US Ambassador Inaugurates PPSE’s Second Investment Roadshow

US Ambassador to Pakistan and Secretary Environment, Government of Sindh inaugurated 2^nd Investment Roadshow Pakistan Private Sector Energy (PPSE) Project’s that showcased 14 companies in the clean energy, e-mobility, circularity and energy efficiency sectors with a a cumulative investment ask of $98 Million.

PPSE is promoting investment into commercially-viable clean energy projects in Pakistan and providing support to enable them to access financing and reach financial close. The project has already secured investor commitments of more than USD $30 M for 15 companies in the sectors of renewable energy, e-mobility, energy efficiency and circularity in its pipeline.

At the Roadshow held in Karachi on 22-23 May 2024, notable attendees included representatives from the Government of Sindh, representatives from international development and multilateral banks, as well as representatives from the commercial banking sector, venture capital firms, equity investors and decision-makers from Pakistan’s financial sector.

Addressing the audience, U.S. Ambassador Donald Blome opened the Investment Roadshow saying:

“The United States has a long history of working together with Pakistan’s private sector to strengthen finance and development infrastructure. Through the diverse PPSE pipeline, we are facilitating investment in clean energy, e-mobility, energy efficiency and circularity to promote sustainability and climate resilience in Pakistan. The role of the private sector is critical in these efforts to bring the financial and technical resources needed to accelerate access to finance.”

– U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome

Echoing the Ambassador’s sentiments, Nabeela Omer, Secretary Environment, Government of Sindh stated:

The Government of Sindh is thrilled to see these kinds of imperative initiatives from the United States, aimed at bolstering our nation’s climate resilience, mitigation, and adaptation efforts by helping leverage the needful investment. This investment roadshow is a way to bring this need in to the mainstream and draw more investment for scaleup which clean energy companies very much need.”

– Nabeela Omer, Secretary Environment, Government of Sindh

Presenting the methodology of PFAN’s business-building, advisory and investment facilitation as well as impact, PPSE Chief of Party elucidated PPSE’s milestones since its launch in 2021.

Since the last 3.5 years our primary focus is to mainstream investments in the clean energy, circularity and energy efficiency domain. There is huge potential in each and every company exhibiting and pitching today with a cumulative investment ask of $98 Million. Even by our humble effort, we have managed to build a pipeline of 39 companies with a cumulative investment ask of $353 Million, so I imagine that if more efforts were made towards mobilizing finance in cleantech Pakistan’s energy landscape would be much more sustainable and thriving.”

– Ahmed Ammar Yasser, PPSE Chief of Party

Ambassador Blome and the Secretary Environment then proceeded to inaugurate the Investment Roadshow Expo that featured the pitching companies stalls and product prototypes ranging from electric bikes, energy efficient lighting & fans, solar PV, solar dried fruits, sustainable packaging, circularity-promoting vending machines and much more.

From the renewable energy sector, Hadron Solar (Private) Limited, ARZN Renewable Energy (Private) Limited, and Mountain Agri Business (Private) Limited represented from PPSE’s pipeline. Projects from circularity included e-Guard (Private) Limited, Davaam Life (Private) Limited and Five Star Coroplast (Private) Limited. The lion’s share of the presenters were electric vehicle companies as much of Pakistan’s carbon emissions come from vehicular use. EV companies that presented and exhibited were Vlektra – Vitality Motors (Private) Limited, Mode Mobility (Private) Limited, NeuBolt Energy Services (Private) Limited, AIM Motors (Private) Limited, Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus Service Limited. Representing energy efficiency were Rapidev (Private) Limited, Britlite Engineering (Private) Limited and Ansaar Management Company.

Day one culminated with signing of financing agreements totaling PKR 1,409,500,000 amongst ten signatories from the finance sector and PPSE’s pipeline companies, these included Bank Alfalah, Alfalah Investments, Pak Brunei Investment Company Limited, Accelerate Prosperity, Pioneer Amusement Services (Pvt) Limited from the investor side with BE Ventures Limited, Albario Engineering, , Rapidev Limited, Ray Data Environments Limited from the PPSE project pipeline that signed agreements, respectively. Meezan Bank signed a network partnership agreement with UNIDO as well.

Opening Remarks for day 2 were delivered by Kate V. Somvongsiri, Mission Director, USAID Pakistan.

No company’s investment ask and needs are the same. Working closely with their advisors, these pitching companies have been able to calibrate their investment asks and growth plans seamlessly. Day one’s financing agreements signing ceremony between PPSE Projects and financial institutions is definitely testament to quality of the work being undertaken by projects and their advisors. “

– Kate V. Somvongsiri, Mission Director, USAID Pakistan

Day two of the roadshow featured the launch of PPSE sponsored “Cleantech Ecosystem of Pakistan” study which was followed by a panel discussion on it. Naveen Ahmed, PFAN Transaction Coordinator presented the key findings of the study to the audience and moderated a dynamic panel discussion on navigating the current status and future discourse and trends for the country’s eco-entrepreneurial landscape.

Panelists included Peter Storey, Global Coordinator, PFAN; Sarah Munir, CEO, i2i; Hammad Umer, Country Head, Insitor; Rohma Labeeb, Accelerate Prosperity; Shezad Abdullah, JS Bank and Danish Elahi, CEO, Elahi Group of Companies.

Day 1 and 2 of the Investment Roadshow were closed by USAID Pakistan and UNIDO representatives, respectively, shining light on the power of partners coming together to form momentum for the clean energy transition.

Delivering the closing remarks of day 1, USAID Pakistan representative joyfully shared:

I was here at the roadshow last year, and like last year, I can say that this is the best part of my job because witnessing the ingenuity of Pakistan’s renewable, cleantech and circularity sectors gives me so much optimism. The brilliant ideas and businesses that are being nurtured in the PPSE pipeline gives me hope that this country will be able to overcome the many challenges for climate change that it faces.”

– Stephen Berlinguette, Director, Office of Climate and Sustainable Development, USAID Pakistan

On day 2, PFAN Programme Manager, Marko Van Hogervorst briefed the audience on UNIDO’s partnership with PPSE Project and took the stage to express gratitude from all the organizers to the attendees.

I thank all of you for giving us your time and attention over the last two days and it has been great presenting you all with exciting entrepreneurs and investment opportunities. Our project team, the project developers and advisors have worked tirelessly to ensure quality presentations and solutions to some of Pakistan and the world’s biggest climate problems. I look forward to seeing the deals that become reality as a result of this roadshow.”

– Marko van Waveren Hogervorst. PFAN Programme Manager, UNIDO