The WE4F Middle East and North Africa Regional Innovation Hub (MENA RIH) organized the ‘Invest In A Sustainable Future: The Case of Green Essence’ pitching event where the Green Essence team presented the opportunity for seed investors to invest in the company. The event welcomed more than 40 participants and resulted in the signing of more than 10 NDAs that intend to help the company raise $2.5M in debt funding to finance its growth.
Scaling Renewable Energy
Green Essence, a WE4F innovator, is a leading company that provides innovative renewable energy solutions to the residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural sectors in Lebanon while keeping customers and communities at the center of their services.
Green Essence is looking to grow their market share in response to the boom in the renewable energy market. Through the funding of its working capital for 2023, the company expects to exceed $12 million in revenue next year – a large leap from its current $5 million.
“The WE4F MENA Regional Innovation Hub team provided us with technical assistance and taught us how to access markets and investors. Our objective is to reach farmers who are not able to pay for the installation of solar systems to replace conventional energy in water pumping, irrigation, etc. We had foreseen the drastic increase in energy prices long before it happened, and we had already started reaching out to a wide base of clients. Through this project, farmers can buy solar systems and benefit from two to three-year payment options. Green Essence will use the funds to inject into new systems for farmers. We have developed a strong financial performance over the past years and we are now ready to accelerate our profitable growth and impact with the support of new investors,” explains Saad Macaron, Business Development Manager of Green Essence.
Fundraising in Difficult times
The Green Essence Pitching event is a clear example of successful fundraising events which tool place during very difficult times in Lebanon and the MEA region. The WE4F MENA RIH team has previously organized pitching events for Lebanese companies such as Biomass and Compost Baladi and conducted a similar event in Cairo last month with several companies including Green Eagle, Mozare3 and Egymag pitching in front of regional investors. The team is working in ten MENA countries in assessing the investment readiness of companies in the program, supporting them in becoming investment-ready, and then facilitating investment and brokerage.
“We would have raised by the end of this year more than $30M for WE4F companies in the MENA with success stories with 18 innovative companies in Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and Iraq. This shows that despite the difficult economic situation with capital controls, and strong currency devaluation across the region, we can increase the awareness for innovative social enterprises in the agriculture, clean energy, and water tech fields and convince investors to be able to fund these companies,” details Constantin Salemeh, Head of Investments at WE4F MENA.
Interested parties can request Green Essence’s investment pitch by sending an email to pamela.saber@berytech.org.
About the Program
The Water and Energy for Food Grand Challenge for Development is a joint international initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union (EU), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands, Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The WE4F MENA RIH is composed of a consortium led by Berytech and implemented in collaboration with cewas, Chemonics Egypt and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The MENA RIH supports innovators that work in the region and produce more food while using less water and energy. Together with investors and other partners, the MENA RIH works to scale mid-to-late-stage enterprises that have an environmental and social impact in the water-energy-food nexus.