“We’re grateful to the Map Collective team for their personalized assistance in calculating the company’s negative carbon footprint and positive environmental impact. We’re excited to use this certification and information to improve 10Power’s global impact,” said Sandra Kwak, 10Power Founder and CEO.

10Power is a social impact enterprise that provides renewable and reliable energy to communities that lack access to electricity through project development and finance for commercial-scale solar installations. Based in San Francisco, California and with operations centralized in Haiti, 10Power uses a unique, market-based approach to enable its customers to grow operations and create employment opportunities. 10Power also partners with local solar installers and provides training with attention to gender empowerment in pursuit of our mission to create regenerative international development through sustainable innovation.

Map Collective is a DC-based company which tracks global carbon usage and issues quotas and certifications to countries, businesses and smaller governmental municipalities hoping to help in the fight against climate change.

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The Energy Globe Award is a prestigious environmental honor “awarded annually to projects saving our environment by personal action, sustainable projects, or campaigns for raising awareness in sustainability.” 10Power’s project, 10Power: Renewable Energy Access in Haiti, focuses on creating a path for a regenerative future that leverages renewable energy to provide clean drinking water, empower communities, and create a path to planetary prosperity. 

Established in 1999, the goal of the Energy Globe Award is to bring awareness to and provide a platform for sustainable projects that are implementing innovative solutions to environmental projects. More than 2,500 projects from 187 countries were submitted, and 10Power is honored to have been selected as a National Award winner by a jury of experts. Congratulations to all of the projects selected for this prestigious honor! Visit https://www.energyglobe.info/ for more information and to see all of the Energy Globe Award winners.

10Power is a social impact enterprise that provides renewable and reliable energy to communities that lack access to electricity through project development and finance for commercial-scale solar installations. Based in San Francisco, California and with operations centralized in Haiti, 10Power uses a unique, market-based approach to enable its customers to grow operations and create employment opportunities. 10Power also partners with local solar installers and provides training with attention to gender empowerment in pursuit of our mission to create regenerative international development through sustainable innovation.

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Access to electricity in Haiti is inconsistent, which causes households and businesses to install inefficient, environmentally harmful diesel generators. SimpliPhi’s 3.8 kWh batteries and Little and Big Genny Emergency Power Kits can replace or supplement these generators, reducing fuel costs and protecting Haitians from hazardous fumes.

“SimpliPhi is proud to partner with 10Power, a certified B Corp, to further our mission of empowering people and communities around the world with access to reliable, safe and affordable energy,” stated Catherine Von Burg, CEO of SimpliPhi Power. “We have witnessed firsthand the transformative impact that solar + storage has on the lives of people otherwise cut-off from power or that are dependent on expensive, dirty, fossil fuels and generators. Through this partnership, 10Power and SimpliPhi are committing to the people of Haiti to support sustainable development that has an economic, social, and environmental impact, improving their security now and into the future.”

10Power provides renewable energy project development and finance for commercial-scale solar projects in Haiti and will manage the distribution and installation of SimpliPhi batteries, providing reliable, sustainable electricity to families and local businesses. The SimpliPhi batteries’ lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) chemistry avoids runaway heat exchange problems linked to lithium ion batteries and does not use cobalt, which has ethical supply chain issues.

“We are thrilled to be providing reliable energy storage with SimpliPhi batteries in Haiti and other markets that do not have equal access to electricity,” said Sandra Kwak, 10Power Founder and CEO. “Clean power supports clean water, healthcare and life-saving equipment. We can install long-life, dependable batteries now to help our customers through the pandemic, and they will be solar-ready post-COVID.”

To date in the energy access market, commercial-scale solar has been deterred due to high upfront costs, but 10Power overcomes this barrier, championing the transition to renewable energy by financing solar projects and training local partners with a gender empowerment lens on how to care for and maintain the installations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, access to safe, reliable electricity is of the utmost importance as health clinics and households complying with shelter-in-place orders require this valuable resource. The SimpliPhi batteries will provide clean energy through the pandemic, and customers will be ready for solar installation as travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines are relaxed.

About SimpliPhi Power

With a mission to create universal access to reliable, safe and affordable energy, SimpliPhi Power designs and manufactures efficient, non-toxic and enduring energy storage and management systems that utilize environmentally benign lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry. Based in Oxnard, California, SimpliPhi combines the non-hazardous LFP energy storage chemistry with its proprietary cell and battery architecture, power electronics, Battery Management System (BMS) and manufacturing processes to create safe, reliable, durable and highly scalable on-demand power solutions for the residential, commercial, military, emergency response and film industries. For more information, please visit https://simpliphipower.com and follow us @SimpliPhiPower, on Facebook and LinkedIn.

About 10Power

Based in San Francisco, California and with operations centralized in Haiti, 10Power provides renewable energy internationally to communities that lack access to electricity through project development and finance for turn-key commercial-scale solar. 10Power partners with local solar installers and provides training with attention to gender empowerment in pursuit of our mission to create regenerative international development through sustainable innovation. Learn more at www.10pwr.com and follow us @10pwr (Twitter, Facebook), @10powercleangrowth (Instagram), and @10Power(LinkedIn)

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We have a big problem in the startup and tech world that is not only squashing innovation, but is leaving billions of dollars on the table for every single investor. I’ve reviewed thousands of startup pitches and have found that many of the game-changing products that have the potential to make a huge impact on this world happen to be run by women and people of color. Despite this, only 10% of funding globally goes to women-led startups. And, as I’ve written about before, the funding for women of color is far more dismal.

