Kenya’s ‘pay-as-you-go’ solar firm M-KOPA Solar has been recognized as a top 100 global clean technology company in the 2014 Global Cleantech 100 awards – which are presented to the most innovative and promising ideas by companies to solve tomorrow’s clean technology challenges.
M-KOPA recently announced it had powered up 100,000 homes in East Africa with clean, affordable solar home systems – which are paid for using mobile money.
According to the firm, it’s solar households will generate over 12.5 million hours of kerosene-free lighting and will make combined projected savings of US$75 million – based on $750 savings made by a single household, compared to Kerosene usage over a four year period.
In a statement, Jesse Moore, Co-Founder and Managing Director, M-KOPA Solar said, “M-KOPA Solar is designed around a game-changing technology – mobile money. We saw that being able to move a small amount of money around, at a low cost, could revolutionize energy access. We now offer world-class solar energy systems, collecting payments in small amounts and allowing customers to choose when and how much they pay.”
Global Cleantech 100 is a comprehensive list of for-profit private companies with the highest potential to make the most significant market impact. This list is collated by combining Cleantech Group research data, with weighted qualitative judgments of hundreds of nominations. There are specific inputs from a global 84-person Expert Panel, drawn from leading financial investors and representatives of multi-national corporations and industrials active in technology and innovation scouting across Asia, Europe, and North America.
“The Global Cleantech 100 represents the most inspiring array of entrepreneurs across the Cleantech space that are at the forefront of innovation,” says Sheeraz Haji, Cleantech Group’s CEO.
This year, a record number of nominations were received: 5,995 distinct companies from 60 countries participated. These companies were weighted and scored to create a short list of 327 companies. Short-listed nominees were reviewed by Cleantech Group’s Expert Panel, resulting in a finalized list of 100 companies from 17 countries.
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