Tuesday 22 Sept 2026 – Nigeria and Kenya
Three consumer campaigns have launched in Nigeria and Kenya, testing testing practical ways to help households and businesses replace polluting fossil fuel generators with solar alternatives. The work is phase 2 of ZE-Gen’s localised awareness-raising programme aimed at improving lives by working to shift public attitudes towards renewable energy.
The campaigns build on ZE-Gen’s new research from phase 1, which found that while awareness of solar solutions is already relatively high in many communities, trust, access to finance, concerns about product quality and uncertainty around suppliers continue to prevent many consumers from making the switch. The findings suggest that successful interventions must focus not only on awareness, but on helping consumers move from interest to adoption.
The three projects advancing to Phase 2 are piloting distinct approaches to address these barriers.
Tilt House, Anfani and Own & Associates have been selected from the five projects that completed Phase 1’s research and design stage, and will now receive funding from ZE-Gen, with support from IKEA Foundation, to pilot their campaigns at scale.
The first is a solar comparison platform that gives consumers impartial, quality-assured options for selecting suitable solar products and financing solutions. The second delivers live solar demonstrations to small businesses in markets and community settings, helping build confidence in renewable alternatives through real-world experience. The third deploys a tailored education curriculum that helps consumers understand solar technology and financing options while connecting them with finance providers.
During Phase 2, the projects will:
- Develop and tailor educational and marketing materials and tools for their target audiences, approved by relevant stakeholders
- Build partnerships with local community organisations, schools, businesses, energy service providers, government representatives, cooperatives and financial institutions to expand reach
- Deliver awareness campaigns across multiple online and offline platforms, engaging directly with target audiences through workshops, webinars and community events
- Track and evaluate the key risks identified during Phase 1
Lily Beadle, Programme Director, ZE-Gen, said:
“These projects reflect a key principle at the heart of ZE-Gen: systems alone are not enough. To replace fossil-fuel generators at scale, people need confidence in the alternatives available and a clear understanding of the benefits they can bring. Building on insights from Phase 1, these projects will help us understand what drives renewable energy adoption in different communities and markets.
“By generating evidence of what works, ZE-Gen is helping accelerate the transition to cleaner energy while improving lives and livelihoods. We invite social impact partners to join us in scaling that impact and bringing reliable, sustainable power to more communities.”
The successful projects are:
Nigeria (15 states) – Anfani / Solar Sister
Anfani and Solar Sister are collaborating to accelerate the displacement of fossil-fuel generators among MSMEs in Nigeria through targeted awareness and capacity-building initiatives. The project combines Anfani’s expertise in clean energy financing with Solar Sister’s experience empowering women entrepreneurs to deliver last-mile energy solutions. It will deploy a practical, user-friendly curriculum and engagement strategy that demystifies solar technology, explains financing options, and guides MSMEs through the transition process, delivered through an onsite pilot and informed by market research and stakeholder engagement. The project will also digitize the content to deploy the curriculum via online channels in future phases. The curriculum will be piloted through two-day, in-person workshops in the Federal Capital Territory, Adamawa State, Enugu State, and Lagos State. These regions represent diverse socioeconomic contexts and differing attitudes towards solar energy uptake, allowing the programme to be tested across a broad range of local conditions.
Anica Sarmiento, Project Manager, Anfani said:
“We are excited to be working with the Carbon Trust to put into practice the models we developed through our Phase 1 collaboration. What makes Phase 2 particularly important is the opportunity to move from research and programme design into real-world delivery, working directly with MSMEs to understand what helps them progress from awareness to informed energy decisions, finance readiness and ultimately renewable energy adoption. The feedback and evidence generated through this phase will allow us to continuously refine the approach and build a practical, scalable pathway for reducing MSME reliance on fossil-fuel generators across Nigeria.”
Nigeria – Lagos – Tilt House with Sun King and Integrity
Phase 1 identified that millions of African families and businesses want to transition to solar. Increasingly, they begin that search online. But buyers have to approach multiple companies, separate credible suppliers from fraudulent ones, and interpret technical jargon. The vast majority buy energy products and services on finance, yet few are aware of the range of financing options open to them. Confusion and choice inertia stop customers going solar.