For the past few years, many investors have publicly committed to funding more women founders, yet somehow, the percentage of women founders funded hasn’t budged. Even after the public scrutiny the tech sector experienced in the face of the #MeToo movement, the amount of funding for diverse startups is paltry. If investing in startups led by women and people of color were a product, it would be considered one of the biggest product failures in startup history as “a product that stagnates for two years has a growth problem,” said Bo Ren  who is a product adviser and investor.

Interestingly, hundreds of millions of dollars is being spent on diversity and inclusion initiatives by major tech companies to recruit more tech employees, but from what I see, not a dime of this is being spent on some of the company’s most important divisions: mergers and acquisitions and VC arms. If we crack that nut, it will open up a whole new world of funding being funneled into some of the most innovative companies around the world. There are thousands and thousands of women-led tech startups disrupting every industry you can think of: health, finance, transportation, education, fashion, energy, AI, Augmented Reality, and more.

Need some inspiration to find these next unicorns, or rather zebras, as Mara Zepeda, CEO and co-founder of Switchboard, and coauthors so eloquently stated? Here are 60 women-led startups (listed alphabetically) who are shaking up tech across the globe. A few on the list are companies that have been part of our Women Startup Challenges, where we are on a mission to close the funding gap. Others we’ve been following their products and traction. Research them. Introduce yourself to them. Fund them!

