Tech Companies Get $2.3m Grant to power Healthcare Facilities in Africa

Emma Okonji

Havenhill Synergy Limited, a clean-tech utility and energy access company, has been awarded grant funding from Power Africa through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the electrification of 50 primary healthcare facilities in Oyo State, Nigeria.

About 60 per cent of healthcare facilities in Africa do not have access to electricity and of those that do, less than 30 per cent have reliable access to electricity. In order for these healthcare facilities to deliver quality and efficient services, access to reliable electricity is important.

Similar to the grant funding received by the company in 2020, the funding will boost the scale up of the solar and energy storage systems to additional 50 primary healthcare centres in Oyo State using the energy-as-a-service business model. In addition, Havenhill will be injecting substantial equity and debt as counterpart funding alongside this grant provided by Power Africa in order to electrify the healthcare facilities.

Speaking about the grant, CEO of Havenhill Synergy Limited, Olusegun Odunaiya, said: “This is a win for the industry and the healthcare facilities to be electrified. We are excited for this scale-up phase of our Energizing Healthcare Initiative that will enable over 700,000 patients annually to receive better healthcare service. We are grateful for yet another opportunity from the Power Africa team.

“We are delighted to further contribute to the improvement of the Nigerian health sector through the provision of reliable electricity that would aid the work of medical practitioners and caregivers and also impact the lives of those within the communities.”