SOLAR-FI™

SOLAR-FI™ is a “Business-in-a-Light,” for businesses and individuals that have connectivity issues, we offer simple & inexpensive solar mobile wifi hotspot access points that provide prepaid lighting, prepaid internet access & real time analytics.

Countless bytes of data are generated by Africans every day through everything from SMS’, USSDs’, online shopping to phone apps, watching on-demand TV to buying insurance. While much of this data is left unstructured or analyzed, harvesting just a small section of relevant data can prove extremely valuable.

COVID-19 has spurred massive changes in how the world works, learns and does business—changes made possible by the internet and digital infrastructure. 

But without power, there is no internet.

SOLAR-FI™, is an internet dongle and solar lamp to access the internet and have light. 

Our “Business-in-a-Light” concept is our patented LanternRouter+ with value added services - a device which frees up your till points by offering free lighting (and charging), prepaid internet, prepaid virtual merchant aggregated products & services and an extra point of sale device within a retail environment.

After having made the prototypes we now believe we have built a strong and entrepreneurial business model based on the lasting appeal of prepaid internet access and prepaid products & services for cellphone users across all LSMs in developing markets; and will eventually expand into the rest of Africa and other global spaces.

Our strength will lie in the ever-growing global footprint of touchpoints for virtual and physical distribution channels in these markets.

THE APPEAL OF PREPAID AND SERVICES

The appeal of prepaid to CONSUMERS:

• More choice in how to pay for products and services – prepaid or pay-as-you-go

• Easy budget planning: consumers choose what they spend on, and control how much they spend

• Cash based transactions remove the need for credit checks

• Virtual and physical top-ups as when the user needs them

• Prepaid products and services are sold across a broad footprint of traditional and non-traditional outlets

• Consumers with little or no access to bank accounts can access prepaid products and services in any area, at any time that suits them, and with a variety of payment options

The appeal of prepaid to SUPPLIERS:
• Prepaid means cash up front and guaranteed payment

• No need for debt collection and no risk of bad debts

The appeal of prepaid to MERCHANTS:

• We give you access to WiFi and points of sale that include everything from major retail chains to spaza shops;

• Multiple products can be sold from any one device, meaning multiple revenue streams from a relatively small retail space

• Virtual delivery means no need to manage physical stock

Our business model has strength and will have further growth after listing in 2-3 years. As we continue, we believe our business model permits us to grow a footprint and generate cash on a significant basis, even during recession periods

By combining technical innovation with entrepreneurial flair to bring products and services associated with the developed world directly to the doorsteps of people who may be geographically and economically isolated from the mainstream. By doing so, we are able to create jobs, support the growth of small businesses, include the unbanked and underbanked into financial society, and help bridge the digital divide.

After having made the prototypes we now believe we have built a strong and entrepreneurial business model based on the lasting appeal of prepaid internet access and prepaid products & services for cellphone users across all LSMs in developing markets; and will eventually expand into the rest of Africa and other global spaces

Our “Business-in-a-Light” concept is our patented LanternRouter device which frees up your till points by offering free lighting (and charging), prepaid internet, prepaid virtual merchant aggregated products & services and an extra point of sale device within a retail environment.  

With our patented technology, our company will derive strength from an extensive device distribution network and our commitment to long-term partnerships.

Our SOLAR-FI™ access points allow ISP’s, mobile networks, utilities, banks (fiat and cryptocurrency banks), MTO’s, retailers, informal retail/spaza shops, colleges/universities, insurance & financial services and mPOS devices to access the advantages of a digital economy.

Our “Business-in-a-Light” model encourages the individual entrepreneur within any community to start his or her own business selling our merchant aggregated products and services, and we are proud of the way that this encourages economic development, especially in peri-urban, rural and disadvantaged communities. 

We use online distribution via our proprietary SOLAR-FI™ LANTERNrouter™'s to sell virtual products & services. Our support teams will visit peri-urban and rural areas to build relationships with merchants. They provide back up, advice and training. This business model proves to be sustainable in both the formal and informal sectors.

Currently serving: 

1. 3000 units out to free users, dissipating 30 000 sustainable  internet connections.

Serve in 5 years:

2. An Additional 3000 units in 1 year, dissipating an additional 30 000 sustainable internet connections

3. 1 000 000 units in 5 years, dissipating 10 000 000 sustainable internet connections

By the way,

SOLARFI™ = 5W

Therefore, 

1MW = 1 000 000W 

1MW = 1 000 000W/5W

1MW = 200 000 SOLARFI™ devices

Therefore, for every 200 000 SOLARFI™ devices made 1MW is removed from the grid, therein also creating 2 000 000 sustainable internet connections.

From failing faster! Failing faster brings success quicker, just a general way of working. To be technical, we stress test models till we get the best ones that assist with our giving the customer a great product and service, furthermore, our bottomline. 

Moreover, from the feedback I receive from challenges such as these. I get the feedback, fix what I need to fix and reapply. I just have to keep doing the work till I can afford to have the right systems and processes in place to automate and grow from milestone to milestone.

