Powering Africa’s Future: Europe’s Role in Advancing Mission 300

written by Jose Luis Ortega Moreno, Research and Programme Assistant (MECS) 

On 5th June 2025, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) hosted an event titled “Powering Africa’s Future: Europe’s Role in Advancing Mission 300” in London. The event addressed the ambitions and dynamics of Mission 300 (M300), an initiative led by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AFDB), alongside partners including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL), to connect 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030. The event brought together high-profile speakers from African development institutions, European financiers, multilateral actors, and private sector innovators, with discussions focusing on how Europe can support this transformative agenda through finance, policy, innovation, and partnerships.

Event panellists and moderators during the ODI Event. From left to right: Frannie Léautier, CEO of SouthBridge Investments (joining online); Andrew Herscowitz, Chief Executive Officer, M300 Accelerator, Rockefeller Foundation; Woochong Um, CEO of GEAPP; Heike Harmgart, Managing Director, EBRD; Ashvin Dayal, Senior Vice President for Power and Climate, Rockefeller Foundation; Leslie Maasdorp, CEO of BII; and Rebecca Nadin, Director at ODI Global.

The event panel convened key leaders involved in M300. Frannie Léautier, CEO of SouthBridge Investments, opened the discussion by introducing M300’s aspirational objectives. Leslie Maasdorp, CEO of British International Investment (BII), followed by highlighting the UK’s role in advancing energy access and emphasised the importance of productive energy use, later reiterated by Woochong Um, CEO of GEAPP, who stressed the need to ensure the scalability of M300 projects. Heike Harmgart, Managing Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), acknowledged the need for innovative finance mechanisms and deeper collaboration with the private sector, with Ashvin Dayal, Senior Vice President for Power and Climate at the Rockefeller Foundation, championing the message to promote meaningful partnerships across the energy access sector.

M300 Must Be More Than Just Connections

The panellists shared their view on what M300 is primarily set to achieve: connecting 300 million people to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, they echoed that M300 cannot simply be about reaching a target number but rather to be successful it has to tackle the specific needs of the population it targets. Frannie noted that, following the recent election of Dr Sidi Ould Tah as President of the AFDB, he had announced a 100-Day Plan to accelerate progress on M300 emphasizing how its delivery will restore dignity, enable economic opportunity, and drive inclusive growth for women, youth, and small and medium businesses. He reiterated that the AFDB aims to directly deliver at least 50 million connections to electricity.

Woochong Un emphasized how GEAPP, in collaboration with SEforALL, is advancing work to standardise bankable project pipelines, something essential to attract public and private investments, as well as to ensure scalable M300 projects. The role of Results-Based Financing (RBF) for clean cooking and the emerging potential of carbon markets were also discussed as vital mechanisms to channel European investment towards social and environmental returns. GEAPP, alongside the World Bank, the AFDB, SEforAll and the Rockefeller Foundation also recently launched the M300 Expert Roster, with the objective of establishing a pool of experts to assist African governments in implementing their national energy compacts and ensuring the long-term sustainability of new connections.

Anchoring Mini-Grids and Utilities in Productive Demand

Whilst most of the discussions during the formal M300 meetings held in London were about stark numbers of connections rather than impacts, the panellists focused both on impacts and outcomes. In particular, they mentioned the futility of establishing new connections when they are not accompanied by measures which can support and drive demand in newly connected households and businesses. As Leslie Maasdorp noted, the

people being connected often reside in rural, informal economies where affordability and usage are low. This poses a significant challenge for utility profitability and sustainability.

In this context, productive use of energy emerged as a key theme during the discussions. As we at MECS have been arguing for many years, electrification must go hand in hand with stimulating demand, through agriculture, digital infrastructure, local enterprises, and social services like schools and health clinics. Ashvin Dayal stressed that M300 must move beyond “just another plan” and become a real process of convergence, where electrification aligns with development outcomes.

This opens a critical window for electric cooking (eCooking). While not explicitly discussed at length during the event, the implications are clear. eCooking, whether in households, institutional settings – such as schools, hospitals, or prisons – or commercial enterprises, can act as a powerful driver of demand. eCooking can provide a sustained and significant electricity use contributing to the financial sustainability of utilities and mini-grid operators. In many cases, eCooking can generate financial savings for users already purchasing cooking fuels, with cooking fuel expenditure pivoting into utilities. As a higher-tier modern fuel, eCooking can also bring clean cooking co-benefits in gender, environment and health, with innovative carbon and impact finance facilitating its adoption.

With utilities struggling to recover costs and new connections often sitting under-utilised, integrating eCooking into National Energy Compacts could transform a liability into a growth opportunity. It can address the demand-side challenge, promote health and gender outcomes, and build resilience into energy systems. This is especially significant in the context of M300, where scale and speed must be matched by sustainability.

Financial Coordination and the Private Sector

Accelerating the M300 agenda will require bold and innovative financial coordination and stronger engagement with the private sector. Panellists emphasised that scaling national energy compacts, fast-tracking blended finance platforms, and mobilising capital from African banks and development finance institutions are urgent priorities. In a constrained global capital environment, Frannie Léautier called for ‘Europe’s catalytic financial innovation’, advocating for institutional creativity, financial engineering, and syndication models that spread risk across development actors.

Heike Harmgart highlighted the need to crowd in private capital. The EBRD’s expansion into six African countries marks a shift toward demand-driven development finance, and has emphasized avoiding displacing commercial finance. Through policy engagement and risk mitigation tools, EBRD aims to unlock impactful, bankable investments, as seen

in its support for Tunisia’s energy strategy, where grid expansion, renewable energy scale-up, and an export-oriented vision reflect the long-term planning needed in M300.

The panel also underlined that private sector engagement is essential to identify and resolve the issues slowing M300 progress. As Ashvin Dayal mentioned, there are only 66 months remaining until 2030, and current progress is off-track. To achieve M300’s objectives at an accelerated pace will require coordinated financial strategies, backed by Europe’s contributions in finance, policy support, and technical assistance.

Looking Ahead: Making eCooking Part of the Solution

As the momentum around M300 continues to evolve, our reflection is that eCooking must be integrated more fully as a vital component of demand enhancement. eCooking can generate financial savings for its users, pivoting their existing cooking fuel expenditure into the utility, creating steady demand and revenue for the long-term sustainability of grid infrastructure. eCooking can ensure that investment in energy infrastructure delivers jobs, improves living standards, empowers women, fosters economic growth, and safeguards the environment.

As Europe considers how to deepen its role in Africa’s energy transition, supporting scalable eCooking initiatives, aligned with National Energy Compacts, could be a concrete and catalytic entry point. Incorporating eCooking, M300 can not only deliver on connecting 300 million people to electricity but make these connections durable and resilient.