Barefoot Power Wins G-20 Award

Nov. 5, 2010 - PRLog -- Barefoot Power supplies power to poor people in developing communities in Africa, formed an innovative trade fund with Dutch microfinance investor, Oikocredit and the European Infrastructure Fund. As founder Stewart Craine explains, the idea of behind the fund is to accelerate the development of SMEs through that difficult start-up phase.

“This venture debt model allows SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs to grow quickly from start-up level through successful sales, with 100% growth rates often achieved in the first six to 12 months,” he explains.

The project is one of 14 winners out of 350 proposals submitted. Three of these will be selected as the Peoples’ Choices based on a popular vote. You can find out more about the finalists, including Barefoot Power, and cast your vote here. The deadline, though, is pretty tight. We’re told all votes need to be in by Friday (i.e tomorrow) at 5pm.

Access to capital for small businesses and start-ups is one of the most pressing issues of the moment. Banks continue to be cautious about lending while speculation mounts that the government may backtrack on a prior commitment to encourage greater lending from banks to small businesses.

It is tempting to criticise the banks – especially those which have received large sums of government bailout money – for failing to increase lending. However, public disapproval will be unlikely to encourage greater capital flows.

One might also venture – tentatively perhaps – a small word of sympathy for the banks’ position. On the one hand they are being asked to invest more responsibly; on the other they are expected to increase lending to small businesses. By nature these inevitably offer high risk propositions. One contact I spoke to, who shall remain nameless, recently likened the situation to racing drivers receiving the instruction: “drive faster but don’t crash.”

It prompts the question: can social enterprise play a role in helping small and emerging businesses succeed? This is certainly the view of civil society minister Nick Hurd who hopes the government’s Big Society Bank can not only help businesses through troublesome early months, but also encourage greater investment from the private sector, as yesterday’s blog commented.

Whether that will happen remains to be seen, but as a ClearlySo member, we wish Barefoot Power luck in the final vote off.

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