3rd Edition of the West African Forum for Clean Energy Financing (WAFCEF-3) Business Plan Competition.

Applications must be received by Tuesday 30th August 2016

The PFAN WAFCEF-3 Pre-Call for Proposals seeks to solicit proposals from Project developers in West African countries as part of a two stage process to selecting finalist projects for the 3rd Edition of the West African Forum for Clean Energy Financing (WAFCEF-3) Business Plan Competition. In view of the fact that some countries, namely Burkina Faso, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone have historically contributed less applications to the competition than others, projects from these countries will receive priority attention. The Pre-Call is meant to boost the participation rate of projects from these countries in WAFCEF-3. However no country is excluded and proposals from projects in other countries are also welcome.

The Pre-Call will identify promising proposals and assist with their refinement and prepare them for participation in the full Call for Proposal for WAFCEF-3.

The WAFCEF-3 Business plan competition seeks to nurture entrepreneurs, start-up and existing companies, project teams and consortia with environmentally beneficial business proposals with the aim of linking them with investment and finance and seeing through the implementation of these projects.

Proposals shortlisted from the Pre-Call will receive guidance from PFAN coaches who will assist promoters to address weaknesses in their proposals and prepare them for fast-tracking into WAFCEF-3. The aim of this exercise is to help prospective projects meet the qualifying criteria for entry into the Business Plan Competition. The kind of proposals that will be considered are those that meet the viability and eligibility criteria but lack depth of content and structure and which are still at an early stage of development. Successful applicants will be entered into the pool of applicants for WAFCEF-3 and compete for a place in the finalists.

Eligibility

• The call is open to projects located in any West African country but priority will be given to projects from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Burkina Faso and Niger.
• Equal consideration will be given to all projects that are presented during a later call for proposal (WAFCEF-3) regardless of project location as long as it is resident in any one of the West African countries.
• This second call is planned to be launched in September 2016.

Focus of Projects / Acceptable Proposals

The business / project proposal must promote or deploy clean energy technologies, products or services including but not limited to:

•         Biomass,
•         Energy Products from Forestry,
•         Biogas,
•         Clean Transport,
•         Bio-fuels,
•         Tidal/Ocean,
•         Solar,
•         Energy Storage & Conservation,
•         Wind,
•         Energy Efficiency and Demand Reduction,
•         Waste to Energy,
•         Emissions Reduction, Hydropower

Proposals eligible for the Competition, may include, but are not limited to:

• Greenfield Projects;
• New Business Ventures & Start-Ups. Pilot Projects will only be eligible to the extent that they include a credible plan for growth and / or replication;
• Brownfield projects – scale-up, growth, expansion, replication or conversion of existing businesses or projects;
• Downstream Projects: deployment of an existing clean technology;
• Upstream technology development: development and commercialization of a new clean technology;
• Merger, acquisition or joint venture which will add value to an existing / current
• Clean energy/technology business.

Investment Amount

Business opportunities that require total (initial) capital in excess of US$500,000 (or any currency equivalent) will be considered. In the case of energy access and rural electrification projects the investment sought may be less providing that the proposal demonstrates strong development impacts and social entrepreneurship.

Proposals seeking primarily grant funding are not eligible and will not be considered, though the investment proposal may include elements of grant, donor and / or subsidized funding to enhance the overall investment proposition.

Submission of Application

All submissions are to be made in electronic format. Consideration should be given to the size of individual files to ensure ease of transmission. To increase information security and authenticity, files should, where possible, be submitted in PDF format and financial models as an annex to the Project Proposal document in Excel format. The Application consists of:

•        The Project Proposal (as a PDF file, the cash flows provided as an Excel sheet)
•        The completed Project Data Sheet (as an Excel sheet)

Timeline

Stage 1: The submission of the Application to Participate together with the Project Proposal and Excel Project Data Sheet must be made by Tuesday 30th August 2016.

Stage 2: Coaching on Proposal Refinement 26/9/2016-4/11/2016

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Pre-Call for Proposals: PFAN WAFCEF-3 West Africa Forum for Clean Energy Financing