Executive Summary
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Africa is one of the continents most vulnerable to climate change and climate variability. African countries are responding to this challenge through climate mitigation and adaptation and the development of new sectors and industries. The resulting emergence of green industries and the deployment of green technologies (green tech) present opportunities to address youth unemployment through the creation of green jobs. For green tech to maximise youth employment creation in Africa, government policies, regulations and strategies, as well as interventions by development partners, enterprise support organisations and financial institutions, need to be attuned to the needs of young people in green industries. Furthermore, there is a need for research examining the linkages of youth, women and the applicability of Indigenous knowledge to innovation in the green tech space.
This report aims to understand the key actors, policy context, barriers and enablers in the nexus between green tech and youth employment. As a case study, it takes the Nigerian solar mini-grid tech startup sector, which is capitalising on Indigenous and traditional knowledge to enhance technological innovation for startups. The solar mini-grid industry was selected for this purpose due to Nigeria’s progress and growing potential in renewable energy, particularly in off-grid solutions. In fact, Nigeria is one of the largest markets for solar mini-grids in Africa. By 2024, the country had over 155 mini-grids and at least 42 active developers, up from just 11 mini-grids and five developers in 2015 (Nigeria Electrification Programme, n.d.b; Alliance for Rural Electrification, 2024). A significant increase in the number of mini-grids and developers is projected over the next decade.
This study documents how the dimensions of policy, finance, skills and innovation shape youth employment outcomes in Nigeria’s solar mini-grid sector. It first examines the current national strategies and policy frameworks guiding the sector and how they shape opportunities for youth employment. This focus is vital, given Nigeria’s urgent need to expand energy access while tackling high youth unemployment. The study then assesses how Nigeria’s burgeoning tech startup ecosystem could act as a catalyst for scaling green tech and creating job pathways within the solar energy sector, before investigating the roles that solar tech startups are playing in this space, as well as the factors either promoting or hindering their contribution to innovation and development. To fully understand these outcomes, the study also examines cross-cutting factors – particularly gendered barriers and the role of Indigenous knowledge – that shape which young people are able to access, participate in or benefit from emerging opportunities in the sector.
The report delves into the role of women in technology transfer and job creation within the mini-grid sector, identifying the barriers that limit their participation and potential. It also focuses on the need to enhance the uptake of locally developed technologies and Indigenous knowledge systems. This is especially pertinent since Nigeria’s National Youth Policy (2019–2023) mentions that one of the strategies for expanding youth employment would be building their entrepreneurial capacity and skills in Indigenous technologies to produce solar panels and renewable energies. Lastly, the study examines how tech startups and, more broadly, youth can be more effectively engaged in innovation and technology transfer, and the structural or systemic constraints that impede their impact. Altogether, these areas of inquiry are essential to designing inclusive, locally grounded, future-oriented interventions that can accelerate both energy access and employment for youth in Nigeria.
This report employed multiple research methods, beginning with a comprehensive review of the literature and policy documents. Data from 35 solar mini-grid companies made up the dataset that was used for the quantitative analysis. This sample was based on publicly available information and represented 37% of members of the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria. The companies were selected based on their experience of deploying at least one mini-grid in Nigeria and the availability of public information about them – such as year of founding and the gender and age of the leadership. The Nigerian solar mini-grid industry was then mapped to establish the key stakeholders in the space. A policy-convening workshop, bringing together government officials and representatives of private institutions in the sector, provided a platform to validate the desk research findings and identify youth needs in policy, finance and skills. Secondly, through semi-structured interviews conducted with 22 key informants (including those from mini-grid companies, policymakers, researchers and experts), primary data was collected and a qualitative data analysis was thematically conducted.
Key Findings
The desk research and key informant interviews (KIIs) revealed the following:
Labour dynamics and job opportunities in the solar mini-grid sector
- More than 90 million Nigerians lack access to electricity (Federal Ministry of Power, 2024). This provides an opportunity for solar mini-grids to fill the gap, which, in turn, promises significant potential for addressing Nigeria’s youth unemployment crisis by creating jobs. Investing in solar mini-grids is a viable economic strategy that can stimulate rural economies, improve livelihoods and reduce reliance on fossil fuels (Saleh, 2024).
