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CrossBoundary to Invest $16m in Mini-Grids in Nigeria

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By Dipo Olowookere

Africa’s first project financing facility for mini-grids, CrossBoundary Energy Access (CBEA), has announced its launch, with funding commitments from The Rockefeller Foundation and Ceniarth.

The company is planning to initially invest $16 million into mini-grids serving 170,000 people, providing first-time power to homes and businesses. The focus is on markets with supportive mini-grid regulatory frameworks, such as Tanzania, Nigeria, and Zambia.

CrossBoundary Energy Access has an innovative blended finance structure that demonstrates a pathway to unlocking more than $11 billion for mini-grids needed from investors to connect at least 100 million people.

Over 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa still lack access to electricity. CrossBoundary conservatively estimates that at least 100 million of these people can be most cost effectively served by mini-grids today, and that using private sector development and investment could accelerate the buildout of those grids.

However, so far, private sector mini-grids have not attracted the needed funding. Like all energy infrastructure projects, mini-grids require a significant upfront investment while delivering predictable returns over a 10–15 year period. To scale, the capital provided must be long-term, affordable and accept lower yield returns. Operating in an emerging asset class with smaller balance sheets, mini-grid companies have so far struggled to raise that kind of financing.

CrossBoundary Energy Access bridges the gap to commercial scale, allowing private capital to invest today by blending it with patient equity from impact-first investors such as Ceniarth and development-focused debt from institutions such as The Rockefeller Foundation. The facility also allows private investors to invest in the projects themselves, similar to how most of the world’s 1,000 gigawatts of wind and solar projects have been financed.

Private sector capital and private sector mini-grids have an essential role to play in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7): Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. CrossBoundary Energy Access is seeking additional equity investment to expand this blended finance vehicle that provides both social and financial returns.

Shell Foundation and UK aid, through the Transforming Energy Access programme, provided support to design and launch CrossBoundary Energy Access.

CrossBoundary was advised by Norton Rose Fulbright, and Rockefeller Foundation was advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Gabriel Davies, Head of Energy Access at CrossBoundary, says, “Mini-grids are critical to achieving universal electrification in Africa at the least cost. We believe long-term project finance structures will allow mini-grids to scale. We’re building investment portfolios that will attract the long-term, infrastructure-type capital the sector needs from institutional investors.”

Ashvin Dayal, Managing Director, Power, The Rockefeller Foundation, says, “We’re proud and excited to be an early investor in the CBEA facility because it represents an ambitious, concrete effort to realize the comparative advantage mini grids have to serve over 100 million people in Africa. The opportunity cost of energy poverty is huge, both in terms of suppressed human wellbeing and lost economic development. We believe that CBEA brings a much-needed sense of urgency, and provides a platform for more effective public and private sector coordination that can transform the pace of last-mile electrification.”

Diane Isenberg, Director, Ceniarth, says, “We believe CrossBoundary Energy Access has developed a thoughtful, blended approach to the challenge of unlocking capital for the mini-grid sector.  We hope that as more data emerges to support the economics of the model, additional capital will flow into the sector at terms that allow us to gain increased leverage on our subordinate investment.”

Sam Parker, Director, Shell Foundation, says, “Shell Foundation has been a strong supporter of mini-grids for almost a decade. We believe the sector is now ready for the larger scale infrastructure finance that will enable it to scale. We are supporting CrossBoundary Energy Access because we believe that its aggregation approach will catalyze the hundreds of millions of dollars of private capital that is needed, alongside public finance, to grow the sector.”

Matt Tilleard, Co-managing Partner, CrossBoundary, says, “This first close for CrossBoundary Energy Access is a first step towards unlocking the private and public capital needed to scale the mini-grid sector. At CrossBoundary we believe that distributed renewables will be crucial to powering African homes, businesses, and industries. Our role is to mobilize the financing to make it happen.” Sebastian Deschler, General Counsel, CrossBoundary, says, “This facility is a template that can benefit the whole sector. CrossBoundary Energy Access will not invest in individual developers. Instead, it will acquire portfolios of mini-grid assets using low-cost, long-term project finance structures. This provides the sector with a repeatable model for accessing the project finance market that is needed for mini-grids to scale.”

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan. Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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Kwara Governor Removes Deputy Chief of Staff, Others in Minor Shake-up

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AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The Governor of Kwara State, Mr AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has removed his Deputy Chief of Staff and the Principal Private Secretary.

In a statement on Monday by his Deputy Chief Press Secretary, Mr Mashood AbdulRafiu Agboola, it was disclosed that the Governor also removed all Special Advisers, Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, and Special Assistants in the “minor cabinet shake-up.

It was explained that the action was to extend opportunities to more party members and inject fresh energy into the administration.

Mr AbdulRazaq directed them to hand over all government properties in their custody to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government.

He thanked the affected appointees for selfless service to the state and his administration, wishing them well in their future endeavours.

“His Excellency expresses his gratitude to all the appointees for their priceless service to the state. He wishes them the best in their future endeavours,” the statement noted.