1. #1. 10Power (Haiti) — 10Power invests in renewable energy projects that can be paid back over time, providing access to clean power in the places that need it most. Founder: Sandra Kwak
2. Abartys Health (Puerto Rico) — A healthtech startup that facilitates and streamlines communication between insurance companies and healthcare providers. Co-founders: Dolmarie Mendez and Lauren Cascio
3. Accompany (United States) — Through artificial intelligence and machine learning, Accompany is a virtual chief of staff, providing one with all of the information they need about anyone they are meeting with in a given day. Co-founder: Amy Chang
4. AIM (Korea) — An automated investment management platform creating Korea’s very first robo-advisor for investment management. Founder: Jihae Jenna Lee
5. Automio (New Zealand) — A lawyer bot that interviews clients and frees legal staff from tedious legal work. Founder: Claudia King
6. Azimo (Poland and England) — Works with large payment companies worldwide to ensure that money transfers reach their destinations safely. They hold funds in most currencies around the world which means they can send money instantly to 60+ countries, and they work with partners in 195+ countries. Co-founder: Marta Krupinska
7. Billie (United States) — A shave and body brand delivering premium-quality razors and skincare subscriptions at half the price of the competition. Founder: Georgina Gooley
8. Chic by Choice (Portugal) — A next-generation dress rental player that allows women to access the newest designer dresses directly from the catwalk. Founder: Filipa Neto
9. CloQ (Brazil) — Provides nano-credit and financial literacy resources, via an app, to the poor and the unbanked. Co-founder: Rafaela Cavalcanti
10. Comparaonline (Chile, Colombia and Brazil) — A platform designed to add transparency to the process of purchasing insurance and applying for credit. Co-founder: Mariana Larrain
11. DEKO EKO (Poland) — An upcycling platform that works with the best designers globally to create well-designed consumer products out of carefully selected waste materials from the largest companies and brands. Founder: Agata
12. Frankiewicz
13. Devoleum (Italy) — Tracks and stores every single step of the extra virgin olive oil supply chain in the blockchain allowing the final consumer to know the entire history of each product, from the comfort of their smartphone. Co-founder: Elisa Romondia
14. Digitail (Spain) — Digitail is a software startup for veterinary clinics that is AI-enhanced, fully customizable and easy to use. Co-founder: Ruxandra Pui
15. EmptyTrips (South Africa) — Through machine learning and smart matching algorithms, the EmptyTrips platformcreates a marketplace where shippers, agents, and transport carriers can connect, bid for cargo, find transport assets to move their cargo, and even store or insure it for faster logistics, better economics, and a significantly lighter carbon footprint. Founder: Benji Coetzee
16. Enterprise Bot (Switzerland) — Develops AI powered chatbots to automate customer interactions and provide enterprises with a readily accessible digital agent to improve customer experience and create operationally efficiency for companies. Co-founder: Ravina Mutha
17. Fove Inc (US and Japan) — Created the first consumer friendly priced VR headset with complete eye-tracking technology. Founder: Yuka Kojima
18. GrabTaxi (Malaysia) — A mobile app that connects customers directly to taxi drivers via phone. They submitted the plan to a Harvard startup competition in 2011. GrabTaxi is now available in 21 cities across the region. Co-founder: Tan Hooi Ling
19. Hatch Apps (United States) — Using their automated app creation platform, users can launch native apps for iOS, Android and the web with no coding required. Co-founder: Amelia Friedman
20. Humanitas (Jordan) — The company’s mobile video app Dandi enables organizations and youth to collaborate on local community issues. Co-founder: Julia Solano
21. ImpactVision (United States and England) — Combines hyperspectral imaging with machine learning to provide information about the quality of foods. Co-founder: Abi Ramanan
22. INOREVIA (France) —  Develops and commercializes a new generation of patented technologies that miniaturize lab instrument volumes for analysis. This drastically reduces costs, time and manipulation necessary to perform next-generation bioassays and precision medicine. Co-founder: Amel Bendali
23. JobsCentral (Singapore) — One of the largest job portals in Singapore with over 800,000 registered jobseekers at the time of its acquisition by US-based CareerBuilder in 2011. Co-founder, who exited: Shao-Ning Leigh Huang
24. Laboratoria (Peru) — A Peruvian-based startup that teaches Latina women from low-income backgrounds to code for free. Co-founder: Mariana Costa Checa
25. Mathaqi (Saudi Arabia) —  An on-demand platform for delivery of home cooked meals. Co-founder: Nouf Alsaleem
26. Medina’s Health (United States) — A data-driven marketplace helping healthcare organizations safely and securely buy and sell their surplus and short-date medical supplies and equipment. Co-founder: Chloe Alpert
27. Mellow (Portugal) — A sous-vide machine that takes orders through your smartphone and keeps food cold until it’s the right time to start cooking for you remotely. Co-founder: Catarina Violante
28. Menstrual Health Hub (Germany) — An online global platform specifically designed to be the home for all menstrual health actors and organizations. *Not all women and girls menstruate and not all those who menstruate identify as women or girl. Co-founders: Danielle I. Keiser and Milena Bacalja Perianes and Mariana de la Roche
29. Motivo (United States) — A platform providing clinical supervision for mental health professionals online. Founder: Rachel McCrickard
30. Nano-X (Australia) — Changing the delivery of radiation therapy from large reference centres to small-town hospitals. An advanced on-board imaging/planning system captures 3D images in real-time, controls the radiation beam, and automatically delivers the right amount of energy to the right tissue, requiring fewer dedicated staff. Founder: Ilana Feain
31. NotesFirst (United States) — Electronic health record (EHR) platform for physicians to capture patient data via smartphone. Co-founder: Patricia Lopez
32. NOVA (Germany) — The first bluetooth headset that can be integrated in earrings with a built in speaker, microphone, and volume control. Co-founder: Judith Gampe
33. ObjectBox (Germany) — The first high-performance NoSQL, ACID-compliant on-device database for mobile and IoT. It’s 10X faster than the industry leader, and takes only 1/10th of the code to implement. Founder: Vivien Dollinger
34. PetCloud (Australia) — An online community for pet parents to connect with pet sitters who have been screened and are ready to care for your pet. Founder: Deb Morrison
35. Pops Worldwide (Vietnam and Global) — Produces mobile apps as well as licensing and publishing media. Since September 2008, it has been accumulating the licenses and distribution rights for most of Vietnam’s music – up to 90%. It is the primary licensee of Vietnamese music on YouTube. Co-founder: Esther Nguyen
36. Qerja (Indonesia) — Allows jobseekers and employees to share information about companies publicly – much like the U.S. platform Glassdoor. Users go to the site to find transparent information about a company’s pay scale and hiring practices. Co-founder: Veronika Linardi
37. Sampson Solutions, Ltd. (England) — Creating bio-based construction materials from sustainable sources using a closed-loop, carbon neutral manufacturing process. Founder: Colleen Becker
38. Savitude (United States) — An AI platform that curates personalized fashion collections based on shopper’s individual shape and proportion. Co-founder: Camilla Olson
39. She Leads Africa (Africa) — One of the first accelerators in Africa for women-led startups. Co-founders: Yasmin Belo-Osagie and Afua Osei
40. Shupperz (Israel) — A social platform for connecting shoppers from all over the world enabling them to interact, inspire, share content, and shop for one another. Co-founder: Tal Rubenstein
41. Sidekix (United States) — An urban discovery app which provides interest based routes across categories including shopping, culture, and nightlife. The app has had over half a million global downloads since its launch in 2016. Co-founder: Jenny Drezin
42. SIRUM (United States) — SIRUM (Supporting Initiatives to Redistribute Unused Medicine) is the “match.com” for unused, unexpired medicine, matching it with people in need. Co-founder: Kiah Williams
43. SocialCar.com (Spain) — A leading peer to peer car rental company (P2P carsharing). Founder: Mar Alarcon Batlle 
44. Solenica (Italy) — A smart natural lighting robot with an Italian design that’s beautiful, affordable and easy-to-use. They bring real sunlight into your home where the sun can’t reach. Co-founders: Diva Tommei and Mackenzie Garrity
45. Solstice Energy Solutions (United States) — IoT and software to easily monitor, manage and control consumers and businesses energy sources in emerging markets. Co-founder: Ugwem Eneyo
46. Tipa (Israel) — The company is set to address the dire need for food packaging that is genuinely ecologically-sensitive. Tipa is developing revolutionary biodegradable packages that automatically “perish” within 180 days. Co-founder: Daphna Nissenbaum
47. Tonic App (Portugal) — An app for medical doctors. It increases the efficiency of clinical work: allows fast and safe discussion of patient cases, team collaboration and aggregates content for day-to-day professional use, such as drug conversion tables or clinical calculators. Co-founder: Daniela Seixas
48. Travelshoot (Australia) — A service that helps you book a local photographer while travelling. Founder: Sarah Pearce
49. TRIK (England) — A Google map for structural inspection that turns photos from drones into a digital 3D model. You can make comments, take measurements or compare changes directly from the time-lapse 3D models. Co-founder: Pae Natwilai
50. Tutored (Italy) — A social app, tackling youth unemployment, dedicated to college students and talent acquisition. Co-founder: Martina Mattone
51. Unima (Mexico) — Fast and low cost diagnostic and disease surveillance technology for diseases which allow doctors, nurses and community health workers to diagnose diseases directly at the point of care, in less than 15 minutes. Co-founder: Laura Mendoza
52. VitalSines (Canada) — Creator of iHeart, a fingertip device that calculates your internal age. Co-founder: Sarah Goodman
53. Vitrue Health (England) — A system that sits in the background of clinical assessments, autonomously measuring motor function metrics, freeing clinicians to focus on more complex patient interactions and saves millions in healthcare costs. Co-founder: Alex Haslehurst
54. Vouchery.io (Germany) — A predictive coupon, discount & loyalty automation platform that optimizes promotional strategy for customer engagement, while preventing coupon fraud. Co-founder: Ewelina Robaczek
55. Wala (South Africa) — A financial services app driving economic participation in emerging markets. Founder: Tricia Martinez
56. Wazi Vision (Uganda) — Provides more affordable means of diagnosing refractive errors among children & provides eye glasses made from recycled plastic. Founder: Brenda Katwesigye
57. Womena (United Arab Emirates) — A platform that promotes diversity and inclusion in entrepreneurship in the Middle East. Co-founder: Elissa Freiha
58. WOOM (Spain) — A bespoke app that empowers women to maximize chances to be pregnant, gain time and eventually have kids faster; either through natural conception or, in necessary cases, by seeing a doctor. Co-founders: Laurence Fontinoy and Clelia Morales
59. Yask (Columbia) — A global community of native speakers paired with AI and gamification to offer quality translations and proofreading in real time. Co-founder: Andrea Higuera Araque
60. Zeplin (Turkey and United States) — A connected space for product teams where they can share designs, generate specs, assets, and code snippets. Co-founder: Pelin Kenez
61. ZipMatch (Philippines) — A real estate portal that lists and reviews properties for sale and rent and adds a professional touch on property brokerage by taking out old industry habits of cutting corners and pushing for sales without a strong sense of customer service. Co-founder: Chow Paredes

