The African Catalyst Announces EESII 3.0 "Powering Africa Beyond Solar: Unlocking Biogas, Wind, and Small-Scale Hydro"

  By Remi Udoka

The African Catalyst Announces EESII 3.0 "Powering Africa Beyond Solar: Unlocking Biogas, Wind, and Small-Scale Hydro" — Virtual Event, Thursday, 23 July 2026 

The African Catalyst (TAC) has announced the third edition of its Enabling Early-Stage Infrastructure Investing (EESII 3.0), a high-level virtual convening bringing together investors, policymakers, development finance institutions, infrastructure developers, project sponsors and technical experts from across Africa and beyond. While solar energy has transformed off-grid electrification across the continent, significant opportunities remain untapped in biogas, wind and small-scale hydropower — technologies capable of delivering more reliable, resilient and scalable energy for households, industries and underserved communities. These sectors, however, continue to face barriers in project preparation, financing, technical capacity and enabling policy, preventing many promising projects from reaching financial close. 

EESII 3.0 will serve as a strategic platform for dialogue, collaboration and action, convening decision-makers from government ministries, DFIs, institutional investors, infrastructure funds, engineering firms, legal and financial advisers, project developers, academia and ecosystem enablers to explore practical pathways for unlocking early-stage infrastructure investment across Africa. 

Mr. Femi Awofala, Lead Partner/CEO of The African Catalyst, said: "Africa does not suffer from a shortage of infrastructure opportunities; it suffers from a shortage of investment-ready projects. The greatest challenge is often not attracting capital but preparing projects to a standard that gives investors confidence. EESII was established to bridge that gap by creating an ecosystem where ideas are strengthened, partnerships are formed, and projects become investable." 

He added: "Infrastructure transformation cannot be achieved by governments alone, nor by investors acting independently. It requires a coordinated ecosystem where policymakers, DFIs, private capital, technical advisers and project developers work together from the earliest stages of project development. EESII provides that platform." 

Highlights 

Executive Panel Discussion: Leaders from investment institutions, renewable energy companies, infrastructure finance organisations and advisory firms will examine the opportunities, risks and investment pathways for scaling biogas, wind and small-scale hydropower — covering project structuring, blended finance, policy reform, technology deployment and investment mobilisation. 

InfraPITCH Session: A distinctive pitching session in which participants from TAC's flagship Developing and Financing Infrastructure Project (DFIP) capacity-building programme present academic infrastructure projects and receive constructive feedback from experienced infrastructure investors and technical experts. 

Expected outcomes include greater awareness of early-stage infrastructure financing challenges, stronger collaboration between developers and investors, improved project bankability, increased visibility for promising projects, and practical recommendations for reducing investment risk across Africa's infrastructure sector. 

TAC connects governments, investors, DFIs and project sponsors to unlock bankable infrastructure projects that drive inclusive growth and sustainable development across Africa.