As the price of energy rises around the world, families are being squeezed and businesses are slowing down. It’s exposing how fragile energy systems are and how much energy security and economic growth are inextricably linked.
The stakes are higher in Africa, where millions of young people are entering the workforce every year. By 2035, the continent’s workforce will surpass 1-billion people, the largest in the world. Young people are launching startups, expanding farms and building businesses. Ambition is not in short supply. But to grow these small, fragile ventures into strong employers, the continent requires reliable power.
Manufacturers need consistent electricity to compete in regional and global markets. Farmers rely on cold storage and irrigation to reduce losses. Digital businesses require stable connectivity. Health and education systems are reliant on dependable supply. Economic growth runs on infrastructure, and infrastructure begins with energy. You cannot build a modern economy or withstand a global energy shock in the dark.
At the Africa Energy Indaba in Cape Town this year, several countries — including Ethiopia, Burundi and Namibia — advanced National Energy Compacts under the Mission 300 framework. These compacts outline regulatory reforms, procurement pathways and financing priorities designed to unlock investment and accelerate delivery.
More countries are expected to formalise compacts in the months ahead, creating a pipeline of reform-backed opportunities aligned with financial guarantees and bankability.
Mission 300 — launched by the World Bank and the African Development Bank with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, and Sustainable Energy for All — aims to connect 300-million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.
At the Powering Africa Summit last week, Mission 300 partners explored how new demand, from digital infrastructure to distributed systems, can anchor bankable power projects. The convening highlighted growing interest in pairing distributed renewable energy systems with emerging AI and high-performance computing loads to strengthen mini-grid economics and accelerate electrification in underserved and rural markets across Africa.
Connecting 300-million people to electricity by 2030 is an ambitious but achievable objective. More than 44-million Africans have already received electricity from Mission 300 projects to date. Momentum behind the initiative is accelerating. At the Indaba, The Rockefeller Foundation announced an additional $10m (R170m) to support Mission 300 implementation across at least 15 African countries, strengthening delivery units responsible for co-ordinating national energy compacts and accelerating electrification projects.
In Nigeria, the World Bank’s $750m DARES initiative, which is supported by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and others, is deploying decentralised solar systems, expected to serve more than 17.5-million people by reducing reliance on diesel generators and lowering costs for households and enterprises.
The African Development Bank also recently approved a new Mission 300 technical assistance project to provide direct support to Chad, Gabon, Tanzania, Mauritania, DRC, Kenya, Nigeria, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Malawi, Lesotho, Namibia and Uganda, which will help move national energy plans into electricity connections in businesses, hospitals, schools and homes across these countries, home to about six out of every 10 people across sub-Saharan Africa.
Private sector partners are scaling within these frameworks as well. Companies like Ignite Power are expanding solar home systems and mini-grids to reach communities beyond national grids.
Reliable electricity translates directly into jobs. It allows manufacturers to operate full shifts, agro-processors to reduce losses and increase margins, and cold chains to expand export potential.
Clean cooking is equally critical. Modern solutions reduce time burdens and health risks, enabling greater workforce participation and supporting new value chains.
Capital is available but progress slows when policy reform, project preparation and financing timelines fall out of sync.
By linking national policy reform to defined investment pipelines, strengthening project preparation and aligning public and private capital within compact frameworks, Mission 300 reduces uncertainty and improves execution.
The systems are beginning to align. The next phase requires scale.
National compacts are advancing and financing frameworks are evolving. Private sector actors are scaling within clearer regulatory environments. Progress is visible and increasingly measurable. The question now is speed.
The coming years will determine whether implementation keeps pace with demographic and economic change. The Powering Africa Summit was a key moment to signal sustained alignment across policy, financing and institutions behind a platform already under way. Discussions ranged from the central role of clean cooking in achieving universal energy access — highlighted during a fireside conversation with Raj Shah — to new opportunities to expand both energy access and digital connectivity as drivers of economic growth and development across African countries.
Africa’s energy expansion will shape industrial growth and supply chains for decades, with implications far beyond the continent. Mission 300 provides a framework capable of accelerating delivery at scale.
The opportunity now is to align behind it with clarity, consistency and long-term commitment.
The window now is not just about opportunity; it’s also about urgency. The countries and institutions that move fastest to deliver reliable, affordable energy will be the ones that unlock jobs, strengthen resilience and shape the next era of global growth.
- Sheldrick is co-founder and chief policy officer at Global Citizen and Herscowitz is CEO at Mission 300 Accelerator, RF Catalytic Capital
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