Author Allyson Kapin is the founder of Women Who Tech and the cofounder of the social change web agency Rad Campaign. Follow her on Twitter.

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“The Keeling Curve Prize is named for the iconic Keeling Curve, which shows the increase of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere as measured from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. Bending that curve – reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — is the key to curbing climate change” (citation). Visit www.kcurveprize.org for more information.

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Thursday, December 27, 2018 – 1:20am

 

Proponents of large, centralized electricity generation, transmission and distribution systems must start to ask if that paradigm of infrastructure is the right one for energy access and resiliency. The electric grid in Haiti provides access to less than one-third of the population, and that access is spotty at best. Businesses, from agriculture to manufacturing, cannot rely on the centralized system.

Enter 10Power, a gender-lensed solar energy and storage startup, founded by Sandra Kwak.

While attending Presidio Graduate School, Kwak worked on a project with a Nicaraguan evergreen fund bringing solar energy to farmers. “I found it incredibly unfair that those most impacted by climate change had the least to do in creating it,” Kwak says. She later went to AutoGrid, excited by saving megawatts of electricity at the click of a mouse with the help of big data and machine learning.

However, from a social equity perspective, Kwak felt unfulfilled. She began to research the data in her spare time and learned that energy poverty is centered around the equator. “When I looked at the places with the highest cost of electricity and the lowest access to electricity, Haiti jumped out — and it was super close to home,” she says. So Kwak says in 2015, it was a no-brainer to visit Haiti for the first time as a humble learner. She says she found that after people saw you a third time, they began to take you seriously, and recognize that you weren’t the typical fly-in and fly-out foreigner. Haiti was filled with one-time deals that just weren’t working. A new approach was needed.

After listening tours, market research and on-the-ground observation, Kwak decided to address what is known as productive energy — energy used for commercial and industrial (C&I) purposes. If jobs are the foundation of economic prosperity, then C&I energy is the foundation for those jobs. And while there has been considerable progress globally in the pay-as-you-go residential solar lighting space, the commercial scale solar industry required to fuel resilient economies is still a big missing piece of energy access.

There is a famous Chinese proverb, “Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.” As Kwak put it, “People in Haiti know how to fish; they just need cold chain storage to get their fish to market.”

10Power serves as a solar project developer and financer. The name was inspired by the “each one teach 10” idea, whereby one can scale resilience from the bottom-up if one empowers 10 people so much that they, in turn, influence 10 more people. 10Power’s first market is Haiti. Why isn’t Haiti beaming with solar panels, given the low cost of solar and availability of sunshine? Financing, Kwak answers. “Even though solar electricity is cheaper than diesel, still even the multimillion dollar businesses in Haiti do not want to commit working capital for the upfront costs.” 10Power aims to remove that barrier by providing financing for turnkey solar installations.

As a startup CEO, Kwak does a little bit of everything. To succeed, she must be flexible and determined. “You have to be unyielding in pursuing your goals and also be ready to roll with the punches.” She has built strong relationships with local team members, and hires Haitian installers for all projects. “I’m grateful that 10Power has been able to attract top talent in Haiti,” she says. There are four Haiti-based team members with international engineering experience and one team member in the U.S. with credit expertise in emerging markets.

