This latest episode of Infra Dig returns to Africa for the third time in recent weeks for a fascinating discussion on an initiative that is blending public, private and philanthropic partners (PPPP) to achieve electrification across the continent.

IJGlobal editorial director Angus Leslie Melville is joined for this latest episode by Naomi Wagura, a director at the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), and Nicole Poindexter, founder and chief executive of Energicity Corp. 

This episode runs for a little more than 41 minutes and sees Naomi and Nicole (pictured below right) scope out the challenges ahead for achieving the organisation’s ambitious goals.

This latest episode can be accessed on Spotify (embedded above) as well as through Apple Podcasts and on the Amazon service. It is also hosted across a slew of other platforms, open access on all of them.

This is the third episode in recent weeks with a strong African component, following an interview with Philippe Valahu – chief executive of Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) – and Fola Fagbule head of financial advisory at the Africa Finance Corporation

In this latest episode, Naomi and Nicole talk about Mission 300 – a joint initiative by the World Bank, African Development Bank and GEAPP – that has set itself a goal to mobilise unprecedented financing to connect 300 million people to electricity grids across Africa by 2030.

The conversation starts with Kenya-based Naomi – an engineer by background – explaining the role that GEAPP plays and its involvement in energy policy across the continent.

She says: “GEAPP is an organisation that was setup in 2021 with the recognition that we needed to do something different to accelerate the pace of change on the energy poverty problem.

“We work across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, India and south east Asia. In every continent and every sub-region, we focus on what the government and community priorities are.

“In Africa, our focus is on reducing energy poverty and that’s both on the energy access side – which is a challenge for the majority of the continent – but also on energy transition challenges, for example in South Africa.”

Washington DC-based Nicole launched Energicity Corp 10 years ago and she has a background in utilities and software. One of her goals is to support a massive increase in renewable energy integration to grids.

She says: “As I learned more about the challenges of energy access in Africa, I felt this was a place where these questions of renewable energy and how people use energy can combine to deliver huge impact – to bring people out of living in circumstances that for many people are pre-industrial and help them live in a modern and efficient economy in the comfort we are used to living in, in the United States and Europe.”

Tune into this latest episode to hear more…