Gham Power created an innovative online project development platform – Offgridbazaar.com – to offer agro-processing equipment (AP) to rural smallholder farmers through PayGo financing. Gham Power’s last mile distribution channel records smallholders’ agricultural needs into Off Grid Bazaar. Then, an algorithm utilizes the information gathered to suggest an affordable and optimally sized AP for each customer. The right-sized APs are then displayed on the platform as an investment opportunity for investors and grant foundations globally, who lend and/or subsidize the cost of APs. When the funding goal for a specific opportunity is reached, Gham Power delivers the AP using a decentralized sales channel. The enterprises’ primary source of income comes from the profit generated in the sale of APs and the asset management fee levied on investors that use Off Grid Bazaar as an investment channel.
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Gham Power’s business model requires a good mix of grant, preferential and ordinary shares, as well as project financing.
Amount of funding raised
Gham Power has raised euro 1.1 million in private capital and $520,000 in grants. Out of euro 1.1 million, euro 110,000 has already been raised as convertible notes. As for the remaining fund, we are under government approval process which should be closed by 3-4 months. The instruments used for the funds are ordinary shares and preferential shares.
Tenor or holding period
There are separate holding and tenor periods for the capital raised. The first batch of capital, raised from preference shares, amounts to euro 200,000 and will mature in 6 years; an additional investment amount of 468,000 is based in two separate special purpose vehicles with a repayment timeline of 3 and 10 years respectively.
How does Offgridbazaar.com work?
Offgridbazaar.com functions as a fundraising platform. After registering on the online platform, investors browse approved project listings and opportunities to provide grant financing. In addition to receiving equity stake and project financing, Gham Power has also received ground-level assistance from several grantors and other accelerator programs to successfully deploy Offgridbazaar.com.
Discover more about Off Grid Bazaar’s scheme and the learnings, risks and impact measurement they’re already using to assess this innovative model in our latest case study.