10Power is raising a Series A funding round, one of its biggest challenges to date. It has received investment from a number of angels and early stage investing funds, including the Force for Good Fund, SheEO, Echoing Green and individuals. Kwak points to a number of capital sources that can be more easily accessed than even five years ago, including high-net-worth individuals who would like to have social, environmental and financial returns in their investing, accelerators with grant and other early-stage sources of capital, and impact debt (country-adjusted rates for well understand business models such as selling electrons). What is missing is the catalytic finance — the kind that blends different forms of capital to take on emerging market risk. “There is no blended capital term sheet on Sand Hill,” Kwak laments.

With a portfolio pipeline of over 50 megawatts of projects representing over $100 million, the current raise will allow 10Power to invest in $10 million worth of solar and storage C&I projects. 10Power recently completed a flagship installation at UNICEF Haiti: the largest solar array on any UNICEF base in the world. The system consists of PV panels and Lithium Ferro Phosphate energy storage and serves UNICEF Haiti’s operations base, including the data center.

“In Haiti, we can demonstrate that it is possible to decouple carbon emissions from prosperity. Developing countries do not have to follow the antiquated order of mandatory industrialization and exploitation before participation in climate action. It is more advantageous to everyone to transition straight into regenerative economics,” Kwak says.

I second that thought. As this wraps up the last feature in this 1 Hotels Environmental Entrepreneurssponsored series, I invite readers to consider supporting women-led startups, which receive less than 5 percent of venture capital. Here are three ways: contributing to the Force for Good loan-loss reserve; becoming a SheEO activator; and investing in any of the startups in the series if you are an accredited investor.

Link to article:

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/10power-aims-tap-energy-potential-stand-out-island-nation

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The Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF), the largest annual gathering of the regional clean energy market, today announced 8 winners for its second annual CREF Industry Awards. The winners were recognized on stage at the 10^th CREF in Miami.

10Power, 121 Consulting and SMA were honored with the Project Addressing Social and Environmental Impacts Award for their project on UNICEF Haiti. The project was implemented in conjunction with the Haitian firm OmniTek and employed local Haitian solar installers. 10Power also provided training opportunities for women engineering students in Haiti Tec University and Solar Electric Light Fund’s solar technician program.

The project is the largest solar installation on any UNICEF base in the world to date. It includes photovoltaic generation and energy storage and is powering UNICEF Haiti’s operations base including the facility’s data center. “We are grateful on behalf of our entire team to receive this award,” said 10Power CEO and Founder, Sandra Kwak. “This project is exciting because it tackles multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals and demonstrates that Haiti can be a leader in clean growth.”

New Energy Events, the organizers of CREF, developed the awards to recognize the leaders in the Caribbean energy sector who are making a lasting impact on resilient and renewable energy. Many award winners are first-movers, forging a path for project development in the region.

“Ten years ago, projects of any description in the Caribbean were few and far between,” said Matthew Perks, CEO of New Energy Events. “That we can now generate awards for eight impactful projects is evidence of just how far the market has come in the past decade. The awards serve to underscore the trajectory of the market, but also to provide a benchmark for excellence in the development of renewables across the region.”

The awards program drew candidates from across the Caribbean region, including Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The selected award winners represent the entities who have had a profound impact on the region’s clean energy development. “With the continued tenacity and innovation of organizations like these, the Caribbean’s switch to a clean and resilient energy grid will be much sooner than many thought possible,” said Advisory committee member Adam Carter, Managing Director, Head – Investment Banking, CIBC FirstCaribbean, “2018 has been another growth year for renewables.”

Award recipients were chosen by an industry-leading Advisory Committee including Chris Burgess, Director of Projects, Rocky Mountain Institute; Nils Janson, Executive Vice President, Castalia Advisors; Jennifer DeCesaro, Acting Director of Technology to Market Program, U.S. Department of Energy; Adam Carter, Managing Director, Head – Investment Banking, CIBC FirstCaribbean; Emily Chessin, Senior Associate, The Cadmus Group; Doug Hewson, Managing Partner, Portland Private Equity; and Julie Taylor, Editorial Director, New Energy Events.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE WINNERS OF CREF 2018 INDUSTRY AWARDS:

• Lifetime Achievement in Energy Leadership: Tessa Williams Robertson
• Utility Scale Solar: Monte Plata Solar, Dominican Republic
• Energy Storage Project: Andres and Los Mina Advancion Energy Storage Arrays, Dominican Republic
• Distributed Generation Project: FortisTCI U.O.R.E and C.O.R.E Program, Turks and Caicos
• Microgrid: Mirebalais Hospital, BHI and SMA Sunbelt as technical partner, Haiti
• Energy Efficiency Project: Caribbean Hotel Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programme (CHENACT)
• Project Addressing Social and Environmental Impacts: UNICEF Haiti, 10Power, 121, SMA, Haiti
• Energy Leadership MVP: Leroy Abraham, CEO, British Virgin Islands Electricity Corporation

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New York – June 8, 2017 – Echoing Green announced the winners of its highly competitive annual Fellowship awards. Echoing Green is a global organization that spots social entrepreneurs with the greatest potential and invests deeply in their success. The organization accelerates tomorrow’s transformational leaders today. With the help of this award, which comes with seed-funding, Sandra Kwak, Founder and CEO of 10Power will scale her work of providing renewable energy to the 1.2 billion people on the planet who do not have access to electricity.

