3 ways Havenhill is fostering development in Nigerian off-grid rural communities

This article was written by Oyindamola Sofoluwe

Rural development is an important part of every country’s economy, and policymakers and governments around the world are paying attention to its rapid development and modernisation. The threats to rural communities, particularly in developing nations like Nigeria, are numerous and cut across all aspects of life, including extreme poverty, poor infrastructure, and rural-urban migration, to name a few.

Despite the various poverty alleviation programmes by different organisations, about half of Nigeria’s population live below the poverty line. According to reports from the World Data Lab’s Poverty Clock, approximately 90 million Nigerians, roughly half the country’s population, live in abject poverty. While people generally refer to poverty as low income, it is now generally accepted that poverty is described by more than just a lack of financial resources-Multidimensional Poverty. For example, the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals talks of ending ‘poverty in all its forms’ everywhere.  Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) explained multidimensional poverty to include inadequate financial resources, coupled with different forms of material deprivation, social alienation, discrimination and powerlessness, physical and psychological ill-health. This then reflects that people experience poverty differently. 

With a major commitment to developing rural economies, below are three ways Havenhill is fostering development in Nigerian off-grid rural communities.

CLEAN ENERGY ACCESS 

Nigeria has the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, but its progress is hampered by electricity shortages. Although the country is blessed with abundant oil, gas, hydro, and solar resources, and also existing facilities to create 12,522 MW of electricity, it can only deploy roughly 4,000 MW, which is insufficient for a country with a population of over 195 million people.

The availability of electricity is of significant importance in the development of both the rural and urban economy and improving the way people live. With the majority of the Nigerian population without electricity living in the rural communities, Havenhill is bridging that gap by providing reliable electricity through clean energy mini-grids to these communities. Access to electricity creates opportunities for better healthcare service delivery, new jobs, new businesses, technological growth and more. 

EMPOWERING COMMERCE

The communities we serve at Havenhill Synergy Limited comprise both business and individual consumers. Majority of the business owners in these communities operate their business with a need for appliances that will enhance their business activities. Because an average business in the rural area runs only from what they can access with the little resources they have, the majority of these businesses do not have access to finances or loans that will support the purchase of relevant appliances. We are solving this challenge for these businesses through an Appliance Finance Scheme. 

The Appliance Finance Scheme allows customers to purchase and own appliances by paying a deposit and spreading balance payments over 12 – 18 months. These appliances are productive appliances that will support the growth and enhancement of business activities. We are committed to improving entrepreneurs’ businesses by providing easily accessible loans, appliances and good business advice to help improve and sustain the long term growth of their business and overall their standard of living. 

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is critical to developing countries’ economies, as it is the primary source of food, revenue, and jobs for rural populations. To achieve food stability, poverty alleviation, and overall sustainable growth, it is critical to evaluate and improve the overall Agricultural Value Chain

Over 50% of the communities we serve are agrarian communities. Our goal is to evaluate the prevalent food chain and enhance the activities across the whole agricultural value chain. This approach enables us to improve the prevailing situation by introducing sustainable agro-energy projects to help the farmers maximise their returns in all manner. 

Havenhill recently launched  Farm Fuse, an agro-energy initiative that delivers a tailored solution bundling everything a farmer needs to enhance productivity, when possible. Our work under this initiative spans six impact pathways that are instrumental for agricultural transformation in rural communities. They are;

• Access to Finance
• Access to Quality Inputs
• Technical Support/ Advisory services
• Agro-Processing
• Storage Technologies
• Improved Market Access

In conclusion, we believe that all these strategies put together will not only improve the lifestyle of the dwellers in these communities but also go a long way to accelerate the development of these communities.