Capital Access for Women Reshapes Energy Finance

A new financing initiative is seeking to connect women-owned and women-led businesses across Africa’s energy value chain with investors and funders aligned to their stage of growth and capital requirements.

Launched by We’RE Connected and coordinated by KD Strategies, the Access to Capital for Women across the Energy Value Chain initiative comes as investment in Africa’s energy infrastructure accelerates, but significant financing barriers continue to limit the participation of women-led enterprises.

South Africa illustrates the scale of the opportunity. Since the launch of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme in 2011, more than $17.99 billion has been invested in renewable energy, supporting over 9.6 GW of generation capacity, according to BDO South Africa’s 2025 Renewables Report. Private producers added a further 4.1 GW during the first half of 2025, representing 208% year-on-year growth.

Maintaining that trajectory will require substantial additional capital, with government and industry estimates putting investment needs at approximately $92.41 billion by 2030. Yet access to that capital remains uneven.

Globally, female-only founding teams secured just 2.3% of the $289 billion invested through venture capital in 2024, according to the Women in VC and Startup Funding 2025 report. In Africa, women-owned and women-led SMEs face an estimated $42 billion financing gap, according to the African Development Bank’s AFAWA initiative.

For the energy sector, the challenge extends beyond entrepreneurship. Women account for only 18% of leadership positions globally, according to the International Energy Agency, highlighting a persistent gap in decision-making and ownership across an industry undergoing significant structural change.

Access to Capital is designed to address part of that gap by improving the connection between businesses and appropriate sources of finance.
KD Strategies will assess applicants before matching qualifying businesses with a network of financiers, funders and investors. Funding requirements range from working capital and contract finance for emerging enterprises to growth finance, structured finance, equity and blended debt-equity solutions for larger businesses.

The initiative covers businesses operating across generation, manufacturing, local content, transmission and distribution, energy storage, grid services, off-grid solutions, e-mobility and related infrastructure.

For women already building businesses across these segments, the initiative aims to make access to capital less dependent on navigating fragmented financing networks, and more closely aligned with where their businesses are headed.