Sahara Foundation, the corporate citizenship vehicle of energy conglomerate, Sahara Group, has launched the Sahara Impact Fund (SIF) and the Governance Unusual programme to facilitate the generation of ideas and solutions to increase access to clean energy, mobilise partnerships to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as inspire a good governance paradigm shift.
Accordingly, the Sahara Foundation will drive the programme using the Sahara entrepreneurship model with an underlying ethos of “creating enabling environment for entrepreneurs.”
The fund’s capacity, according to the Group, is set at over $100,000 with opportunity for incremental access by beneficiaries based on impact, reach and sustainability matrices targeted at supporting young social entrepreneurs in Africa with seed funding as well as providing access to mentoring from Sahara Group and other private sector partners to scale up clean energy and sustainable environment innovations.
The programme is a strategic partnership involving Sahara Foundation, Ford Foundation, LEAP Africa and Impact Investors Foundation leveraging on strengths of the various partners.
Sahara Foundation, according to the energy company, has implemented various projects across its locations in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, impacting the lives of over 2,000,000 beneficiaries, with youths accounting for over 50 percent of the beneficiaries.
The Director of Governance and Sustainability, Sahara Group, Pearl Uzokwe, in his remark on the project yesterday, said: “The Sahara Impact Fund and Governance Unusual programme will reinforce ongoing conversations on boosting entrepreneurial capacity and how individual responsibility can inspire a paradigm shift that will culminate in gravitating towards doing the right thing without equivocation. Sahara Group is delighted to promote a robust movement for self-governance-one that challenges everyone to be the measure for ‘doing the right thing against all odds.”
