These agreements are part of the TDB Group’s regional energy access financing platform, supported by the World Bank’s ASCENT program as part of the “Mission 300” initiative to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.
Cape Town, June 19, 2025 – The Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group) has reached a milestone by signing a series of financial agreements with two major distributed energy (DRE) and clean cooking sector companies: Burn Manufacturing and Ignite Power, on the sidelines of the Africa Energy Forum (AEF). The immediate goal is to provide access to clean energy to three million people in Africa, including one million by the end of 2025.
A combination of loans and grants
The financial arrangement includes a loan to Burn Manufacturing as well as two results-based grants (RBF) disbursed through the Trade and Development Fund (TDF) to Burn and Ignite Power. These instruments are designed to catalyze the growth of private sector actors capable of deploying solar and clean cooking solutions on a large scale in underserved areas.
Four other companies are in an advanced stage of validation, which will eventually allow this mixed financing model to be generalized across the continent.
A strategic tripartite partnership
The agreement was signed in the presence of TDB Group President Admassu Tadesse, incoming Regional Director for Infrastructure at the World Bank Erik Fernstrom, Yariv Cohen (CEO of Ignite Power), and Leif Christian Haerum (CFO of Burn Manufacturing).
“This unique platform in Africa aims to combine commercial financing and incentive grants to stimulate local and scalable energy solutions,” emphasized Admassu Tadesse. According to Erik Fernstrom, “this bold regional approach is essential to bridge the electricity access gap.”
Connected technologies and carbon valorization
Burn Manufacturing plans to equip nearly 430,000 households in Mozambique, DRC, and Zambia with smart cooking devices connected to the IoT, generating carbon credits. The investment combines energy access, emission reduction, and return on investment through the resale of carbon credits, which will partially finance the equipment.
Yariv Cohen of Ignite Power praises it as a “structuring initiative for the massive electrification of the continent” through results-focused financing.
A planned increase in power
With the support of the TDB Group, its TDF fund, and the strategic support of the World Bank, selected companies will benefit from a unique financial lever combining debt, grants, and capital to accelerate their growth and impact capacity.
Since 2020, the TDB Group and the World Bank Group have committed over $1.5 billion in joint agreements, with over $500 million dedicated to expanding electrification in the so-called “frontier” economies of the continent.
Through ASCENT, TDB Group asserts its ambition to become a key player in climate finance and energy access in Africa.
