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. 

 


Repayment Performance on Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Start Date On Kiva Mar 25, 2015 Oct 12, 2005
Total Loans $120,675 $2,055,660,225
Amount of raised Inactive loans $0 $243,660
Number of raised Inactive loans 0 229
Amount of Paying Back Loans $0 $157,583,105
Number of Paying Back Loans 0 187,387
Amount of Ended Loans $120,675 $1,854,316,460
Number of Ended Loans 31 2,501,443
Delinquency Rate 0.00% 12.34%
Amount in Arrears $0 $11,972,422
Outstanding Portfolio $0 $97,022,683
Number of Loans Delinquent 0 63,564
Default Rate 38.95% 1.84%
Amount of Ended Loans Defaulted $47,000 $34,032,174
Number of Ended Loans Defaulted 17 91,246
Currency Exchange Loss Rate 0.33% 0.47%
Amount of Currency Exchange Loss $392 $12,742,203
Refund Rate 0.00% 0.55%
Amount of Refunded Loans $0 $11,261,520
Number of Refunded Loans 0 9,866

Loan Characteristics On Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Loans to Women Borrowers 69.70% 78.49%
Average Loan Size $3,893 $393
Average Individual Loan Size $3,893 $585
Average Group Loan Size $0 $1,913
Average number of borrowers per group 0 8.3
Average GDP per capita (PPP) in local country $10,800 $5,591
Average Loan Size / GDP per capita (PPP) 36.04% 7.03%
Average Time to Fund a Loan 0.62 days 9.13 days
Average Dollars Raised Per Day Per Loan $6,267.85 $43.05
  Average Loan Term 8.58 months 11.5 months

Journaling Performance on Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Total Journals 17 1,224,621
  Journaling Rate 51.61% 41.92%
  Average Number of Comments Per Journal 0.00 0.02
  Average Number of Recommendations Per Journal 0.00 0.55

Borrowing Cost Comparison (based on 2014 data)

    This Lending Partner Median for MFI's in Country All Kiva Partners
  Average Cost to Borrower 0% APR N/A 26.61% PY
  Profitability (return on assets) N/A N/A -1.37%
  Average Loan Size (% of per capita income) N/A N/A 0.00%

Country Fast Facts

Lending Partner Staff