Every year, Echoing Green provides funding and leadership development to a new class of Fellows. The organization embraces “smart risks” by providing seed funding of up to $90,000 for two years to support the continued growth of leaders and organizations with tremendous potential. These individuals are also welcomed into a lifelong global network of philanthropists, investors, and entrepreneurs who help one another experiment with bold, new ideas.

10Power provides project development and finance for commercial and industrial solar projects in global communities that lack access to reliable electricity. In their first market, Haiti, they have provided solar to water purification centers that are supplying clean drinking water to surrounding communities. Working with local installers, 10Power is building capacity for solar markets, with focus on gender empowerment and quantum development.

“It is an honor to join this diverse, passionate and driven group of intersectional, global change makers,” says Kwak.

Echoing Green is among the most selective fellowships for social entrepreneurs. This year, Echoing Green reviewed 2,879 applications from 164 countries.

Echoing Green’s unparalleled community of over 760 includes Michelle Obama, Van Jones and the innovators who launched Teach For America, City Year, One Acre Fund, SKS Microfinance, and more. The organization welcomes a new class of Fellows every year into its lifelong community of leaders.

“For the past 30 years Echoing Green has identified leaders with bold ideas that are important to the progress of the world,” says Echoing Green President Cheryl L. Dorsey. “In this year — Echoing Green’s 30^th anniversary — we’re especially proud to continue to grow our community and welcome such a diverse group of innovators to our best-in-class network. We look forward to advancing their leadership journey.”

Support of Echoing Green’s 2017 Fellowship class is made possible through private contributions and the generous support of funders, including the Jerome L. Greene Foundation and the ZOOM Foundation.

About 10Power
10Power catalyzes solar markets in geographies that lack electricity today. Developing and financing commercial and industrial solar projects in Haiti, 10Power works with local installers, sources world-class technology, provides engineering resources, and generates economic opportunity by helping businesses save money and run on reliable, clean energy. To learn more, visit www.10pwr.com

About Echoing Green

Echoing Green identifies tomorrow’s transformational leaders today. Through its Fellowships and other innovative leadership initiatives, Echoing Green spots emerging leaders and invests deeply in their success to maximize their impact. Echoing Green has been ahead of the curve for 30 years, supporting visionaries around the world who are transforming economies, racial and gender equity, environmental sustainability, and more. Echoing Green accelerates talent that will change the world for the better. To learn more, visit EchoingGreen.org.

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Photo: LeMoyne/UNICEF

Update from 10Power: our solar assets in Haiti are intact and continue to generate clean energy. In the wake of the destruction created by Hurricane Matthew, we take inspiration from community mobilization and the resilience of the Haitian people. As a values based business providing access to solar, 10Power stands in support of Community Based Organizations.  We highlight below some that are doing particularly good work.

The devastation wreaked by Hurricane Matthew in the departments of Sud, Grand’Anse, Nippes is estimated at over 1,000 dead, and 2.1 million affected. The latest OCHA figures state 1.4 million are in vulnerable situations in need of humanitarian aid and no less than 175,509 have been displaced. Rippling ramifications include a spike in cholera, higher prevalence of Zika and Malaria due to standing water, and the systemic humanitarian impacts of ecosystem destruction: staple crops destroyed, livestock killed, trees uprooted.

“Ernst Mathurin, director of GRAMIR, a Haitian NGO with over three decades of experience in the Grand Anse, recounted with horror the massive tree loss all across the region. Mathurin made a visit to Anse-à-Veau, to the west of Abricots. ‘There isn’t a plantain or a breadfruit tree left.’” [1]

Over 90% of crops have been destroyed, according to a preliminary assessment by the World Food Program. Goats, pigs and cows were killed in the storm. Livestock is an investment like a savings account, used to pay tuition, cover medical care or for funerals. Other livelihood means, including fishing boats and nets, were also annihilated. [2]

Immediate needs in the area are medical supplies, potable water and food. Second wave needs will be shelter and electricity. With relief efforts, is important to consider the long-term needs of the community, collaborate with local actors are and create positive feedback loops that will continue to provide benefit to Haiti.

As reported in the Financial Times, Maarten Boute, Chairman of Digicel, Haiti’s main cell phone provider, advised relief efforts on how to avoid the pitfalls experienced after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. “How to help Haiti: source relief aid locally, buy our exports abroad, visit our beaches, invest in Haiti and its people,” he tweeted. [3]

Sourcing locally from the affected regions rebuilds economic stability. Cash aid directly to affected communities or local organizations is more effective than food or donation aid since roads have been cleared, the economy can begin circulating again.

Konbits – The Power of Community

Konbit is a Haitian Creole word for cooperative communal projects, whereby able-bodied folk gather to help each other.

Louino ‘Robi’ Robillard, the founder of Cite Soleil Peace Prize provides a powerful first person account of people traveling from the slums of Port Au Prince to the South to work side-by-side in solidarity with the most impacted communities, even though they are facing hardship in their own neighborhoods, which are located at sea level and experienced flooding. [4]

Supporting grassroots Konbit efforts ensures that resources are deployed effectively and efficiently, within the regional context, and gives locals the opportunity to re-invest in self-perpetuating, regenerative models, as opposed to one-time aid. There are few international organizations that have deep roots in the south of Haiti, those that are effectively navigating the remote terrain are co-operating with local leaders such as school directors, churches and farming cooperatives.

