review · Heliyon
A review of 102 studies conducted between 2010 and 2023 examines the impact of electricity outages on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises across Sub-Saharan Africa. Frequent power cuts significantly disrupt business operations, resulting in decreased productivity, heightened operational inefficiencies, elevated production costs, and broken supply chains. These commercial disruptions diminish employment opportunities and stifle income generation, thereby reinforcing cycles of poverty across the region. To address these vulnerabilities, the analysis highlights the necessity of proactive measures, identifying energy source diversification through renewable alternatives as an essential intervention. Implementing alternative energy sources serves as a key strategy to stabilise small enterprise performance, safeguard business continuity, and support broader poverty reduction efforts throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises form the backbone of local economies, yet unstable electricity grids severely impair their capacity to operate and generate wealth. Understanding how frequent power failures undermine business productivity and sustain poverty provides vital insight for policymakers, development organisations, and energy planners seeking to foster economic stability through dependable infrastructure.
The findings highlight an urgent commercial opportunity for renewable energy developers, mini-grid operators, and off-grid technology providers to deliver alternative power solutions directly to small enterprises. Although the literature review operates at a strategic and policy level rather than offering a specific technological product, it confirms an established, ready market demand for decentralised and renewable energy installations that can insulate businesses from persistent grid instability.
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The paper explores the review on the impact of electricity outages on MSMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa, analyzing their effects on productivity and poverty levels based on a review of 102 studies spanning from 2010 to 2023. The review organizes the studies by subject, theme, and major research findings to analyze the impact of power outages in Sub-Saharan Africa on poverty reduction. Power outages in the region hinder income generation and employment, perpetuating the cycle of poverty. The key findings emphasize the importance of proactive action to minimize the negative consequences of power outages on small businesses and poverty. MSMEs face disruptions that lead to reduced productivity, operational inefficiencies, higher production costs, and supply chain disruptions. Strategies to lessen power outage effects on MSMEs, the review proposed promoting energy source diversification, such as renewables. The research review concludes that power outages are a major challenge for MSMEs and energy diversification is a key solution to reduce poverty in the region.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e33782
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