M-KOPA Solar provides affordable solar home systems that generate clean energy for low income households.
Investee | M-KOPA Solar, founded 2011 |
Location | Kenya, Africa |
Sector | Energy |
Funding Start | 2012 |
Funding type | Debt and equity |
Website | http://www.m-kopa.com/ |
Over 63% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population are rural, lower-end consumers with small inconsistent incomes/revenue streams. These masses can barely afford basic goods and services but nevertheless spend up to 70% of their income on inefficient, low-quality goods. About 110 million households across Africa spend USD 160 or more annually on kerosene for lighting despite the poor quality of light provided by kerosene lamps alongside the related health risks of smoke fumes.
M-KOPA Solar targets low-income consumers, enabling them to purchase productive assets like solar systems through an affordable and convenient pay-per-use system that matches their income and expenditure patterns. M-KOPA’s home solar system seeks to address the energy needs of low-income households. The home solar system will enable households to charge radios, torches and mobile phones without incurring additional costs. Households also have options to add more light bulbs in the provided systems.
M-KOPA Solar aims to reach over 1 million low income households in the upcoming years by providing affordable, fume free, uninterrupted electricity through M-KOPA home solar systems.
M-KOPA Solar improves livelihoods through:
Impact Reach | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
# of household members with access to a M-Kopa solar home system (in '000s) |
19.8 | 271.8 | 540.4 | 850.1 | 811.2 | 780.4 | 802.8 | 800 |
% of clients living below USD 2 per day | n/a | 66% | 81% | 86% | 88% | 70% | 80% | 80% |
# of active countries | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
As of June 2016, M-KOPA Solar has sold almost 400k devices in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana - that is more than half of all pay-as-you-go solar devices sold worldwide. By 2018, M-KOPA Solar aims to have sold 1 Million devices, allowing children to study after dark, businesses to stay open late, while saving thousands of tonnes in CO2 and improving peoples’ health by banning toxic kerosene fumes from their homes and workplaces.