Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurial thinking and acting is characterized by the desire to permanently change a situation with creative solutions for the better. The promotion of local entrepreneurship therefore serves at the same time to strengthen civic engagement and to build a society.
Local solar companies, which are majority-owned by local entrepreneurs, are the main drivers of innovation, poverty reduction, job creation and social inclusion. Every local company that creates jobs and provides a livelihood for its employees encourages more entrepreneurs to set up their own ideas. Local entrepreneurship is an energy source that is important for building a society.
We promote local entrepreneurship in the field of decentralized solar energy supply with two initiatives:
Several local solar companies in Uganda have joined forces in 2018 to form a cooperative: “Association of Sendea Members Uganda”. Through the merger, the members want to join forces in a market dominated by international solar companies and thus strengthen their companies.
The most important tasks of the non-profit cooperative:
- Promoting the exchange of experience with each other
- Joint training measures
- Acting as a consortium towards solar manufacturers, organisations and investors
- Exchange with solar entrepreneurs in other (East African) countries
Sendea is supported by the Solar Energy Foundation in a variety of ways, including:
- The member companies are entrusted with the implementation of charitable projects
- We support the development of the Sendea Academy, a manufacturer-independent training institute for the Ugandan solar sector.
- We promote the exchange of entrepreneurs among themselves.
- We connect Sendea with international organizations, investors and manufacturers
- We lend to Sendea for solar projects
Startup| Energy is a joint initiative of the Solar Energy Foundation and the University of Freiburg to promote regional and international exchanges between start-ups in the field of decentralised, renewable energy supply in Europe and East Africa.
Due to their different starting points, energy start-ups in Europe and Africa set different accents, but the diversity of experiences offers unprecedented opportunities. After all, changing perspectives and thinking in a wider horizon offer decisive advantages if one wants to arrive at smart and sustainable solutions in one’s own context. The idea of Startup|Energy: Learn from other local contexts for your own startup idea.
The core of Startup|Energy are energy camps: The two- to three-month energy camps for selected start-ups take place in Freiburg and Kampala on a quarterly basis. The events are interrelated and aimed at promoting the exchange of startups in both regions.
