How Mission 300 is Unlocking Job Creation in Africa

Each year, up to 12 million young Africans enter the labor market but just 3 million wage jobs are created.

Accelerating job creation and economic growth is urgent and energy is the backbone – powering business, productivity and capital development.

Improving access to reliable, affordable electricity is critical to addressing Africa’s job challenges and attracting the investment needed to create employment for a growing population.

Unreliable power already costs jobs: frequent blackouts are estimated to reduce employment rates by 5 to 14 percentage points across the continent.

Beyond access, reliable electricity enables human capital, technology adoption and innovation, private investment, and building inclusive value chains—all essential to creating more and better jobs in Africa.

Addressing the jobs challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa and reaping its demographic dividend – with the working-age population expected to increase by over 600 million people between now and 2050 – will require fostering an ecosystem that facilitates private-sector development and firm growth.

Central to this is expanding access to reliable and affordable electricity—for households, communities, businesses, and industries alike.

Enter Mission 300 – our ambitious effort to provide electricity access to 300 million people in Africa by 2030 in partnership with the African Development Bank and a broad coalition of partners, including Rockefeller Foundation and the Global Energy Alliance.

Through this effort, we’ve connected close to 43 million people to electricity while also powering commercial, industrial, and social infrastructure.

Frequent and widespread outages force many firms to rely on expensive sources of electricity generation such as diesel generators which increases the cost of doing business.

Firms who cannot afford expensive generation often have to shut down business, leading to lay-offs or hiring freezes.

Unreliable electricity supply discourages investments, thereby lowering entry of more productive firms (needed to create jobs).

Electricity as the Foundation

Electricity connections act as the bedrock, powering everything from households to large-scale industries, agriculture to healthcare.

Without this essential platform, businesses struggle to thrive, and public services remain limited.

Mission 300 is supporting Africa to deliver affordable power, expand electricity access, boost utility efficiency, attract private investment, and improve regional energy integration that will drive economic transformation.

In Tanzania, Mission 300 projects are helping home-grown businesses thrive through connections to the grid and powering industries, like mining.

For Charles Buzalwa, who in 2021 invested his savings of Tsh 450 million (US$174,000) in a quarry and mining operation in Shikonoka, a remote village in Tanzania, the long-awaited electricity connection allowed him to reduce his daily operating costs by almost 90 percent, from Tsh 1.2 million to just Tsh 100,000, as he switched from fuel-powered machinery to electricity.

Through its efforts to extend electricity access to underserved communities, Tanzania’s Rural Energy Agency (REA) has connected 213 small mining businesses, allowing them to modernize their operations, boost profitability, create jobs, and contribute to local and national growth.

The mineral processing plant now has power machines fueled by electricity, ensuring the efficient and continuous processing of minerals.

Private Sector Participation

For energy infrastructure to translate into real development gains, consistent policies and predictable regulations play a critical role in reducing uncertainty.

When private investors can rely on a stable environment with transparent rules, they are better positioned to mobilize capital, technology, and expertise—turning energy access into lasting economic opportunity.

National Energy Compacts, created with support of Mission 300, are helping to create the right conditions for private sector investment by providing policy and regulatory certainty.

Madagascar is among 12 countries that launched a National Energy Compact at the Mission 300 African Energy Summit held in Tanzania in January 2025.

For Madagascar, the Compact aims to connect 2.2 million people annually, including 0.4 million through JIRAMA, the state-owned electricity and water utility and 1.8 million through private-sector mini-grids and solar home systems.

This Compact also calls for an environment conducive to private-sector participation and seeks US$4.5 billion in private investment.

Without private investment, achieving 80 percent electricity access by 2030 is simply unattainable.

This is why Mission 300 projects in Madagascar such as the Least-Cost Electricity Access Development Project (LEAD) project are supporting around twenty private-sector companies that can reach remote and isolated areas quickly.

Under LEAD, the Off-Grid Market Development Fund (OMDF), established to support private sector deployment, has already helped nearly 1.5 million people (303,000 connections) across the country gain access to energy.

Andriamparany Fiononana, a second-year student in Madagascar, now has enough light to do his homework in the evening.

Vulnerable households and small businesses located close to the national electricity company (JIRAMA) power grid can now get quicker, more affordable electricity connections through the LEAD Project.