Rebuilding for Resilience Provides Protection from Climate Instability

As communities rebuild, there is an opportunity to pave permeable roads, which reduce flooding and replenish the water table; build stronger, green buildings; generate renewable energy, providing access to those who previously had none; distribute clean water; create closed-loop sanitation / compost systems; propagate sustainable agriculture; and create more stable income generation opportunities.

Investing in sustainable infrastructure creates resiliency to withstand storm systems and generates value.

Haiti has not experienced a category 4 storm since 1964, but with climate change, as melting sea ice merges with warmer waters, superstorms are predicted to increase in frequency and severity. According to NOAA, in reference to superstorm Sandy, “Climate-change related increases in sea level have nearly doubled today’s annual probability of a Sandy-level flood recurrence as compared to 1950.” [5] More intense storm systems in the future underscores the urgency to rebuild resilient systems today.

10Power strives to enable long-term change by supporting local organizations and businesses, and those international organizations that work closely with Haitians, that engage stakeholders, and procure and invest locally. In addition to our work developing and financing commercial and industrial solar projects, in August 2016 the 10Power team collaborated with Hope for Haiti (see below) and DigitalKap in the village of Morency in the Sud department. Through community outreach, we conducted solar education, market research, and conducted a feasibility study to support deployment of residential solar by a local provider.

At a town hall meeting the community ranked their top concerns:

1. Economic opportunity
2. Health services
3. Roads
4. Energy

Post-Matthew, while the short-term priorities of areas hit by the hurricane are weighted towards food, medicine and shelter, relief efforts should be building towards a long-term sustainable future, driven by the priorities of the community.

How to Contribute

The Haiti Advocacy Working Group has compiled a list of Best Practices for Hurricane Matthew Relief Aid. [6]  

Organizations working in the affected areas that 10Power knows well

Haiti Communitere, established after the earthquake in 2010, is channeling resources through their community center, bringing local and international players together to provide logistical support and food for community clean-up and rebuilding initiatives.

Earthspark International / Enèji Pwòp has been operating a solar microgrid in Les Cayes, one of the cities directly in the path of the storm. More than 66% of the population in Haiti does not have electricity.   

Doctors without Borders (MSF) is responding to Cholera and post Hurricane needs in underserved areas.

SOIL provides sanitation as a service. The local composting toilet organization is based in Port Au Prince but 100% of funds will go to delivery of emergency supplies to Jeremie by convoy.

Hope for Haiti has been active in the Les Cayes area for 25 years supporting education, nutrition and healthcare, clean water, infrastructure and economy.

J/P HRO Sean Penn’s organization in Haiti, well respected by locals, is mobilizing an emergency response team to work with partner organizations to respond to the needs of the hardest hit area.

Rebuild Globally is nonprofit that provides business development, education and job training to fight poverty in Haiti.

Singing Rooster supports Haiti’s small producers and reforest Haiti with income-providing crops, selling Haitian coffee, art, chocolate into international markets and returning 100% of proceeds to farmer and artist communities. Singing Rooster is raising funds for a partner cooperative in the south to rebuild their nursery.   

Fonkoze offers micro-finance throughout Haiti and are fundraising to launch a response to cholera; rebuild branch offices; provide support to small businesses; address immediate needs of the ultrapoor; and enable borrowers to get back on their feet.

Sakala provides a safe space where youth come together to grow, learn, and play in the heart of Haiti’s largest underdeveloped area, Cite Soleil. They have been co-ordinating volunteers from Cite Soleil to do Konbits in the South.

Haitian Led Community Organizations and Networks

Paradis des Indiens is based in Abricots, an area hit hard by the hurricane, and is very well known for its high-quality community and educational work.

Edem Foundation is based on the beautiful island of Ile-A-Vache which suffered significantly in the storm, they are working with the local authorities to bring food, medical supplies and clean water.

Rebuild Petit Goâve. The Mayor of Petit Goave has partnered with the 1804 Institute to collect donations for the coastal commune of 12,000 people.

Haitian Health Foundation provides health, education and community development services to more than 100 impoverished mountain villages in and around Jérémie—improving the health and well-being of almost 250,000 residents.

Organization for Rehabilitation of the Environment (ORE), established in 1985 has been providing agricultural resources for women’s empowerment. They are working on relief in Camp Perrin and for farmers outside of Jérémie.

The Association des Maires de la Grand’Anse (AMAGA) is a network of Mayors in the region. They do not currently have a donation portal.

Medical Organizations Conducting Hurricane Matthew Relief Work

St Boniface Haiti Organization, established in 1983, runs a hospital and maternal health center in Fond-des-Blancs in Southern Haiti. They are a well respected organization in the area.

Heartline Ministries is a midwife organization out of Port Au Prince that has sent a team to the south and is partnering with grassroots organizations in the southern provinces of Sud and Grand’Anse, Christian Veterinary Mission and Mission Aviation Fellowship, to launch an emergency relief and recovery program.

