For small businesses across Eswatini, access to affordable and reliable energy can determine whether an entrepreneur is able to grow, diversify or simply keep operating. Many micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), particularly in rural areas, rely on grid electricity or fossil fuels such as petrol to power their businesses. Rising and volatile energy costs can quickly eat into already narrow margins, while limited access to capital makes investing in cleaner and more affordable alternatives difficult.
For Ayanda Shongwe and Thembisile Mafu, two entrepreneurs working in agriculture, these pressures are felt every day. Both are among 17 MSMEs receiving renewable energy solutions through Igniting Eswatini’s Green Engine: Empowering MSMEs for a Just Energy Transition. Supported by the Joint SDG Fund, the joint programme is led by the United Nations Resident Coordinator and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP), working with national partners to expand access to clean energy and support a just energy transition.
Powering a growing business
In Mhlumeni, in the Lubombo Region, young entrepreneur Ayanda runs an indigenous chicken hatchery. Keeping chicks alive during cold days and nights requires constant heating, costing him around E500 (USD 30) per day for at least a week, while operating his incubator adds another E500 over each 21-day cycle. Ayanda started his business in 2023 with support from a German-funded grant that helped him construct the facility and purchase essential equipment. By 2025, he had stocked his hatchery with high-quality indigenous breeds to respond to growing demand from customers in his community and across the country.
“People from my community and across the country who want to start or expand indigenous chicken projects are my main clients,” he says. “But I’ve noticed that many customers are now more interested in buying meat than chicks.”
That demand presents an opportunity to expand his business, but moving into meat production would also require more energy and increase costs that are already difficult to absorb. Through the joint programme, a solar photovoltaic system has now been installed to power Ayanda’s incubator and heating equipment, reducing his dependence on costly grid electricity and giving him greater room to develop his business.
Farming under pressure
Further south in Kontshingila, in the Shiselweni Region, Thembisile faces similar pressures on her farm. She grows yellow maize, sugar beans and vegetables on 1.5 hectares of land, but relies on petrol-powered irrigation that costs around E2,000 (USD 121) each month. With fuel consuming such a significant part of her operating budget, she is currently able to cultivate only half of her land.
“Petrol prices keep rising, and I know fossil fuels also contribute to climate change,” she says.
Thembisile established her business in 2022 with an E10,000 (USD 607) loan from Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund, complemented by seedlings and training from the Eswatini Farmers Union. She now supplies vegetables to the National Agricultural Marketing Board and sells beans and maize to local buyers. Alongside crop farming, she raises up to 300 broiler chickens per cycle, but keeping them warm with infrared lights adds more than E2,000 to her energy costs each cycle. Torrential rains and heatwaves have also damaged her crops, adding climate pressures to the financial challenges facing her business.
Through the joint programme, a solar-powered irrigation and poultry heating system is being installed on Thembisile’s farm. By reducing her reliance on petrol and expensive electricity, the system is expected to help her cultivate more of her land, lower the cost of raising poultry and strengthen the resilience of her business.
Clean energy for businesses and communities
Across Eswatini, the joint programme is supporting 17 MSMEs with renewable energy solutions adapted to their operations, including solar photovoltaic systems and solar-powered irrigation. For small businesses, the challenge is not necessarily the availability of renewable energy technologies, but the investment required to access them. By helping overcome these upfront barriers, the programme is testing how clean energy can reduce operating costs while giving entrepreneurs greater space to invest, expand and create livelihoods.
The programme is also bringing renewable energy into community services. Through WFP, clean energy solutions are being introduced for lighting, cooking and irrigation in 12 schools and 11 neighbourhood care points, including electric pressure cookers and biogas systems that can reduce dependence on firewood.
For entrepreneurs such as Ayanda and Thembisile, access to clean energy is about more than lowering emissions. Reliable and affordable power can mean cultivating more land, keeping livestock healthy, responding to new customers and building businesses that are better equipped to withstand economic and climate shocks. By expanding access to renewable energy for small businesses and communities, Eswatini is creating new opportunities for livelihoods, resilience and a just energy transition for people and planet.
Originally published by UNDP Eswatini.
Note:
All Joint SDG Fund programmes are led by UN Resident Coordinators and implemented by agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations development system. The Joint SDG Fund gratefully acknowledges contributions from the European Union and the Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the Arab Gulf Programme for Development.
