Posted on October 20, 2008 - by lincolnw

Beyond Microfinance: Eliminating Energy Poverty

In honor of Blog Action Day, Triple Pundit is pleased to highlight E+Co. A public purpose investment company (read: non-profit investment co), E+Co goes beyond microfinance by providing local energy entrepreneurs in developing countries with business development services as well as investment capitol. Using their enterprise centered business model E+Co investees provide clean, affordable energy to homes, businesses, and communities around the world. As E+Co works to fight poverty and climate change, they are creating a new energy finance paradigm, building off best practices from the philanthropic and venture capital sectors.

E+Co Chief Executive Officer, Philip LaRocco founded E+Co 14 years ago with the conviction that, “energy is key to alleviating poverty.” Now they have offices in ten countries and are invested in businesses in 28 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. E+Co investees enable 4.3 million people to access clean energy. The field offices assess each enterprise with metrics that reflect the triple bottom line, including job creation, income growth, CO2 offsets, land reforested, and finance leveraged and repaid. Innovation is rewarded where entrepreneurs focus on sustainable solutions to local energy needs…{click this link to read the rest of the article}