innovation only matters if it reaches the people who need it most.

Across Kenya, climate-smart technologies are helping smallholder farmers reduce losses, increase productivity and strengthen their incomes.

A recent feature by @RTIOfficiel showcases the people and partnerships behind this progress, from refrigerated milk containers that reduce post-harvest losses to solar-powered irrigation systems that help farmers grow more while reducing energy costs.

As Juliette Keeley, Shell Foundation's Chief Impact Officer, explains, supporting enterprises like SunCulture is about making clean technologies more affordable and accessible so that more farmers can benefit from them.

For years, Shell Foundation has worked alongside @SunCultureKenya to help reduce the cost of solar irrigation and expand access to solutions that improve livelihoods while lowering emissions.

🎥 Watch the full feature below.

#SmallholderFarmers #ClimateInnovation #InclusiveGrowth #Kenya

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

📈 Better incomes for smallholder dairy farmers start with stronger value chains.

Across Maharashtra, our partnership with Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI) and Govind Dairy is helping farmers improve milk quality, strengthen animal health and access more rewarding markets, enabling them to capture more value from every litre they produce.

🎥 Watch how this partnership is helping strengthen dairy farming in rural India.

#SmallholderFarmers #InclusiveGrowth #FoodSystems #India

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

🥛 Every litre of milk has value. Too many farmers struggle to capture it.

That's why Shell Foundation is partnering with Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI) and Govind Dairy to help smallholder dairy farmers in Maharashtra access premium markets, improve milk quality and increase their incomes.

Across rural India, limited access to cooling infrastructure and formal markets often prevents smallholder dairy farmers from securing the best prices for their milk.

By expanding village-level milk chilling, quality testing, and digital traceability, the partnership is helping farmers improve milk quality, strengthen market access, and capture more value from every litre they produce.

This partnership reflects Shell Foundation's wider commitment to building inclusive, climate-smart agricultural value chains that enable smallholder farmers to raise their incomes while lowering emissions.

🔗 Read more: https://t.co/XIVcnloH7I

#SmallholderFarmers #InclusiveGrowth #FoodSystems

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

⚡In emerging markets, scaling e-mobility is closely tied to the ecosystems that support clean mobility businesses to grow sustainably.

Ghana’s latest EV charging market study is a useful reminder of this. While infrastructure remains a key constraint, the long-term viability of clean mobility markets is also shaped by financing conditions, utilisation rates and business models suited to local realities.

This is why accelerating clean mobility requires a broader market-building lens. Supporting the transition is not only about expanding access to technology, but also about helping businesses address the structural constraints that can slow adoption or limit commercial viability.

Through partnerships such as our work with @WeAreKofa and @AmpersandEnergy, supported by the UK Government via the @FCDOGovUK, Shell Foundation supports approaches designed around the realities of urban transport markets, with the aim of helping build the conditions for viable clean mobility ecosystems to emerge over time.

#EMobility #EnergyTransition #InclusiveGrowth

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

🚛 As electric freight expands across India, ensuring drivers benefit from the transition will be critical to its long-term success.

Our latest report with @SmartFreightCtr explores how more inclusive financing models can help unlock that opportunity.

Drawing on insights from more than 1,500 freight drivers across 11 states, the study examines how electric vehicles are reshaping livelihoods and what it will take to improve incomes while accelerating freight decarbonisation.

The findings show that drivers operating electric vehicles can earn around 25% more than in their previous occupations. They also highlight the importance of affordable finance, predictable demand and practical pathways to vehicle ownership in making electric freight accessible to more people.

Building a cleaner freight sector means creating economic opportunities for the people who keep supply chains moving every day.

Read the full report: https://t.co/ltTRH4BIX9

#ElectricMobility #InclusiveGrowth #SustainableTransport #India

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

Excited to join Catalyst Fund’s $30M second close, backing climate resilience founders across Africa. Looking forward to supporting the next generation of solutions in this space with @TheCatalystFund. Read more: https://t.co/vy1Q3xWUCO

[Shell Foundation @ShellFoundation]

🌍 What do today's global shocks reveal about where capital should flow?

This was the central question discussed during a private dinner co-hosted by Shell Foundation and @500GlobalVC at London Climate Action Week.

While economic, geopolitical and climate shocks continue to create uncertainty, the conversation highlighted an important point: they can also reveal where demand is strongest and where investment can have the greatest impact.

🔹 Electric mobility
🔹 Productive use of energy
🔹 Sustainable cooling
🔹 Climate-smart agriculture
🔹 Heat resilience

Across these sectors, the message was consistent: many of the solutions already exist. The challenge is ensuring that capital, partnerships and policy can move quickly enough to help them scale.

The discussion also reinforced that no single type of capital can do this alone. Philanthropy, public funding and commercial investment each have a role to play in reducing risk and unlocking growth.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for a thoughtful discussion.

#LCAW #ClimateFinance #InclusiveGrowth