LocationsHow Clean Energy is Transforming Enterprises in Eswatini
From Rising Costs to Renewable Solutions
April 22, 2026
Under the project, participating MSMEs are receiving solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to replace expensive and volatile energy sources.
UNDP Eswatini/Mantoe Phakathi
As the world marks International Mother Earth Day on 22 April under the theme “Our Power, Our Planet,” the call for sustainable energy solutions is not just a global aspiration – it is a daily struggle for small business owners across Eswatini.
For many Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), energy is among the fastest‑rising operational costs. Most businesses rely on grid electricity or fossil fuels such as petrol, both subject to volatile global prices and the high cost of electricity imports. For entrepreneurs in rural areas, where margins are already thin, energy is not simply a utility – it is a defining factor that determines whether a business can survive, grow, or diversify.
Ayanda Shongwe next to the solar system that will power his incubator and keep his chicks warm.
UNDP Eswatini/Mantoe Phakathi
The High Cost of Staying in Business
At Mhlumeni, in the Lubombo Region – about a 1.5‑hour drive from Manzini – Ayanda Shongwe is building a future through his indigenous chicken hatchery. Keeping chicks alive during cold days and nights requires constant heating, costing him about E500 (USD 30) per day for at least a week. Operating his incubator adds another E500 over a 21‑day cycle.
A young entrepreneur, Ayanda started his business in 2023 with support from a German‑funded grant that enabled him to construct his facility and acquire essential equipment. By 2025, he had stocked his hatchery with high‑quality indigenous breeds to meet growing demand.
“People from my community and across the country who want to start or expand indigenous chicken projects are my main clients,” he explains. “But I’ve noticed that many customers are now more interested in buying meat than chicks.”
Yet expanding into meat production would require more energy – a cost Ayanda simply cannot absorb. His challenge reflects a broader reality facing MSMEs: entrepreneurs are not choosing inefficient systems but are locked into them by limited access to capital, unable to invest in cleaner, more cost‑effective alternatives.
Thembisile Mafu's poultry business faces high energy costs for a heating system to keep the broilers warm until they are ready for the market.
UNDP Eswatini/Mantoe Phakathi
Farming Under Pressure
Further south at Kontshingila, in the Shiselweni Region, Thembisile Mafu faces a similar dilemma. A yellow maize, sugar bean and vegetable farmer who established her business in 2022, she relies on petrol‑powered irrigation, spending around E2,000 (USD 121) per month. The cost is so high that she can only cultivate half of her 1.5‑hectare field.
“Petrol prices keep rising, and I know fossil fuels also contribute to climate change,” she says.
Thembisile’s vulnerability is compounded by climate shocks. Torrential rains and heatwaves have already damaged her crops, exposing the fragile link between energy access, climate risks, and food security. She started her business with a E10,000 (USD 607) loan from Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund, complemented by seedlings and training from the Eswatini Farmers Union. Today, she supplies vegetables to the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBoard) and beans and maize to local buyers.
In addition to crop farming, Thembisile produces up to 300 broiler chickens per cycle, but heating them with infrared lights adds more than E2,000 per cycle to her energy bill. Like many MSMEs, her business operates below minimum efficient scale, not due to lack of skills or ambition, but because energy poverty constrains basic production.
For Ayanda, a solar system has already been installed to power his incubator and heating equipment and expected to significantly reduce his dependence on costly grid electricity
UNDP Eswatini/Mantoe Phakathi
A Turning Point: Investing in Clean Energy
Relief is now within reach.
Ayanda and Thembisile are among 17 MSMEs supported through the UNDP‑led Joint Programme, Igniting Eswatini’s Green Engine: Empowering MSMEs for a Just Energy Transition, implemented in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP). The two‑year initiative is co‑funded by the Joint SDG Fund, brokered by the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office, and WFP and UNDP.
Under the project, participating MSMEs are receiving solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to replace expensive and volatile energy sources. For Ayanda, a solar system has already been installed to power his incubator and heating equipment and expected to significantly reduce his dependence on costly grid electricity. For Thembisile, a solar‑powered irrigation and poultry heating system is being installed – a shift expected to unlock her full production potential.
These interventions go beyond technical upgrades. They tackle a system‑level constraint that distorts business decisions, exposes enterprises to fuel price shocks, and reinforces poverty traps. The lessons are clear: while renewable energy technologies exist, there is currently no viable market‑driven pathway for MSMEs at this level to adopt them without public investment.
Under WFP’s component, solar energy is also being introduced for lighting, cooking and irrigation in 12 schools and 11 neighbourhood care points, replacing firewood dependency with electric pressure cookers and biogas systems.
UNDP Eswatini/Mantoe Phakathi
Beyond Business: Strengthening Community Resilience
The programme extends beyond individual enterprises. Under WFP’s component, solar energy is also being introduced for lighting, cooking and irrigation in 12 schools and 11 neighbourhood care points, replacing firewood dependency with electric pressure cookers and biogas systems.
By addressing energy poverty in community service centres, the programme highlights a critical truth at the heart of Earth Day’s call for collective action: without deliberate, inclusive investment, the energy transition risks leaving the most vulnerable behind.
Our Power, Our Future
The experiences of entrepreneurs like Ayanda and Thembisile demonstrate that clean energy is not only about reducing emissions. It is about resilience, economic stability and livelihoods. MSMEs are on the frontline of climate and energy shocks, and their survival depends on access to affordable, reliable power.
As Eswatini reflects on the spirit of “Our Power, Our Planet,” the message is clear: pilots like this matter, but transformation requires scale. Collective action must move beyond individual behaviour to embrace sustained public investment and policy solutions that enable those most constrained to participate fully in the energy transition.
These interventions go beyond technical upgrades. They tackle a system level constraint that distorts business decisions, exposes enterprises to fuel price shocks, and reinforces poverty traps. The lessons are clear: while renewable energy technologies exist, there is currently no viable market driven pathway for MSMEs at this level to adopt them without public investment.