In addition, the DECIM Fund (US$97 million), launched on January 23, 2025, as part of the Digital and Energy Connectivity for Inclusion in Madagascar (DECIM) Project, will significantly help the private sector scale up the results of OMDF, connecting at least 5.95 million people including 1,190,000 households and more than 150 villages from underserved communities to electricity.

The project will also enable 3.1 million new internet users and connect some 2,250 health centers and schools to renewable energy and digital services.

We are helping drive Madagascar toward universal energy access, lighting up the future for millions of Malagasy through our support to the government to continue much-needed reforms to ensure JIRAMA’s financial viability and to actively encourage and facilitate private sector participation.

Unlocking Jobs and Catalyzing Development

As access to electricity scales up, a powerful multiplier effect emerges.

Small businesses can scale up and hire more workers; new industries rooted in digital services, manufacturing, or agribusiness find fertile ground; and communities gain better healthcare and education.

In short, electricity access combined with robust private sector engagement sparks job growth, fosters local entrepreneurship, and bolsters overall economic resilience—setting in motion a self-reinforcing cycle of development that goes well beyond just “keeping the lights on.”

In Ethiopia, small rural villages are undergoing an energy transformation.

Take for instance Tum, located 4,650 feet above sea level and just 20 to 30 kilometers from Ethiopia’s border with South Sudan.

Today, Tum is no longer in the dark, thanks to a solar mini-grid installed by the Ethiopia Electric Utility (EEU) with support from a Mission 300 project, the Ethiopia Electrification Program (ELEAP).

Tum is one of 11 villages benefiting from mini-grids, which provide around 4,000 connections, supplying electricity to around 20,000 people.

Meskerem Tadesse, a mother of four and resident of Tum, has noticed a big change. She is not only saving time on daily tasks but has harnessed the new electricity connection to create opportunities for financial growth.

She now runs a small grocery store, made possible by her capacity to refrigerate and package her products, especially freezer pops.

“This is a hot, sunny area, so freezer pops are very popular,” she says.

The income from her business has allowed her to buy a computer for her children, improving their education.

Her plan to start an electricity-powered mill reflects her commitment to expanding her business and illustrates how access to energy is bolstering her family’s growth and resilience.

In Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the power of energy to make or break businesses and impact jobs is on full display at Manitech Congo—an agro-industrial company that produces tons of peanut butter and chili sauces every month, employing dozens of people, and supporting entire local value chains.

Sivi Malukisa, CEO of Manitech Congo remembers her beginnings clearly.

With access to funding, she built her first facility and transformed her vision into a thriving business.

Today, Manitech Congo is a success story, supplying locally made food across the DRC.

But reliable energy remains a constraint.

Malukisa is frequently disappointed by inconsistent energy supply.

When the electricity is down, her factory stops, directly impacting the livelihoods of dozens of workers. Asked what consistent energy would change, Malukisa replied without hesitation:

In rural Zambia, access to reliable power is opening new opportunities for workers and entrepreneurs—helping businesses grow, lowering costs, and improving daily life.

With the World Bank Group’s support through the Electricity Service Access Project, households and micro and small enterprises are connecting to the grid through subsidized fees, making power more affordable.

To turn these insights into action, the World Bank Group is helping governments finance vital infrastructure through National Energy Compacts.

These Compacts serve as the operational backbone of Mission 300, outlining the specific reforms governments must undertake to ensure affordable power, regional integration, and the financial viability of utilities.

With 30 countries already signed on, these agreements signal a massive public commitment to energy sector transformation and a clearer path for private investment.

Maintaining the momentum of these commitments requires transparency, which is why progress is being tracked in real-time through the Mission 300 Progress Portal.

By providing a clear snapshot of World Bank Group (WBG) commitments and co-financing contributions, the Portal offers data-driven proof of how these policy reforms are translating into tangible operations and mobilized capital.

As Misson 300 grows, the policy reforms and concessional financing are paving the way for the private sector to seize vast opportunities to invest in win-win solutions that bring electricity, jobs, and opportunities to Africans in a way that has never been done before.

It is key to catalyzing the growth, prosperity, and untapped potential of Africa – enabling millions of young people to work and thrive on a dynamic continent.