I am currently considering getting involved in a young charity to support Energy related startups across Africa. However, I do have a hard time estimating the effectiveness of this endeavour and thinking this through from an EA perspective.
The general idea is the following:
Many places in Africa still suffer from Energy Poverty
There are many local entrepreneurs on the continent with domain knowledge tackling many of the most pressing issues
Locally, not much early stage investment is available and the entrepreneurs lack international visibility for attracting funding from overseas to get their ideas off the ground
The charity would provide some initial funding (e.g. pilot projects, necessary experiments) and international visibility to the startups (e.g. being the bridge to international Seed VCs)
Impact metrics to track effectiveness would be around startup success rates, job creation, follow-on funding and CO2 reductions
The charity itself ran a first pilot (financed with ~$200k by https://www.get-invest.eu ) supporting 8 Startups (5x Kenya, 1x Nigeria, 1x Rwanda, 1x Ghana).
Initial results seem promising even though the actual impact has not been properly measured yet. The Startups have raised in total $850k in follow-on funding through grants and/or investors. However, to be fair, it is probably not right to attribute the whole $850k to the impact of the charity, since some of the good startups would likely have raised money via grants either way.
A few reasons why my intuition is that it can generally be an effective thing to pursue:
Supporting local startups can have positive second-order effects on local economic development, job creation etc.
I am still very much at the beginning of my endeavour and I am most certainly biased in my intuitions by how much I’d like this project to succeed. This is why I am seeking some thoughts and feedback from the EA community.
In particular, where I’d like to get some guidance:
Are there any good resources or discussions around the effectiveness Startup support in Africa ?
Are there any good resources or discussions around the effectiveness energy poverty reduction in Africa ?
If not, any recommendations how to think about this from an EA perspective?
Any immediate blindspots you see that I should be aware off?
Any good sources or contacts you could share?
Any other ideas that are worth considering in this context?
Charity to support startups in emerging markets
Hey community,
I am currently considering getting involved in a young charity to support Energy related startups across Africa. However, I do have a hard time estimating the effectiveness of this endeavour and thinking this through from an EA perspective.
The general idea is the following:
Many places in Africa still suffer from Energy Poverty
There are many local entrepreneurs on the continent with domain knowledge tackling many of the most pressing issues
Locally, not much early stage investment is available and the entrepreneurs lack international visibility for attracting funding from overseas to get their ideas off the ground
The charity would provide some initial funding (e.g. pilot projects, necessary experiments) and international visibility to the startups (e.g. being the bridge to international Seed VCs)
Impact metrics to track effectiveness would be around startup success rates, job creation, follow-on funding and CO2 reductions
The charity itself ran a first pilot (financed with ~$200k by https://www.get-invest.eu ) supporting 8 Startups (5x Kenya, 1x Nigeria, 1x Rwanda, 1x Ghana).
Initial results seem promising even though the actual impact has not been properly measured yet. The Startups have raised in total $850k in follow-on funding through grants and/or investors. However, to be fair, it is probably not right to attribute the whole $850k to the impact of the charity, since some of the good startups would likely have raised money via grants either way.
A few reasons why my intuition is that it can generally be an effective thing to pursue:
Energy poverty is a big problem in emerging markets (increased energy security is positively correlated with economic growth and health improvements) (see for example: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/cz85mufYwiiukpowD/clean-cookstoves-may-be-competitive-with-givewell )
African economies will grow energy demand and ideally need to do so using sustainable technologies
Entrepreneurship is a high-impact area (Entrepreneurship in emerging markets was discussed at length here: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/M44rw22o5dbrRaA8F/why-and-how-to-start-a-for-profit-company-serving-emerging )
Supporting local startups can have positive second-order effects on local economic development, job creation etc.
I am still very much at the beginning of my endeavour and I am most certainly biased in my intuitions by how much I’d like this project to succeed. This is why I am seeking some thoughts and feedback from the EA community.
In particular, where I’d like to get some guidance:
Are there any good resources or discussions around the effectiveness Startup support in Africa ?
Are there any good resources or discussions around the effectiveness energy poverty reduction in Africa ?
If not, any recommendations how to think about this from an EA perspective?
Any immediate blindspots you see that I should be aware off?
Any good sources or contacts you could share?
Any other ideas that are worth considering in this context?
Thanks in advance!