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In Zambia, fewer than 24 people live per square kilometre. Across these vast, scattered distances, extending the national grid is often economically unfeasible, leaving around half the population without reliable power.

Before a solar mini-grid reached Kaselo Village, Zeferino Tembo travelled nearly 50 kilometres to shell his sunflower harvest. Today, electricity from PowerCorner Zambia, enables him to run his own shelling business, processing up to 50 bags a day and serving farmers locally.

In this episode, we explore how PowerCorner Zambia, part of the Ignite Energy Access Group, is using smart solar mini-grids, battery storage and blended finance to turn electricity access into economic opportunity. With 31 mini-grids now operating, the company is helping reshape rural life while contributing to Zambia’s ambitious 1,000 Mini-Grid Initiative.

It is a story of how reliable power can strengthen businesses, schools, clinics and entire communities—one village at a time.

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Host Nico is joined by Aimee Jenks from the Global Platform for Action on Sustainable Energy in Displacement Settings, Desalegn Woldemariam, Managing Director of Humanitarian Energy Plc in Ethiopia, and Douglas Cox, who leads Renewvia’s work in East Africa from Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.

Together, they discuss what it really takes to electrify refugee settlements in Kenya and Ethiopia. The conversation explores how camps differ from rural villages, what electricity is used for in displacement settings, and why power is still often overlooked in humanitarian planning.

They also unpack the realities of financing, subsidies, diesel lock-in, private-sector risk, UN compounds as anchor clients, and the regulatory conditions needed to scale mini-grids and energy access for both refugees and host communities.

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Everyone in our sector has heard about Mission 300. But who knows the range of instruments and processes behind this term?

We sit down with World Bank representatives Jan Kappen (Regional DARES - Africa West) and James Knuckles (ASCENT - Africa East), plus Lamide Niyi-Afuye, CEO of the African Mini-Grid Developers Association, to unpack Mission 300 and why it could be a turning point for energy access in Africa and the mini-grid sector.

We get specific about what makes Mission 300 different: country compacts endorsed at the top of government, detailed reform roadmaps, and real consequences when timelines slip. That takes us straight into the issues that decide whether mini-grids can scale sustainably: cost-reflective tariffs, clear rules for grid encroachment, licensing versus concession models, and the need to stop treating long-term operations of schools and health center power systems as something a one-time CapEx subsidy can fix. You will also hear why the private sector has to treat policy advocacy as a core part of commercial risk management.

Then we move from strategy to delivery. We compare the West Africa-focused DARES approach with the East Africa-focused Ascent program and its “menu” of support across grid densification, distributed renewable energy, and policy and planning. We talk through the financing stack developers actually need, including results-based financing, debt via regional lines of credit, equity vehicles like Zafiri, and complementary patient capital options for smaller ticket sizes. We also dig into electrifying schools and health centres through energy as a service, stacked with digital connectivity, and backed by long-term payment security.

If you care about electrification, mini-grids, distributed renewable energy, and what it takes to turn big targets into money that moves, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with one operator or policymaker, and leave a review, what reform would unlock the most mini-grid scale where you work?

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