Inclusive Energy Opportunity: fully funded impact measurement and customer insights for energy start-ups
The Inclusive Opportunity is not open right now, but we welcome applications as submission of interest that we will consider for any future rounds.
In order to be considered for a project, your organisation must:
- Deliver products/services to end-users (B2C)
- Have an existing customer base
- Be early-stage (no significant investment to date)
- Be locally-owned and/or women-led
The 2023-24 Inclusive Energy Opportunity
In 2023, we were proud to announce the launch of the Inclusive Energy Opportunity – a new way to expand access to impact measurement and customer insights across the energy sector by providing fully funded surveys to underrepresented off-grid energy companies. Funded by UK Aid through the Transforming Energy Access programme, Good Energies, and DOEN Foundation, the project provided an opportunity for off-grid energy startups to access actionable and benchmarked impact insights through 60 Decibels Lean Data studies. Thanks to funding from Good Energies, we were able to offer another set of Inclusive Energy Opportunity projects in 2024. We’ve had over 460 applications to date and we hope to be able to expand this opportunity further.
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“Our experience with 60 Decibels has been excellent from start to finish. Gathering feedback in the field is often time-consuming and costly for impact companies. Being able to clearly identify our areas for improvement is invaluable. And being able to compare ourselves with the sector average is extremely useful, especially for convincing new financial partners.”
Morgane Vannier, Moon, 2023 Inclusive Energy Opportunity recipient
Companies can use the high-quality independent insights they receive to inform business development decisions, to maximize the impact they generate for customers, and to attract new investors.
Insights from the Inclusive Energy Opportunity can be found on page 47 of 60 Decibels’ Why Off-Grid Energy Matters 2024 report, delivering robust performance insights across 60 Decibels core indicators focusing on customer profile, experience, impact, satisfaction, and feedback.
Of the organizations that received impact insights:
- 100% say the insights/outputs, the Why Off-Grid Energy Matters 2024 report insights, and/or related activities opened up new valuable conversations, and furthered or reopened existing valuable conversations for their organisation.
- A third of participating organizations have received new funding or support since they received the outputs of the 60 Decibels work.
- 100% feel 60 Decibels insights/outputs will be ‘extremely important’ or ‘very important’ for securing future funding.
“We want to build on all our work to date in understanding the impact of the off-grid energy sector from a customer perspective by better representing all the companies out there doing great work,” said Kat Harrison, Director at 60 Decibels. “Through listening to customer voices, we can help fuel sector-wide discussions, support partners to make informed decisions, and provide insights for the effective deployment of funding.”
“We’re excited to support 60 Decibels to provide their valuable service to partners who have not typically had access, to make the insights more representative of the wide variety of companies serving customers across the globe,” Jitske Harms of DOEN Foundation added. “Through this work, a potential pipeline of companies can be highlighted and hopefully lead to greater access to energy for underserved communities.”
You can also check out our interactive Impact Benchmark dashboard which is updated regularly – providing sector wide access to the results. The dashboard provides data on aggregate sector, and sub-sector (product category), performance as well as showcasing the range and ranking of performance outcomes.
Oorja Development Solutions were one of the organizations selected
Oorja Development Solutions were selected as part of the 2023 Inclusive Energy Opportunity – they are a locally-owned energy company, selling solar water pumps in India.
93% of their customers said using their services has led to higher income for their families. They also shared that their lives have improved through convenience and effort reduction, timely irrigation and higher crop yield. Check out all the Oorja insights uncovered below.
Our plan is to expand this opportunity to include more funded projects in 2025 and beyond, please get in touch here if you would like to be involved and fund this work!