Jacob is an off-grid energy and digital finance specialist with over ten years of experience launching and growing energy enterprises and end-user finance initiatives in developing markets. He is a co-founder of Simpa Networks, one of the world’s first pay-as-you-go solar companies that now provides modern energy to over 100,000 rural Indian consumers. He has held senior product and operational roles at leading off-grid solar providers in Asia and Africa, and has authored industry-leading publications on energy access and digital finance. Jacob has provided off-grid energy strategy and business development services to development and impact investors, multilaterals and bilaterals, banks and microfinance institutions, and distributed energy service companies. He holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Financial Accounting from George Mason University.