Pay-as-you-go solar power lights up Africa

M-KOPA Solar provides East African users with a domestic solar system that can be topped up with more than 10,000 mobile payments made via their cloud platform every day. With more than 2.4 million customers signed up to Nigeria-based mobile company Paga, M-Kopa Solar targets the booming mobile industry by offering off-grid households an affordable 12-month mobile money payment plan to provide a renewable alternative to the country’s kerosene consumption.

Speaking in a statement, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Jesse Moore described the need for healthier and safer alternatives to energy, stating that “Kenyans spend over Ksh 86bn a year on kerosene”. The lighting fuel is extremely dangerous and unhealthy but continues to be used by 92 percent of the population despite costing 25 percent to 30 percent of a family’s income.

Since its launch in 2012, M-KOPA Solar has brought energy to over 150,000 households in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with the aim of providing affordable energy. The company’s technology platform allows them to extend their reach to customers without formal collateral or credit histories but with approximately 110m off-grid households in Africa, the business potential of M-Kopa Solar is vast.

Moore added: “We see a massive unmet market opportunity to provide millions of off-grid households with affordable, renewable energy. We are just getting started in terms of the scale and impact of what we will achieve.”