How to Empower 300 Million People
For years, running a seed-oil business in rural eastern Zambia meant relying on expensive diesel. Now, Zeferino Tembo Sr.’s family operates their oil extractors using clean, affordable solar power — producing and selling cooking oils to their community, at a fraction of the cost. That shift became possible when a 100-kilowatt-peak solar site came online nearby, serving between 300 and 400 homes and businesses in the district.
Tembo’s story illustrates why Mission 300 was created. Mission 300 is an ambitious initiative of the World Bank, African Development Bank, The Rockefeller Foundation, Global Energy Alliance, and Sustainable Energy for All to bring electricity to 300 million people across Africa by 2030. The initiative offers a platform for governments, utilities, and the private sector to work together, and has already connected over 44 million people on the continent.
Keeping that momentum going requires people on the ground. Today, Mission 300 Fellows like Hope Miriti work directly with the teams putting government commitments into action. Hope is one of many early-to-mid-career African professionals the fellowship placed with government institutions responsible for delivering on their Mission 300 National Energy Compacts to expand energy access. She is now based in Lesotho, where she’s helping develop tools for the national energy compact rollout.
The Mission 300 Fellowship, a collaboration between CoAction Global and the RF Catalytic Capital team, deployed six Mission 300 Fellows by the end of 2025, with seven MOUs finalized and more deployments planned in 2026 — all helping to lay the groundwork for an energy future that powers jobs and economic opportunity for hundreds of millions of Africans.
Electricity has helped me run my oil-distilling machines, feed my family, and give jobs to young people.