- We estimate that, by deploying over 10,000 mini-grids, the sector could create 212,688 direct full-time informal and productive use jobs across the off-grid and under-grid market segments.1 Scaling deployment could be a cornerstone of Nigeria’s green growth strategy, making the case for stronger government and private sector support, incentives and workforce development programmes aligned with mini-grid growth.
- In the Nigerian mini-grid space, we estimate that 34% of full-time employees are female, which is an improvement over the corresponding percentage of 21% in energy utilities in African countries (Baldinger et al., 2020). We further estimate that women also make up 53% of management staff in the sector.2 The solar mini-grid sector could therefore become a model for inclusive green tech industries.
- By our estimates, youth make up 82% of full-time staff in mini-grid companies. The sector is already youth-driven, positioning it as a natural avenue for youth empowerment and innovation. This also implies a need for targeted investments in skills development, mentorship and entrepreneurship to equip this workforce with the tools to grow and lead the sector.
- We estimate that youth make up 59% of management staff but only 19% of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in the sector. This signals an opportunity to further cultivate young leadership and entrepreneurship through targeted support, such as leadership pipelines, incubation programmes and youth-inclusive financing models.
- The sector supports a range of employment opportunities across the value chain, including roles in manufacturing, installation, maintenance, project development and community engagement. It therefore caters to diverse skill levels and backgrounds – from highly technical roles to community-facing positions. This makes it suitable for both rural and urban employment initiatives and emphasises the need for diverse, scalable training programmes to meet workforce demand across the entire value chain.
Technology innovation needs and priorities of youth in the solar mini-grid sector
- Since the launch of Nigeria’s first mini-grid in 2010, the sector has grown significantly, with about 200 mini-grids now in operation (Nigeria SE4All, 2022; Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), 2025). Many of the companies driving this growth are relatively young, with a substantial portion being youth-led and supported by a dynamic, youthful workforce. These companies need support to develop green skills, access financial resources, achieve sustainability through the growth phase and foster innovation.
- The technology innovation needs and priorities of youth in the sector include skills development, upskilling, access to finance (to start up and grow a mini-grid company), technical assistance (including meaningful incubation and innovation hubs, female- and youth-focused skills and entrepreneurship programmes) and enabling policies.
Skills
Both desk research and KIIs identified a skills gap in the solar mini-grid sector, which actors –including training institutions, mini-grid companies’ in-house training programmes, technical assistance programmes and research companies – are attempting to address. The following findings were made:
- Semi-skilled local technicians have limited career mobility as they lack both soft professional skills and the extensive hard skills that design engineers and project managers possess. Further formal education is often the only pathway to advancement, without which the sector risks entrenching a two-tier workforce and failing to deliver on its potential to build local capacity. There is therefore a need for more accessible, non-academic professional development models that enable local talent to grow into supervisory and leadership roles.
- While the demand for solar mini-grid deployment is growing, a shortage of job-ready talent is creating bottlenecks in scaling. Skills in high demand are those which are highly specialised, such as design, installation, operations and maintenance, as well as business development and project management – domains where many young people currently lack practical, hands-on experience. This calls for more experiential learning opportunities, such as apprenticeships and simulation-based training. Training should include soft and managerial skills like client engagement, financial planning and project coordination.
- The desk research revealed that women make up only 8% of technical staff across the broader solar off-grid sector (Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN), 2021b). This could be attributed to the gender disparity in the training institutions, where women represent only 7% of engineering and technology graduates and 6% of electrical installation and maintenance technical college graduates (Ihuoma, 2023). The gender gap limits both equity and innovation in the sector. Without targeted interventions to fix the pipeline, the energy transition risks reinforcing inequality.
- There are four sources of training in the sector:
- Tertiary education provides general technical and non-technical skills that are transferable to mini-grid operational contexts. However, without hands-on application, its impact is limited. This calls for closer collaboration between universities and industry, including partnerships with companies for field placements and curriculum co-design to increase relevance and job readiness.
