India’s Orb Energy has raised $2 million in equity investments from the Netherland’s FMO to start its solar designs, manufacturing and instalation services in Kenya and expand in several African countries.Damian Miller, the Chief Executive Officer of Orb, said, “We now intend to replicate in Kenya while at the same time expanding our India presence. Kenya is an excellent starting point for us in Africa as we have tremendous support from banking partners in Kenya to finance our customers.”
Orb will use the money to set up 50 branches over the next 2 years in Kenya and sell over 100,000 solar energy systems to households and enterprises in Kenya in the next five years. The firm works with nationalized banks and micro-finance institutions for its solar energy systems.
Robert Voskuilen, Senior Investment Officer at FMO, commented, “We have reviewed many solar businesses now entering the African market, and we found Orb’s diversified range of solar products, designed and manufactured by Orb to the highest standards of quality, to be very compelling.”
FMO, makingits first investment into energy in Africa joins other investors such as Bamboo Finance (Switzerland), Acumen Fund (USA), and the Family Trust for Tom Singh.