SolarMoney™ Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, over 600 million people – about 60% of the population – live without electricity (World Bank). A quarter of these people live in Nigeria. Frequent blackouts and rationing force many enterprises to use expensive diesel generators or shut down their operations. The lack of modern energy also limits the development of agriculture, manufacturing, health, and education sector. According to the World Bank, Energy-poverty is responsible remains a root problem that causes myriads of problems and keeps Africans in a vicious circle.
The only reliable option is Solar Energy, but its adaptation has been limited to only 2% due to a lack of credit facilities. African countries like Nigeria run a cash-based economy, meaning customers must make 100% cash payments to own Solar appliances. According to a REAN: the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria report, 98% of customers enquiring about the prices of Solar Energy products totally walk away due to the incredibly expensive prices. A 1.0Kva of Solar PV & Storage unit which produces about 0.8kwh of electricity, is suitable for a family of 5, and a small business costs over $1,000. Solar appliance pricing is ENTIRELY beyond the reach of over 95% of Nigerians and Africans, making it an elite commodity. SolarMoney Africa seeks to tackle this challenge by providing short-term loans and consultation services to allow incremental solar appliances “add-on” packages to accelerate private ownership of Solar Energy products. Customers may start by signing up for a $99.00 BNPL -- Buy now pay later package, and overtime expand beyond 1.0kva.

MISSION:

to create financial inclusiveness for some of the most energy-deprived communities in the world and to accelerate private ownership of solar energy units to power over 10,000,000 million homes and businesses in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa before 2030.

SOLUTION:

SolarMoney™ Africa is tackling energy poverty in Nigeria and other African countries by providing short-term loans to accelerate private ownership of PV & energy-storage units for families, small-holder farmers, and small businesses in off-grid, rural, displaced, and low-income communities.

It targets customers with a good credit history or members of a savers’ club who can’t make outright payments for Solar Energy products by providing them with free solar energy consulting service; it uses its AI app to determine customer's eligibility and electricity requirements while providing a POS: Point-of-Sales loan for tier-1 solar PVs and energy storage products with repayment options for customers within 12 to 24 months.

OUR CUSTOMERS:

Primary: (i) rural women (ii) small-farm-holders (iii) off-grid settlements (iv) displaced / refugee camps and (v) rural communities (vi) small businesses (vii) students, and others.

Secondary: (i) savers clubs (ii) rural women association (iii) farmers association (iv) off-grid communities (vi) schools (vii) microfinance institutions and others

APPROACH:

Established in 2021 in its bid to tackle energy challenges in Africa, SolarMoney Africa provides easy financing for families, communities, and small businesses to own solar energy products to power their homes and businesses.

The social enterprise collaborates with e.g. solar appliance manufacturers, retailers, and end users to make itself a central source of value creation. It provides AI that allows free energy audits for each customer; it also screens the customers for eligibility, while offering free installation and maintenance service.

SolarMoney Africa makes money from 5% to 30% commission per sale and allows customers to pay within 90 days to 1 year.

Its energy packages and plans are worth $29 to $4,999.99 for customers who can’t make outright payments.

SolarMoney Africa BNPL packages include:

1. Dreamer’s Plan – for student’s and educational purposes: 40 watts 0.1Kva PV & lighting system, value up to $29 – to $99;

2. Family Plan – for off-grid homes: 0.25kVa to 1.0kVa PV & energy storage, value = up to $199 -- $299; 6 to 12 months (7.5% to 15% interest)

3. Small-Business Plan: 0.5kVa to 10kVA value = up to $4,999, duration, 6 to 12 months (7.5% to 15% interest).

And other packages.

Faced with energy poverty, off-grid families and small businesses depend on unclean energy sources such as firewood, and diesel-powered combustion engines. The WHO confirmed that co2-emission from firewood stoves kill over 100,000 rural women in Nigeria annually. We are changing this narrative by creating the following impacts:

