Zafiri Off-Grid Investment: $300M for Africa’s Mission 300 Electrification

A new investment platform called “Zafiri” is scheduled to launch in Mauritius in July this year, with an ambitious mission: to inject long-term equity capital into off-grid and distributed renewable energy (DRE) solutions across sub-Saharan Africa.

Behind the initiative is a strong alliance of development finance institutions and philanthropic organizations. Its first round of fundraising has successfully raised $300 million (target $1 billion), divided equally between senior equity and junior equity. Among them, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) will invest up to $120 million, and the African Development Bank (AfDB) and The Rockefeller Foundation have joined as founding partners. Notably, the Rockefeller Foundation provided $10 million in catalytic capital, which is also part of its broader commitment to accelerate the popularization of clean energy under the “Mission 300” initiative.
Zafiri’s structure breaks through the traditional debt-based financing model. It will provide patient, long-term equity capital to solar home system providers, micro and metro grid developers, and clean cooking businesses – solutions that are critical to electrifying the 570 million people in Africa who still lack access to electricity. Through its hybrid financing approach, Zafiri aims to connect commercial viability with development impact, using preferential subordinated equity to absorb early-stage risk while attracting private investors with de-risked returns.

The platform targets developers with commercial and industrial (C&I) offtakers, as such projects offer a more stable revenue stream than relying solely on fragmented rural demand. This strategy aims to accelerate scale while improving bankability in this historically underserved market segment. Zafiri is structured to grow over time: a second round of financing could raise up to an additional $300 million, bringing total capital to $600 million, with a long-term goal of $1 billion in net assets over the next 10 to 15 years. The fund will operate through an independent investment manager based in Mauritius, for which selection is ongoing. Zafiri is one of the core pillars of Mission 300. Mission 300 is a joint initiative of the World Bank and the African Development Bank that aims to provide electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030. The plan targets off-grid solar as the lowest-cost solution for rural electrification, noting that it could save households $5.6 billion and support 2 million microenterprises. Zafiri complements these goals by providing flexible capital and a de-risked structure to help early-stage developers scale up without being constrained by short-term debt obligations.
Zafiri’s success depends on three key factors: attracting capable investment managers, achieving measurable energy access and climate outcomes, and catalyzing institutional capital for future expansion. If it succeeds on these fronts, Zafiri could become the definitive blueprint for mobilizing large-scale equity investment into Africa’s distributed energy sector. By combining concessional support with commercial ambition, Zafiri could prove that well-designed patient capital can change the paradigm of infrastructure financing, unlocking a new era of resilient and climate-resilient energy systems for frontier markets.

Sources:

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/energy/mission-300–unlocking-capital-for-off-grid-solutions-in-africa https://solarfinanced.africa/updates/new-300-million-blended-finance-platform-targets-off-grid-energy-growth