Nigeria’s $3.2 million energy project could serve as a harbinger for other emerging markets. It focuses on solar mini-grids, which distribution companies long dismissed as too risky to integrate into their networks. But that’s changing now that the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet stepped in with seed capital and hands-on technical expertise to absorb the initial risks.

The pilot, driven by the solar grid developer Husk Power from the United Capital Infrastructure Fund, has been successful. As such, regulators have adjusted their course, requiring utilities to source part of their supply from renewable sources. The result? The World Bank committed $127 million to expand the approach, along with $50 million dedicated to productive-use technologies like irrigation pumps and cold storage units (refrigeration for perishables). What was once a fringe idea is now becoming mainstream in Nigeria’s energy system, showing how modest, well-placed interventions can trigger systemic change.

Nigeria’s story is more than an anecdote; it serves as a blueprint for Africa and the Global South. Small, well-organized interventions can unlock market logjams, attract large-scale finance, and generate livelihoods while cutting emissions. In a continent where the United Nations estimated in 2023 that 600 million people still lack electricity and the youth population is expected to grow by 138 million over the next 25 years, the stakes are incredibly high. With risk-absorbing funding, aligned policies, and local participation, universal energy access moves from being an aspiration to a realistic goal.

“We take risks where markets are stuck, we embed data and technical expertise to prove what works, and we design with governments and communities so that successful pilots can scale into........

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