OREANDA-NEWS. April 14, 2016. Five years after its launch, the “ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies” investment fund has gone from an initial endowment of €10 million to its current level of €50 million. In this way, ENGIE is reaffirming its commitment to energy access and reducing energy poverty for disadvantaged communities, and the high priority given to the Rassembleurs d’Energies initiative within the Group. 

Since 2011, ENGIE has invested, through “ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies”, in 16 innovative young companies. Those firms are rolling out a broad range of technologies best-suited to their local surroundings, and reconciling positive environmental and social impacts with economic efficiency. The solutions developed across four continents and roughly 15 countries include a variety of technologies, ranging from energy efficiency in social housing in Europe, to personal solar systems using “Pay as You Go [1]” technology in Africa, India, and Latin America. That’s not forgetting renewable power microgrids, biogas and biomass solutions, and more energy-efficient stoves. By the end of 2015, these solutions had helped to bring electricity to close to a million people. Today, the “ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies” fund has grown into a leading world player in “impact investing”, dedicated to promoting sustainable access to energy for underprivileged populations.

Beyond the financial investment, the Group assists these entrepreneurs and supports them in their long-term growth, in particular through skill-based sponsorship, providing them with technical, managerial, and financial expertise from its teams.

At the time of increasing the size of the fund, Gérard Mestrallet, Chairman and CEO of ENGIE, declared: “We are very satisfied and proud with regard to the actions undertaken by “ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies” to offer sustainable energy access to those most in need of it. These partnerships with innovative and committed entrepreneurs, working at the heart of the affected areas, form part of the Group’s social and environmental ambitions.”

ENGIE employees, too, can invest in an employee’s mutual fund that goes toward the Rassembleurs d’Energies solidarity investment fund. To date, close to 10,000 employees have made a contribution.


[1] Cellphone-based system-management and payment solution.