5 people

Our Founder, Elijah Lubala is a Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 2017 list-maker and a Bachelor of Computing & Information Sciences major from Monash University.

Our Advisors are as follows: 

LOUIS LUBALA

- Founder & CEO at Mont Goma, a Pan African based Insurance company.

- Former CEO of Airtel Niger, Airtel Gabon & Airtel DR Congo; 

- Former CEO of Vodafone Cameroon.

PHILIP BELAMANT

- Founder & CEO at Zilch, a UK based BNPL company; 

- Former CEO of Net1Mobile Solutions.

At the age of 5, my family and I were forced out of the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the war; I vividly remember on the last days before leaving Congo, my father not allowing us to go play outside because there were dead bodies at the front gate furthermore, instructing my whole family to sleep in our passage way because some neighbors had been killed in their sleep because bullets would fly through peoples bedrooms. A horrid time it was but all these challenges made my family resilient and therein built the entrepreneurial spirit in me. 

it is not our past that defines us - it is the choices we make today.

My parents have always taught me that Winners never Quit and Quitters never Win, and that mantra has stuck in me since I was a child. 

I am, Elijah Lubala, the Founder and Software Engineer of Elie Technologies, a Congolese-South African born in Kinshasa, DR Congo raised in Johannesburg South Africa. A headboy in highschool, a Bachelor of Computing and Information Sciences triple majoring in Business Systems, Applications Development and Networking from Monash University in Australia, a top 20 university.

I was raised by a single mother and a very difficult father and through it all I have been able to cultivate 3 companies from South Africa all the way to the US. 

I believe my story, my journey  and my innovations serve as a testimonies towards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

I am applying to Solve to turn a good idea to a great reality! 

To do that I need some of the greatest problem solvers in the world, and MIT is never short of those individuals. 

We would be grateful to have them as part of our team.

I may have my own experiences and learnings but this institute has actually built billionaires who have changed the world. So I select them all because I need all of these aspects for my business and I do not know everything. 

I would then rather do myself a favor to learn all over again but at least I would be learning from some of the greatest minds in the world and applying my personal experiences therein.

I would like to partner with MIT faculty/alumni who have the ability to bring in management and execution expertise moreover, strategic partnerships for scalability, such as telco's like safaricomm and Vodacom.

As founder, even though I am documented now, but I have been an immigrant most of my life. I understand the woes of xenophobia and racism in South Africa at the same time I'm Congolese where these 2 dichotomies don't exist. 

My personal and professional experiences in these two different worlds contributed tremendously towards this invention and its innovation today.

With the funds, we would: 

› Year One - Soft launch in one zone first for 90 Days

› Creating the right Monitoring Tools - H/W & S/W Focus

› Hiring: Core Team for Initial Execution 

› Open for Y1 

› Creating the right teams for Collection tracking

Our SolarFi access points allow ISP’s, mobile networks, utilities, banks (fiat and cryptocurrency banks), MTO’s, retailers, informal retail/spaza shops, colleges/universities, insurance & financial services and mPOS devices to access the advantages of a digital economy.

By combining technical innovation with entrepreneurial flair to bring products and services associated with the developed world directly to the doorsteps of people who may be geographically and economically isolated from the mainstream. By doing so, we are able to create jobs, support the growth of small businesses, include the unbanked and underbanked into financial society, and help bridge the digital divide.

Our “business-in-a-light” model encourages the REFUGEE within any community to start his or her own business selling our merchant aggregated products and services, and we are proud of the way that this encourages economic development, especially in peri-urban, rural and disadvantaged communities.

By combining technical innovation with entrepreneurial flair to bring products and services associated with the developed world directly to the doorsteps of people who may be geographically and economically isolated from the mainstream. By doing so, we are able to create jobs, support the growth of small businesses, include the unbanked and underbanked into financial society, and help bridge the digital divide.

Our SolarFi access points allow ISP’s, mobile networks, utilities, banks (fiat and cryptocurrency banks), MTO’s, retailers, informal retail/spaza shops, colleges/universities, insurance & financial services and mPOS devices to access the advantages of a digital economy.

By combining technical innovation with entrepreneurial flair to bring products and services associated with the developed world directly to the doorsteps of people who may be geographically and economically isolated from the mainstream. By doing so, we are able to create jobs, support the growth of small businesses, include the unbanked and underbanked into financial society, and help bridge the digital divide.

Our “business-in-a-light” model encourages any woman and girl within any community to start her own business selling our merchant aggregated products and services, and we are proud of the way that this encourages economic development, especially in peri-urban, rural and disadvantaged communities.

Countless bytes of data are generated by Africans every day through everything from SMS’, USSDs’, online shopping to phone apps, watching on-demand TV to buying insurance. While much of this data is left unstructured or analyzed, harvesting just a small section of relevant data can prove extremely valuable.COVID-19 has spurred massive changes in how the world works, learns and does business—changes made possible by the internet and digital infrastructure. But without power, there is no internet.

SOLAR-FI™ is a “Business-in-a-Light,” for businesses and individuals that have connectivity issues, we offer simple & inexpensive solar mobile wifi hotspot access points that provide prepaid lighting, prepaid internet access & real time analytics.