September 29, 2025 | Nearly 600 million people across Africa still lack access to electricity, with only 32% of rural communities connected to the grid. This energy gap continues to constrain economic growth, education, health services, and climate resilience across the continent.
To change this trajectory, the World Bank Group launched the Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation (ASCENT) Program, a $15 billion initiative (with $5bn from the World Bank) to connect 100 million people in Eastern and Southern Africa to reliable, affordable, and modern energy by 2030.
Odyssey was selected as the digital platform partner for ASCENT’s Regional Energy Access Financing Platform (REAF). This landmark partnership brings together TDB Group’s deep networks in and knowledge of the region, The Trade & Development Foundation’s (TDF) fit-for-purpose impact funding and grant window alongside Odyssey’s fintech platform to deliver blended finance, digital monitoring, and results-based solutions at scale.
Delivering scale and transparency
Currently in demonstration phase, the platform is poised for scale-up. Through ASCENT–REAF, Odyssey and TDF will:
- Provide electricity access to 7 million people and clean cooking solutions to 4.5 million households
- Deploy 55 MW of new renewable energy capacity
- Support over 70 distributed renewable energy (DRE) and clean-cooking companies across the region
- Harness IoT-enabled monitoring and verification tools to ensure transparency, accountability, and rapid disbursement of funds
Unlocking private investment for greater impact
ASCENT–REAF uses a blended-finance approach to de-risk early-stage projects and attract private-sector capital. Each concessional dollar is expected to mobilize an additional dollar of private investment, doubling the impact of donor resources.
Driving Mission 300
This partnership advances Mission 300, the World Bank and African Development Bank’s commitment to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030. By combining concessional loans, results-based financing, and digital transparency, ASCENT–REAF is building a scalable model that can be replicated across the continent. The first projects, including partnerships with Burn Manufacturing and Ignite Power, are expected to reach more than 3 million people within the next year.
A regional, digitalized approach
Mobilizing investment into DRE is complex, with each stage of program development involving a myriad of stakeholders and considerations. ASCENT-TDB is taking action to streamline and add transparency to the process in two key ways:
- A regional approach: Grouping countries together means they can learn from each other and scale efforts instead of a one-by-one approach where each country builds a program from scratch
- Digital tools: Using Odyssey to streamline the entire lifecycle of the program allows for central tracking, monitoring, and reporting across all RBF and lending operations under ASCENT-REAF, ensuring transparency, accountability, and impact.
We’re honored to join TDB Group and the World Bank in this transformative initiative and look forward to sharing more updates as ASCENT–REAF scales its impact.
See all Odyssey’s supported financing programs here.
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