Over the last 9 months, Azuri Technologies has raised £1.7M to deliver power to some 16,000 households via the Energise Africa platform, run by UK’s Lendahand Ethex.
Energise Africa provides information on a range of possible solar investments and allows lenders to keep an eye on the performance of their investment. Retail investors make a potential return of 5% per annum on their investment
The finance enables Azuri to supply PayGo solar home systems to off-grid households in Africa on a commercial basis. The cost of the solar home system is less than the cost of the kerosene lamps and mobile phone charging fees that it replaces and provides clean light and power for phones at the touch of a button.
According to Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO of Azuri Technologies,“We are delighted to be associated with Energise Africa and work with the crowd to fund off-grid solar projects. Innovative financing is ensuring that we can solve the problem of energy access in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Off-grid solar energy is providing a way for the 600 million Africans to leap-frog over the traditional grid and obtain access to modern devices powered by clean energy.
With the advent of pay-as-you-go technology, consumers can access solar energy, which is as an affordable alternative to kerosene lanterns and phone charging fees. But in order to scale, providers of pay-as-you-go solar technology require commercial debt finance to build the solar equipment in the first place.
Cambridge-based Azuri Technologies provides pay-as-you-go solar products and services across sub-Saharan Africa from its regional bases in Kenya and Nigeria. Energise Africa is an initiative of two of Europe’s online impact investing platforms Ethex and Lendahand and supported by UK aid and Virgin Unite.
Energise Africa has already provided solar businesses with £2.68 million of critical investment needed to enable more than 24,000 rural families across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique to access to clean and affordable energy.