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Xenophobia: FG Evacuates More Nigerians as South Africa Protests Loom

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By Adedapo Adesanya

The federal government has announced that another batch of Nigerians will be evacuated from South Africa on Tuesday as part of ongoing efforts to safeguard citizens ahead of planned anti-immigrant protests in the country.

Anti-immigrant groups in South Africa have set a June 30 deadline for immigrants to leave the country, planning widespread demonstrations on that date and threatening a national shutdown if the country’s government does not take significant action on immigration.

According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Kimiebi Ebienfa, an Air Peace aircraft departed Nigeria on Monday and is expected to return to Lagos on Tuesday morning with another group of Nigerians who opted for voluntary evacuation.

The latest operation comes as anti-immigration groups prepare to stage demonstrations from June 30. The government has continued its evacuation programme for Nigerians who have indicated a willingness to return home.

Providing details of the latest flight, Mr Ebienfa said, “Nigeria will resume the evacuation of our nationals from South Africa today.

“Air Peace aircraft will depart Nigeria today, Monday, June 29, 2026, at 3:00 pm and is expected to arrive in South Africa at approximately 9:00 pm local time.

“The return flight is scheduled to depart South Africa at 12:00 midnight and is expected to arrive at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, on Tuesday morning.”

He added that 271 Nigerians are expected to arrive on the evacuation flight.

President Tinubu approved the voluntary evacuation programme earlier this month to enable Nigerians willing to leave South Africa to return home safely.

Earlier in June, the federal government disclosed that five Air Peace evacuation flights had been approved after more than 500 Nigerians were screened for repatriation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the flights were intended to ensure that all registered Nigerians who wished to return would be evacuated safely.

Before the latest operation, 328 Nigerians had already been repatriated in two batches. The first flight, which landed on June 11, brought back 262 returnees, while a second batch of 66 arrived in Lagos on June 25.

The evacuation exercise is being coordinated by the Federal Government in partnership with Air Peace and other relevant agencies.

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Why Ad Platform Policy Changes Are a Hidden Risk in Every Outsourced Paid Media Relationship

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white label ppc management

The rules governing digital advertising landscapes are never set in stone. Major platforms like Google, Meta, and TikTok frequently update their privacy frameworks, compliance requirements, and algorithmic bidding logic without giving agencies much time to prepare. When a marketing team decides to delegate its active campaigns to an external production partner, these sudden policy shifts can introduce a major element of vulnerability into the relationship. Integrating a professional white label ppc management structure allows your business to scale production and tap into high-level optimization talent without building a massive internal department. However, if your fulfillment partner is not built to monitor, interpret, and rapidly deploy adjustments in response to changing platform guidelines, your clients risk facing sudden account suspensions or massive spikes in customer acquisition costs.

Decoupling Technical Adaptability from Account Ownership

When an advertising platform changes its rules, the changes need to be made away in the live ad accounts. This is so the ads do not stop working. Sometimes there is a problem when one team thinks another team is taking care of making sure the ads follow the rules. The team that is supposed to make sure everything is working thinks the other team is doing this job. This can cause problems like missing information and ads that do not work. To keep your clients happy, you need a plan that says who is in charge of checking for rule changes, who updates the ad information, and who updates the ad text rules when the advertising platform changes its rules. You need to know who does what so everything runs smoothly. Advertising platforms and ad accounts are important for your clients.

Managing the Financial Fallouts of Compliance Delays

The real-world financial cost of failing to adapt to sudden policy changes can ruin an agency’s reputation and cause high client turnover. If an automated ad platform updates its rules for a specific industry—such as healthcare, real estate, or finance—and your campaign structure fails to adjust within the grace period, entire accounts can be paused overnight. While your backend team works to fix the errors, your client loses valuable inbound leads while their fixed overhead costs remain. Agencies must make sure their fulfillment partners don’t just focus on basic optimization but also maintain a proactive stance toward platform compliance to prevent budget waste and operational downtime.

Maintaining Strategic Alignment Through Platform Shifts

Relying on a partner to manage the daily execution of your paid media means you must remain highly aligned on how macro-level platform changes alter your broader strategy. When networks restrict traditional targeting methods, your backend white label ppc management team must quickly pivot to alternative solutions, such as first-party data loops or contextual targeting systems. If your vendor operates on autopilot without adjusting to these shifts, your campaigns will slowly lose efficiency as the old targeting methods become obsolete. Regular strategy sessions are essential to confirm that your optimization partners are actively adjusting their setups to remain effective beneath the latest network rules.

Building a Resilient Operations Partnership

To do well with ad networks, you need to work together with your partners and be able to change quickly. You also need to be open with each other. Ad agencies can not just set up their paid media. Forget about it. They need to keep an eye on it and make changes when needed. If you work closely with the company that provides your white-label service, you can protect your business from losing money. You should expect this company to tell you about changes to the network rules and to take action. The best partnerships are the ones where people work together all the time and make changes fast. This helps your clients make money consistently from their investments even when the rules of the ad networks change. Modern ad networks are always changing, so you need to be able to change with them to do well. Modern ad networks require a lot of work to navigate successfully.

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