EEP Africa invites companies, start-ups and social enterprises to submit applications for innovative early-stage clean energy projects in active development phase in Southern and Eastern Africa. All applications need to demonstrate a clear need and additionality for EEP Africa financing.
The deadline for all applications is 12 May 2023 at 12:00 (Helsinki time, GMT +3).
Who can apply?
Private companies, start-ups and social enterprises from any country with early-stage projects in one or more of the EEP Africa target countries (Botswana, Burundi, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) are welcome to apply. All applicants must be registered legal entities for at least six (6) months prior to the EoI opening date. Applicants can be registered in any country but need to demonstrate local engagement. Applications from women entrepreneurs and locally-led organisations are strongly encouraged.
All applicants must meet the eligibility criteria defined in the CfP 2023 Application Guidelines.
Financing
Applicants can apply for grants and repayable grants between EUR 200,000 —1,000,000. The minimum required co-financing is 30-50% of the total project budget depending on the project phase and company maturity. Please read the CfP 2023 Application Guidelines and Project Implementation Manual for more concrete guidance on financing.
How to apply?
The application process is a two-stage process; Expression of Interest (EoI) and a detailed Full Proposal. After the EOI has been submitted, EEP Africa will hold a virtual bootcamp followed by pitching sessions for those applicants that are longlisted. Based on the pitch-interviews, applicants are shortlisted to proceed to full proposal stage.
Please carefully read the Application Guidelines before beginning the application process. The guidelines and other documents listed below provide detailed information on eligibility and evaluation criteria.
- Application Guidelines: Call for Proposals 2023 (PDF)
- NDF Environmental & Social Policy 2021 (PDF)
- NDF Policy on Anticorruption and Integrity (PDF)
- Project Implementation Manual April 2023 (PDF)
- FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)
Please note that all proposals must be submitted through the EEP Africa online application platform. Proposals that are sent through e-mail will not be considered.
Please register to the EEP Africa online application platform. During the application process, you can save your edits and continue to work on your application by signing in with the same account. Remember to save your edits each time you work on it. Once you have fully completed your application (Expression of interest), submit it to EEP Africa by pressing ‘Submit’. After submission, changes to the Expression of Interest are no longer possible.
Once you have started the application process, we strongly recommend that you use the in-platform support function to communicate any questions or problems you may have. If this is not possible, please send your enquiries to cfp@eepafrica.org. Any questions or clarifications regarding the application form and process are to be sent no later than Friday, 5 May 2023.
If you encounter problems when registering into SmartME, it might be that you already have a SmartME account. Such situations may arise, if you have applied for other funding where they also use the SmartME system. Here are the instructions on how to proceed:
To access the application in EEP Africa fund, kindly log into SmartME with your existing credentials (email and password) directly via EEP Africa webpage, or by navigating to the dedicated SmartME link: https://smartme.adalia.fi/login/EEP-Africa. Email and password should be entered in the top-right corner of the screen, next to the “Sign in” button. There is no need to register if you already have a SmartME account. If you do not see the “Email” and “Password” fields in the top-right corner and instead you see only “Sign out” button, please click on the button to sign out of the system, and once again navigate to the URL provided above for EEP-Africa fund.
Indicative Timeline
- 14 April 2023: Call for Proposals opens
- 12 May 12:00 (Helsinki time, GMT +3): Application deadline
- 29 May 2023: Communication to longlisted applicants
- 31 May 2023: Virtual Bootcamp
- 5-16 June 2023: Pitching sessions
- 23 June 2023: Communication to shortlisted applicants
- 23 June – 18 August 2023: Full Proposal submission
- End of September 2023: Final decision
- October – November 2023: Contracting period
- 2024-2026: Project implementation (max 24 months)