Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.

Status update - April 10, 2020

Kiva has learned that Elephant Energy is closing, and therefore our partnership is now closed. The organization faced serious difficulties following a severe drought in Namibia. Elephant Energy was a partner with Kiva for 5 years, during which time the organization successfully raised and repaid $74,000 in loans to Kiva lenders. We thank Elephant Energy for the years of collaboration.

Status update - November 7, 2019

Elephant Energy is not currently fundraising for new loans, and all of their outstanding loans have been defaulted. Elephant Energy mistakenly reported repayments to Kiva that weren’t actually collected from borrowers. Unfortunately, they do not expect further repayments from these borrowers due to a severe drought in Namibia. The majority of their customers are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, and the drought has left them unable to make payments on their loans. If the environmental situation improves, we will consider working with this partner again in the future.

Partner description: 

Elephant Energy is a social enterprise that provides small-scale solar lights to rural communities in Namibia. The organization was founded by Doug Vilsack in 2008. While working in Namibia for the WWF Doug noticed a severe gap in the energy access, specifically the challenges faced by farmers who needed lights to protect their fields from elephants who would destroy their crops at night. He reached out to friends and family to raise funds for the first round of solar lights to be distributed in Namibia. Since then, Elephant Energy, has spread to 8 regions and adopted a social enterprise model, selling lights and generating income throughout the rural the North of the country.

Currently, Elephant Energy works in 8 regions across Namibia, Khomas, Kavango, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa, Oshana and Zambezi, delivering Greenlight Planet Solar products to the most rural areas through their sales agent model. The organization identifies, recruits, trains and supports individuals living in off-grid communities to become Sales Agents. These entrepreneurs are then able to sell throughout their community. This not only allows the entrepreneurs added income for household expenses but allows Elephant Energy's work to reach into communities that would not otherwise be able to access any form of clean energy.