Through the ZE-Gen programme, Tilt House is launching PowerPick, a solar matchmaking and consumer rights platform. While awareness of the benefits of solar was found to be high, many customers lacked access to trusted information and clear market infrastructure to help them navigate a fragmented market characterised by varying product quality and an increasing range of financing options. In response, PowerPick connects demand with vetted solar suppliers operating in customers’ local areas, models energy use to recommend appropriately sized systems for households and businesses, outlines available financing options, and enables users to request and compare multiple quotes in one place. Tilt House is currently onboarding solar companies to the platform ahead of its full public launch.
Sam Viney, Co-founder and managing director, Tilt House said:
“Demand for solar in Africa is enormous, but buying it is riskier and more painful than it should be. People chase quotes one company at a time and often get a pile of jargon back, with no independent way to compare it. Then they’re expected to commit to one of the biggest purchases they’ll ever make. That’s not an informed choice. That’s a gamble. We’re building somewhere families and businesses can compare, check and buy with confidence. With the power to pick the right technology and financing options, more families and businesses will go solar.”
Kenya – MSMEs, residential, healthcare and humanitarian settings – OWN and Associates
Solar and battery technology is now reliable and affordable enough to replace the diesel generator as Kenya’s default backup power. OWN & Associates and Busara are launching a Carbon Trust-funded campaign to accelerate that switch—starting with micro, small and medium enterprises, and designed to extend to homes, health facilities and humanitarian settings.
Building on in-depth market research completed during phase 1 of the ZE-Gen awareness raising programme, the team identified six distinct types of business owners, each with different views on solar, their own reasons for not switching, and unique barriers to adoption. Some had bought faulty equipment before and lost trust. Others simply did not know that solar could match diesel in cost and reliability.
The campaign roll-out phase reaches each targeted audience through familiar channels: radio, live demonstrations, billboards, signage and social media. It will run across three Kenyan settings — Nairobi (urban), Ruiru (peri-urban) and Kilifi (rural) — so the design and evidence base can inform awareness work elsewhere in Kenya and the region.
Wayua Mululu, Project Manager, Own & Associates said:
“Every diesel generator replaced with solar saves a business money and keeps carbon out of the air. The technology is proven. What we are building now is the trust that lets Kenyan MSMEs switch with confidence”
Notes for Editors
Background Information: ZE-Gen
ZE-Gen, launched at COP27, is the leading international initiative working to improve the lives of people across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Pacific Islands by driving the use of renewable energy in place of polluting fossil fuel generators. ZE-Gen is a collaborative initiative by the Carbon Trust and Innovate UK and has an ambition to mobilise £100m of funding to inspire action and implement real-world change, delivered in partnership with sector specialists.
To date, ZE-Gen has catalysed £40m, including support from the IKEA Foundation, and has supported more than 35 localised renewable energy projects across Nigeria, the Philippines, Cote d’Ivoire, Fiji, South Africa, Malawi and Uganda.
The Carbon Trust leads on ZE-Gen’s investments into financial mechanisms, research activities, outreach and strategy, with input and oversight across the whole ZE-Gen programme. Innovate UK is responsible for delivering grant funding to advance renewable technology through the ZE-Gen Innovation Fund.
For more information please contact: ze-gen@carbontrust.com
Visit the ZE-Gen programme website: https://www.ze-gen.org
Snapshot overview of projects moving into Phase 2:
| Location | Campaign | Organisation(s) | Target Audience | Delivery Method |
| Nigeria (15 states) | Curriculum and engagement strategy | Anfani & Solar Sister | Female-led MSMEs and last-mile energy entrepreneurs | Online and offline curriculum, capacity-building workshops, awareness campaigns |
| Nigeria – Lagos | Behaviour-change social media campaign and an online solar matchmaking and consumer rights website | Tilt House with Sun King & Integrity | Consumers sceptical about solar product reliability | PRIME theory-led social media campaigns delivered via local micro-influencers |
| Kenya – Urban/Peri-urban areas | Solar generator demand generation | Own | MSMEs, residential, healthcare and humanitarian settings | Targeted demand-generation activities across four customer segments |