New Commitment to Action to enable 1,000 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania to launch businesses powered by solar productive use of energy (PUE) technologies by 2028.
New York, September 25, 2025 — Solar Sister and Koolboks have formed a groundbreaking partnership to drive clean energy access, women’s economic empowerment, and food security across sub-Saharan Africa. The collaboration, announced as a new Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative 2025, will enable 1,000 women entrepreneurs to launch and grow income-generating businesses powered by solar productive use of energy (PUE) technologies by 2028.
With over 600 million people in Africa lacking electricity and 940 million still relying on unsafe, polluting cooking fuels, the region faces overlapping challenges of energy poverty, food insecurity, and climate vulnerability. A lack of reliable cold storage is a significant barrier, resulting in post-harvest food losses estimated at up to 40% in some areas. This partnership will help address these challenges by empowering women at the last mile with clean, reliable energy solutions.
Solar Sister brings a proven, women-led model of recruiting, training, and supporting entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Kenya. Koolboks, a Nigerian-founded company, designs and distributes innovative, solar-powered refrigeration solutions that provide affordable cooling and storage even without consistent grid power. Together, they will integrate solar-powered refrigeration, solar generators, and other PUE technologies into Solar Sister’s network of women entrepreneurs, creating new opportunities for food preservation, small businesses, and household resilience.
The Commitment to Action
Over the next three years, Solar Sister and Koolboks will:
- Deploy 1,000 solar-powered PUE units (such as refrigeration and cold storage) in underserved communities of Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania.
- Train and support 1,000 women entrepreneurs with technical, financial, and entrepreneurial skills.
- Develop a scalable model for affordable distribution, after-sales service, and gender-informed market insights.
- Generate gender-disaggregated data to inform future scaling and policy advocacy.
By 2028, this commitment will establish 1,000 women-led PUE enterprises, improving food security, reducing carbon emissions, and creating a pathway for sustainable economic growth.
“At Solar Sister, we believe that when women are equipped with clean energy, they light their homes and power progress. With this commitment, we are launching our Powered By Program to unlock the economic potential of women entrepreneurs, transforming livelihoods, strengthening food systems, and building climate-resilient communities across Africa, said Olasimbo Sojinrin, CEO of Solar Sister. By partnering with Koolboks, we are proving that the future of energy access is not only clean but deeply inclusive, driven by women, for the benefit of all.”
About Solar Sister
Solar Sister is the world’s first scalable, women-led clean energy distribution model. Operating in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Kenya, Solar Sister recruits, trains, and supports women entrepreneurs to deliver clean energy solutions to underserved communities. To date, Solar Sister has established a network of over 12,100 entrepreneurs, reaching more than 5.5 million people with access to clean energy.
About Koolboks
Koolboks is a Nigerian-founded, Africa-focused company revolutionizing access to affordable, sustainable cooling. Its solar-powered refrigeration solutions provide reliable cold storage for households, health facilities, and small businesses in off-grid and weak-grid areas. Koolboks operates in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda, with distribution outlets in several countries across sub-Saharan Africa.
About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)
Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 10,000 organizations have launched more than 4,000 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs – that are making a difference in the lives of more than 500 million people in 180 countries.
https://solarsister.org/ https://koolboks.com/
For more information: CGI ONE PAGE AND COMMITMENT
More about Koolboks: Koolboks CGI 1 Pager