M-KOPA has been named to MIT Technology Review’s 2017 list of 50 Smartest Companies. To make the list, a company must exhibit technological leadership and business acumen, which sets it apart from its competitors.
M-KOPA is the only company in East Africa to have made the 2017 list. To date it has connected over 500,000 homes in East Africa to affordable, safe and clean energy. Its customers access lighting, phone charging, radio and TV on daily mobile money payment plans that are less than the typical cost of kerosene.
M-KOPA customers now enjoy over 62.5 million hours of kerosene-free lighting per month and they will save over 600,000 tonnes of CO2 over four years. Customers who complete their payment plans are upgrading with M-KOPA for more lights, TVs, energy-efficient cooking stoves, smart phones and water tanks. The company has sold well over 160,000 upgrade products to date – including 60,000 Solar TVs.
Nanette Byrnes, senior editor for business, MIT Technology Review, says, “The companies on the list combine a high level of technology innovation with a business model that will help them make the most of it. Public and private, large and small, based in countries around the globe, this group of companies is creating new opportunities and pouncing on them. These are the ones that competitors must follow.”
Jesse Moore, Co-Founder and CEO, M-KOPA says, “We are delighted to make this list, alongside some of the biggest technology companies in the world. For us it is recognition that the off-grid economy is leapfrogging some more mature markets in technology and services adoption. M-KOPA is committed to providing affor dable energy, financial inclusion, information access and essential products for low-income households.”
The list is included in MIT Technology Review’s annual business issue, which is available online now and on newsstands worldwide on July 4, 2017.