- In-house, on-the-job training by senior staff and guest experts.
- Training conducted by equipment manufacturers for mini-grid company staff during procurement.
- Specialised training by external training institutions.
Finance
Access to finance is rated as a critical priority for mini-grid companies and aspiring entrepreneurs. The following findings were made:
- Based on a lowest-cost electrification approach (where a country’s mix of electrification technologies depends on the lowest cost for the technology for each population segment), the solar mini-grid sector may require up to USD 8 billion to connect 35.4 million people. To meet this need, the government and donors must attract private capital by de-risking investments and ensuring regulatory clarity and long-term planning.
- Companies need cash for project development, research and experimentation, capacity building, and workforce upskilling. This calls for a financing strategy that recognises human capital, innovation and local entrepreneurship as critical components of energy access.
- Grants from development finance institutions which come via the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) are the largest source of finance for the sector. The USD 410 million funding for mini-grids under the World Bank-funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project over the next five years (USD 82 million annually) exceeds the venture capital equity (USD 46.8 million) and debt (USD 27.6 million) financing (typically from foreign sources), or the paltry domestic commercial bank lending that entered into Nigeria’s cleantech sector (as a whole) in 2024. Thus, the sector is still heavily donor-dependent, with insufficient private sector participation. While public funding plays a catalytic role, over-reliance on grants exposes the sector to political and donor shifts. For a move towards a more balanced funding landscape, there is an urgent call for strategies to inspire private sector confidence, especially those in the form of guarantees, blended finance and co-investment models.
- For early-stage mini-grid startups, grants with less stringent eligibility criteria remain critical. Smaller and newer companies struggle to meet the bureaucratic requirements of some traditional funders. Supporting these startups through streamlined, small-ticket, risk-tolerant grant programmes is essential for diversifying the market, supporting Indigenous entrepreneurship, and reaching underserved communities.
- Mini-grid companies require patient capital that can tolerate comparatively modest but steady returns over a long payback period (seven to ten years) that matches its slow revenue maturation and long-term impact timeline. Concessional debt, revenue-based finance or blended equity are ideal.
Innovation
Respondents noted the importance of innovation for the survival, growth and scaling of the sector. However, the rate of innovation is uneven. The following findings were made:
- The right support mechanisms – such as funding for research and development, innovation-friendly policies and talent development – are needed to nurture and scale innovation.
- Up to 85% of mini-grid system components are imported. This heavy reliance on imports limits local manufacturing innovation and undermines the development of a resilient, locally grounded mini-grid ecosystem. Additionally, it makes the sector vulnerable to currency volatility, supply chain disruptions and foreign policy shifts. Encouraging local production through incentives, technology transfer partnerships and investment in manufacturing capacity is critical to building a self-sustaining sector.
- Innovations in the sector can be radical or incremental. Understanding the spectrum of innovation helps stakeholders identify where support is most needed. Incremental innovations are easier to adopt but may offer limited cost advantages, while radical innovations, though riskier, have the potential to reshape the economics of mini-grid deployment. Stakeholders, including investors and donors, must be willing to take calculated risks to back breakthrough innovations, not just small optimisations.
- Innovation in the sector is mainly needs-based, spurred by pressures to minimise costs and improve efficiency given the long periods until firms can recoup their investments (seven to ten years). This means innovation is reactive rather than proactive or visionary. Enabling more flexible capital, longer funding horizons and results-based incentives can free companies to explore more transformative innovations beyond immediate survival pressures.
- Innovation is concentrated in the skilled segment of the workforce, where testing of new business models, experimentation with new technology brands and trying out new deployment processes are often initiated. However, there is a risk of innovation being confined to technical teams and the leadership, while excluding semi-skilled workers and local actors who could contribute valuable on-the-ground insights. Broadening access to innovation processes, especially through inclusive training and community-based pilots can unlock more diverse and context-specific solutions. Supporting more innovation labs or open testbeds across the country would democratise innovation access.
