Founded in Nairobi in 2012 by Lesley Silverthorn, Victoria Arch and Bryan Silverthorn, Angaza Design is an alternative energy startup providing Pay-As-You-Go solutions to resellers and distributors.The founders say their Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) technology allows users to buy solar-ready products at affordable prices as if they were buying mobile phone airtime.
The low cost solar energy products include a solar lamp dubbed the SoLite3 which was build from Angaza-designed hardware and software. The startup is also working on a PAYG-enabled 3rd party lamp later in the year.
SoLite3 is a PAYG-enabled solar lamp and mobile phone charger which is being sold via distribution partners in E. Africa. The team believs the lamp will end the woes of lack of power and light especially for people in communities without access to grid electricity.
The firm is also working on making their technology available to manufactures to use their PAYG technology into their lamps for mass production.
According to them, over 1.2 billion people have no access to electricity globally and end up spending millions using kerosene lamps and generators to light their homes and power home appliances. Kerosene and diesel and the disposable lithium batteries have effects to the environment and are also expensive.
It even worse in East Africa, where a typical family spends over 30 percent of their annual incomes on lighting their homes and charging their phones.
With over 16 million mobile money customers, Angaza’s PAYG platform can help rural and peri-urban consumers buy solar lanterns and fit them in their homes and pay using flexible terms of payment.
All a customer needs is commitment and then Angaza will supply them with their products and follow their payment records remotely.
Just like voice calls, the more a consumer uses their solar lanterns, the more they’ll pay.
The Angaza PAYG platform collects and respond to customer payments in real time, securely and reliably, and across countries and currencies. Angaza’a PAYG technology allows consumers to purchase PAYG-ready products over time, in affordable increments, just like they purchase cellular airtime.