(i) Mitigation of Energy Poverty: our project is reducing energy poverty and creating a paradigm shift among the target audience about how they can also effectively through savings become proud owners of solar energy system units to power their homes and businesses. More smallholder farmers are now able to own solar pumps, irrigation systems, and other essential equipment to improve their livelihood.
(ii) Improved Finance: Communities connected to diesel-powered combustion engines providing electricity spend a lot of money; our project is eliminating the diesel and combustion engine operation and maintenance fees, therefore, helping them save money
(iii) Creating Jobs: our project is creating a positive economic impact in target communities through an increase in demand for solar systems which in turn creates more job opportunities e.g. solar installation technicians, interns, off-grid solar energy supply centers, solar energy powered small businesses, etc.
(iv) Sustainable Financing: we are helping families and small businesses to have easy Access to Credit to allow easy solar energy unit ownership while allowing easy repayment for as long as 12 months. Our approach is creating a more financially responsible mindset. In 2022, a popular community savers' club called the "CCCI" Clean Cooking Club Initiative stated that SolarMoney Africa has helped increase its membership by more than 90% in 2022. More women and farmers are joining different savers clubs to be able to save enough money to own solar cook stoves and other solar appliances to improve their quality of life.
(v) Environment protection: we are helping mitigate unclean energy in the form of diesel-powered combustion engines which emit lots co2 as well as firewood uses while providing clean energy alternatives for clean cooking, preserving food and farm produces, and improving the quality of living; thus reducing waste and emission.
(vi) Youth and Women Empowerment: our project is providing clean energy for cooking e.g. solar cook stoves, and energy for small businesses, smallholder farmers, and rural women to power their kitchens, homes, and businesses thereby creating women empowerment in the form of renewable solar energy and economic benefits. With over 1,000 women in Ifo, Itori, Osun, and others becoming proud owners of solar cook stoves in 2022, and more than 8,000 girls ordering solar lamps to use in their homes to read, we are protecting rural women and girls from needless tasks and inequalities daily caused by energy-poverty.
(vii) More Foods & Water: more farmers and farmers associations are demonstrating how solar water pumps can be used by communities to have access to clean drinking water and for irrigation systems on small and large farms to improve crop production and reduce the impact of drought.
(viii) Climate Change: we are championing the cause of climate impact by reducing the need for co2-emitting energy in Nigeria and Africa.

Our founding team has great experience in the solar energy technology, finance, and IT field. The co-founders grew up in off-grid communities in Nigeria and Benin; they understand what energy poverty does to the life and economy of people, therefore they have intimate knowledge of its negative impact.
They are also young people with years of experience in the following field: (i) Electrical engineering (ii) PV installation (iii) system design (iv) IT (v) environmental studies (vi) and agriculture (vii) plus financial and business management. They bring these individual skills plus experience to make SolarMoney Africa a solution that can solve crucial challenges in the area of energy, sustainable agriculture, and pollution through financing the ownership of domestic PV systems.

(i)    Mr. Tunde Adeyemi, CEO, Co-founder is a graduate of Electrical & Electronics and has worked as a solar energy sales representative and installer for over 10 years. He is a programmer, certified electrician, and solar energy expert who had mastered C/C++, MATLAB, Python, Verilog, VHDL, Subversion, DxDesigner, Allegro Design Entry, SPICE & AUTOCAD. He's a Solar Panels, Battery Technologies, MPPT, Oscilloscopes, digital multi-meters, function generators, and voltage expert. Tunde has won over 10 international prizes for his cleantech drive and passion for clean energy.

(ii)   Miss. Aminat Damilola is the CFO of SolarMoneyAfrica and has spent 4 years as a banker, majorly focused on agricultural and energy financing before joining SolarMoneyAfrica team as a co-founder and CFO. She has immense experience in the field of renewable energy and making sure it remains inclusive. A graduate of Business Management, Aminat is a certified member of ICAN, the most prestigious accountant fellowship in Nigeria.

(iii)  Mr. Michael Rhema Ogbu: CTO. He is a graduate of Computer Science from Lagos State University. Mike is a Programming Language Guru, he's skilled in TypeScript, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Golang, Solidity, Web Technologies Reactjs, Vuejs, Svelte, Angular.js, CSS3, Express.js, HTML5, Node.js, Socket.io, SQL, and WordPress. He was a former head of software design for Adaevo.com and Edriven Apps before joining SolarMoneyAfrica.

(iv) Idris Salami Atanda: COO: Studied Business Management at Lagos State University and has worked for reputable solar companies such as ADDO Energy, and Felicity, and was a teacher in GreenHob Technologies before joining our team. Idris manages the daily technical operations of SolarMoney Africa and is often in the field.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:

We have partnered with over 30 off-grid communities to implement small and medium solar projects since 2021. We bring the communities on board and include them in our project design phases while working with them during project implementation. We understand that agrarian settlements have an entirely different need for communities dominated by women who handle cassava processing, and we ensure every single stakeholder contributes to our decision processes to better serve and fill the most needed gaps.

We are serving over 30,000 customers.

The Solve program will be a networking opportunity for me to learn from some of the best minds in the world and gain greater knowledge about how to create a greater impact. I intend to develop a lasting relationship with the organizers and the fellow participants. It will bring me close to accomplished mentors, business leaders, and aspiring young entrepreneurs like myself. It will provide me with immense exposure to my project and give me new data, information, and skills that I can use in tackling energy, environmental and financial challenges in my community, Nigeria and Africa at large. It will definitely help me clarify my ambition. I believe by the end of the program, I will have a stronger vision of the career and experiences I wanted to have.