- Indigenous knowledge in the innovation process faces the biggest challenge at the basic research level (where innovations in tertiary education research facilities have weak pipelines into industry and further commercialisation) and at the manufacturing level (where innovations need to ensure product quality and cost competitiveness in Nigeria’s volatile macroeconomic environment).
Policy
The research sought to find out if existing policy promotes green jobs and if the policy space is responsive to young people’s innovation and employment needs and priorities. The following key policies and regulatory frameworks were identified: the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy (NREEEP), the National Employment Policy (2017), the National Youth Policy (2019–2023), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Mini-Grid Regulations (2023) and the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) Guidelines for Solar Mini-Grid Projects (2022). The following findings were made:
- There is little coherence between national renewable energy policies, youth policies and labour policies. The lack of alignment leads to duplication, inefficiencies and gaps in programme design, resulting in missed synergies between skills supply (education/labour policy) and demand (energy policy). A coordinated policy approach, with cross-ministerial collaboration to create integrated strategies for green jobs and inclusive industrial growth, is essential.
- Policy and government programmatic support for youth-led mini-grid startups is weak, as these are often focused on the wider objectives of electrification and development. With the requirement for contractors on government programmes to have advanced capacity – which young startups typically do not possess – the opportunity to harness the demographic dividend in Nigeria’s energy transition is being missed. Embedding youth targets, quotas and tailored support into mini-grid policies is critical to achieving equitable development and ensuring long-term sector sustainability.
- Without tailored support, youth-led startups are locked out of government-funded mini-grid opportunities, deepening inequalities and stifling innovation. This perpetuates a status quo where only established firms benefit from public programmes, while emerging local entrepreneurs are sidelined. To change this, procurement policies must include youth-access clauses, flexible eligibility requirements and dedicated funding windows for young founders.
Key recommendations
The following recommendations are made for policymakers and stakeholders in the solar mini-grid sector wishing to support sustainable energy access, strengthen local communities and enhance growth.
Skills
- Invest in skills development and training: Policymakers and development partners need to scale training for the workforce in solar design, installation, operations and maintenance. This should build on the National Board for Technical Education’s (NBTE) recent development of a technical and vocational education and training (TVET) curriculum for solar photovoltaic (PV) skills. Actors should also ensure that the content of such programmes is aligned with industry needs and equips youth and women with hands-on, practical experience to meet the sector’s technical demands.
- Promote capacity building: With the support of development partners, implementing agencies such as the REA, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) should invest in programmes that equip Nigerian stakeholders with the skills and knowledge to implement and maintain cutting-edge solutions.
- Sponsor and encourage the creation of intensive incubation programmes: Successful incubation programmes should be replicated for the mini-grid sector. Enterprise support organisations, development partners and implementing agencies should support incubation programmes to transition startups into mini-grid development and installation companies, and to make more local mini-grid companies investment-ready for large-scale mini-grid programmes. Long-term support should be provided by development partners to prepare the companies for the rigours of larger funding facilities that have stringent eligibility criteria. These programmes may be embedded as components in national electrification projects such as DARES.
- Incorporate Indigenous knowledge and practices: Mini-grid companies should leverage the knowledge and practices of local communities, including their insights into sustainable energy usage patterns and resource management, when designing and implementing minigrid projects. The REAN and/or the Africa Minigrid Developers Association (AMDA) should develop a framework and/or guidelines for Indigenous knowledge codification and incorporation into the mini-grid sector.
Gender
- Increase policy attention towards women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields: The REA, along with other public institutions – such as the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, the Federal Ministry of Education and NITDA – should collaborate with higher education institutions, development partners and other organisations to increase enrolment of girls in STEM undergraduate programmes and create a pipeline of female workers and entrepreneurs for the sector.
