{"id":7946,"date":"2020-02-05T13:00:57","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T10:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=7946"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:50","slug":"how-green-financing-is-fueling-sustainable-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2020\/02\/05\/how-green-financing-is-fueling-sustainable-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"How Green Financing Is Fuelling Sustainable Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not so\nlong ago, top executives of Transpaper, a Nairobi-based paper company, visited\nDTB Bank offices seeking a credit line to expand their subsidiary in\nneighbouring Uganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the\nbank, the top managers built a business case explaining how the funds they were\nafter would be put to use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npaper merchants sought to venture into the lucrative printing business of\nexercise books and notebooks in line with the company\u2019s strategic expansion\nblueprint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now,\nthere was need to acquire an energy-efficient automated machine for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Armed with market data, Transpaper Uganda CEO Srinivasa Reddy put forth a cogent proposition, explaining that the Ugandan exercise books market had an estimated 10 per cent growth rate per year. This, he said, had opened wide a golden window for investment in the segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
DTB BANK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s\nexactly how DTB Bank Uganda mentioned to the executives about availability of\nlow-cost funds for such projects at the bank under a programme championed by\nthe French Development Agency (AFD). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nAFD-backed loans are offered under the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and\nEnergy Finance (SUNREF) programme. Through SUNREF, the French agency channels a\nline of credit directly to local commercial banks in East Africa for onward\nlending to strategic projects. They include green energy projects (small-scale\nsolar, hydro, wind and biogas plants) and those that are energy efficient.\nAside from cheap credit lines, beneficiaries also stand to benefit from\ntechnical support from the French agency in the implementation of their\nprojects<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nlocal banks under the SUNREF initiative include Co-operative Bank, CBA, Bank of\nAfrica and DTB bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back at\nDTB bank, the Transpaper executives proceeded to apply for the concessional\nloans and installed a fully automated line in the production of exercise books.\nHaving been in operation for some time now, the energy efficient machine has\ntranslated to lower energy costs, with the benefits reflecting in end products\nin form of competitive prices, according to the executives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nautomated production line is not only energy efficient but has ensured optimal\noutput too. It churns out two million books per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfactory in Uganda\u2019s capital Kampala has a workforce of 70 people, manning\ndifferent divisions, from book lines printing to book covers affixing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCheaper\nelectricity costs definitely means cheaper books for learners,\u201d says the CEO.\nDue to fast growing demand, the company says it recently acquired a second\nproduction line to quench the thirst for learning materials among learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides\nexercise books, Transpaper, which was founded 60 years ago and with a footprint\nin Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, produces paper materials for other\nprinting industries, including newspaper and billboards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ncompany is just one among dozens that have received the cheap funding line\nunder the French\/local banks working relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo far,\nwe have 30 SME (small and medium-sized) projects financed to the tune of $75\nmillion (Sh7.5 billion) in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya,\u201d the AFD regional\ndirector Eastern Africa Christian Yoka said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThe transition to a green economy has\nenormous development potential. Green growth brings opportunities in the\nprivate sector in the areas of energy, sustainable natural resources and\nenvironmental protection. As key players in private sector development,\nfinancial institutions can play a pivotal role in financing this transition,\u201d\nthe AFD said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hotel\nDuomo in Kampala is yet another beneficiary of the green energy financing\ninitiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A visit\nto the hotel, built in 2015, establishes wide use of solar power and natural\nlight in running the facility especially during daytime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nboasts 50 luxury rooms, a sauna, a gym and conference facilities. The\nproprietor behind the hotel, Lee Sung Ho, started off with a furniture workshop\nbefore setting up the edifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndesign of the building is in such a manner that it can allow as much natural\nlight as possible, supplementing use of solar panels. The funding for his solar\nlighting system was through SUNREF credit line, again through DTB bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nhotel, designed as a museum, displays bohemian elegance.  There\u2019s rustic furniture and a galaxy of\ncolourful solar lamps overhead whose soft glow cast a bohemian feel to famous\npaint works on the walls, including those by Italian painters Sandro\nBotticelli, and Raffaello Sanzio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsolar system powers the lights of a billboard outside the hotel, along with\nthose on perimeter wall and swimming pool lighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nprogramme has facilitated local banks to develop their technical capacity in\nfinancing analysis of green energy projects. Beneficiaries have equally\nbenefited from technical and financial expertise through training,\u201d the AFD\nsays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite\nproven potential, the financing of green investments by financial institutions\nis still limited due to a combination of technical obstacles (lack of\nregulatory frameworks, lack of local expertise, etc.) and financial obstacles\n(small final borrowers perceived as riskier, limited equity capital, still\nfragile skills within banks).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not so long ago, top executives of Transpaper, a Nairobi-based paper company, visited DTB Bank offices seeking a credit line to expand their subsidiary in neighbouring Uganda. At the bank,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-responsibility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}