Project Medishare, established in 1994, runs community-based and Haitian led programs to share knowledge and resources to improve health infrastructure and strengthen the skills of medical professionals.

NOVA is providing medical care, emergency shelter and food at their clinic  in Cavaillon, near Les Cayes.

Ayti Air Ambulance provides helicopter ambulance service in the country of Haiti.

HERO (Haitian Emergency Response Operations) operates a private ambulance that handles most ground transport for Haiti Air Ambulance medevac flights.

International Organizations who support / fund local Haitian community organizations involved in relief

Grassroots International builds local capacity for sustainable livelihoods and resilience to climate change for the long-haul working closely with partners and allies – such as the National Peasant Movement of Papaye (MPNKP), Tet Kole, the Regional Coordination of Organizations of the Southeast, and the Haitian Platform to Advocate for Alternative Development (PAPDA).

Lambi Fund of Haiti is a respected organization providing sustainable development.

Haven has been working in Haiti since 2008 to facilitate the provision of sustainable water and sanitation, training and education, and shelter solutions.

HELP is based in Port Au Prince with relief efforts in Jeremie. They have been working for 20 years in Haiti providing students with scholarships for higher education.

Beyond Borders enables donors to sponsor a family on La Gonâve Island to get back on their feet.

Mennonite Central Committee is partnering with Ecumenical Foundation for Peace and Justice (FOPJ), and Sakala

Project Saint Anne is supporting the basic needs of children in Camp Perrin where 90% of infrastructure was destroyed.   

Three Little Flowers Center has been supporting children in Fort Royal since 1987.

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) advances rights, economic and environmental justice. Sign a petition on their website demanding the US halt deportations to Haiti.

American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is a respected global organization collecting for Haiti.

Crowdfunding Sites

Fondation Aquin Solidarite (FAS) is a non-profit organization, founded in 2005, to provide educational, cultural, sports and economic support and mentoring to the city and the people of Aquin, located 117kms southwest of Port-au-Prince.

Hurricane Matthew Relief in Abricots is galvanizing support for cacao farmers in Abricots organised by dance scholar Dasha Chapman.

Donations for Jeremie are being collected through a local family with a good reputation.

Centre Communautaire de Kaykok is fundraising for the villagers of Kayok on Ile-A-Vache.

Western Union is offering toll free transfers to Haiti from United States, Canada , France, Chile, Brazil and the Caribbean at participating outlets, on their website and on mobile Western Union, where available.

Thank you to the compassionate humans who are seeking to contribute consciously.  

Sources and Citations

1. “Rebuilding Haiti, One Commune at a Time,” Counter Punch
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/10/11/rebuilding-haiti-one-commune-at-a-time/

2. “Hurricane Matthew leaves the farmers and fishermen of Haiti struggling to survive,” Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article107859937.html#storylink=cpy

3. Storm exacts heartbreaking toll in Haiti,” Financial Times
https://www.ft.com/content/85ff851a-8ca7-11e6-8cb7-e7ada1d123b1

4. “Seeing the Effects of Hurricane Matthew Up Close and Through a Different Lens,” Verite Sou Tanbou https://veritesoutanbou.wordpress.com/2016/10/12/seeing-the-effects-of-hurricane-matthew-up-close-and-through-a-different-lens/

5. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20130905-extremeweatherandclimateevents.html

6. Haiti Advocacy Working Group
http://haitiadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/HAWG-best-practice-post-hurricane-.pdf

Lists of Resources

• Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti  http://www.ijdh.org/hurricane-matthew-relief/
• Effective Aid for Haiti https://www.facebook.com/EffectiveAidHaiti/?__mref=message_bubble
• Help Haitians, not the Disaster Capitalists,” Tillah Willah https://tillahwillah.wordpress.com/2016/10/07/help-haitians-not-the-disaster-capitalists/

Photos: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/10/chief-visit-hurricane-hit-haiti-161014180213054.html

The post Hurricane Matthew: Updates from 10Power and How to Help appeared first on 10Power.

In this episode of Next Economy Now, Erin Axelrod, a Partner at LIFT Economy, interviews Sandra Kwak, Founder and CEO of 10Power, a woman-owned company that finances renewable energy in developing communities.

Sandra and Erin discuss the opportunities of bringing solar to countries like Haiti – where the most recent Hurricane Matthew has caused an extraordinary amount of devastation and destruction and yet where there is so much potential to build a regenerative economy leveraging cutting edge renewable energy technology.

As you’ll hear, Sandra is enthusiastic about the promise of solar, especially for the potential it offers to communities who are currently lacking access to electricity. For these countries, it offers a way to modernize in a more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable manner than what fossil fuels have offered since the dawn of the industrial revolution.

In this interview, Erin and Sandra discuss a number of topics, including:

• How “third-party financing” spurred the adoption of solar in the US, and how 10Power is leveraging that to springboard adoption of solar in Haiti.
• Why solar is the backbone of a local, living economy
• The importance of building ownership. The 10Power model fosters local ownership of the companies and all installations are done via a pay-to-own model.
• Why fossil fuels are “not a good investment anymore.”
• The importance of the divestment movement – the largest movement to divest from fossil fuels in financial history.
• Gender equality as a key element that is driving 10Power’s business model

To listen to this podcast, please click the image at the top of the article.

The post 10Power in B the Change podcast by LIFT Economy appeared first on 10Power.