- Inclusion in incubation and enterprise support programmes: Enterprise support organisations, development partners and implementing agencies should support incubation programmes to transition startups into mini-grid development and installation companies, and should be more explicit, proactive and systematic about encouraging female entrepreneurs. Such encouragement should address key barriers women face, from responding to calls for applications, to programme structure, delivery format and schedule, pedagogy and content, and post-programme support. Associations of ecosystem support organisations – such as the Innovation Support Network and AfriLabs – should develop guidelines for gender mainstreaming in enterprise support programmes.
Finance
- Increase access to finance for local operators: Financing mechanisms provided by development partners, private capital and public funding institutions should be tailored to the unique needs of mini-grid operators, particularly small-scale and youth-led enterprises. Low-interest loans, grants and subsidies should prioritise early-stage businesses and local community members to enable them to overcome capital constraints and scale their operations sustainably. Financiers may partner with enterprise support organisations and financial advisory firms to provide technical assistance in order to complement financing support for such businesses and mitigate risk for financiers.
- Cater to the unique needs of youth and women: Funding facilities should create sub-components that design funding that caters to the unique needs of youth and women. These may relax eligibility criteria for younger mini-grid companies, while providing complementary technical assistance and project evaluation to ensure project quality.
- Expand climate finance for mini-grids: The REA should aim to increase overall funding for mini-grid projects through international grants, concessional loans and partnerships, focusing on funding mechanisms that directly benefit underserved communities and small-scale operators.
Innovation
- Establish knowledge-sharing networks: To foster innovation and collaboration, industry associations such as the REAN and AMDA, as well as implementing agencies such as the REA, should create opportunities for mini-grid operators, policymakers and communities to exchange best practices and lessons learned. These include industry forums, workshops and online knowledge hubs.
- Promote technology transfer: Facilitate the transfer of advanced mini-grid technologies and best practices to local operators, and link research to industry. This could be accomplished though the promotion of subcontracting between large foreign companies and smaller local companies; development partners funding open-source tools and supporting capacity-building programmes on the adoption and adaptation of such tools; and the REA encouraging the formation of equitable joint ventures and special-purpose vehicles between more and less technologically advanced companies.
- Establish innovation hubs for renewable energy development: Development partners should establish more renewable energy innovation hubs that provide young entrepreneurs with access to funding, mentorship and infrastructure to scale their ideas. These hubs could focus on integrating Indigenous knowledge with modern technologies to create innovative, localised solutions to energy challenges.
Policy
- Create policies for youth and gender inclusion in the mini-grid sector: Targets (particularly the number of jobs created) contained in mini-grid policy documents developed by the REA and the Federal Ministry of Power (FMP) should be disaggregated by gender and age. This would ensure inclusivity for youth and women in the sector both in its formative years and as it matures and scales.
- Institutionalise youth involvement in policymaking: Youth organisations and youth chapters of associations in the sector, such as the REAN, should get a seat at the policymaking table.
- Support community ownership and involvement: The REAN, AMDA and REA should encourage greater levels of community ownership of mini-grid projects and involve residents in the planning, implementation and management of the projects to ensure long-term sustainability.
- Encourage inclusive decision-making: Ensure decisions reflect the priorities and needs of all stakeholders and create platforms for all those involved – including local governments, community representatives, operators and financiers – in the design and implementation of mini-grid projects.
- Strengthen local institutions for better governance: Enhance the capacity of local governments and regulatory agencies to oversee, coordinate and support the mini-grid sector. This includes providing technical assistance, streamlining licensing processes and ensuring compliance with national energy policies.
- Mainstream mini-grids in national development plans: Embed mini-grid development into Nigeria’s broader development strategies and policies so that it can be aligned with national priorities, such as increasing energy access, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promoting economic development in rural areas.
- Align international policies with local realities: The FMP, the Energy Commission of Nigeria and the REA should work with the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) to ensure that international energy policies and funding mechanisms developed through multilateral agreements in which the NCCC is involved are tailored to Nigeria’s unique challenges, such as affordability, accessibility and local capacity constraints.
This report was produced in the context of the Green Technology for Green Growth: Barriers and Drivers Project (2023 - November 2025) in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Foundation, its staff, or its Board of Directors.
