M-kopa

M-kopa
Private
Industry Energy
Founded 2011
Founders Nick Hughes, Chad Larson, Jesse Moore
Headquarters Nairobi, Kenya
Areas served
 Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
Products Solar energy
Website Official website

M-Kopa (M for mobile, kopa is Swahili for borrowed)[1] is a Kenyan solar energy company that was founded in 2011 by Nick Hughes, Chad Larson, and Jesse Moore.[2][3][4] Headquartered in Nairobi, the company sells home solar systems in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.[5] Hughes previously set up and ran M-Pesa at Vodafone, a mobile phone-based money transfer, financing and microfinancing service.[6] M-Kopa was launched commercially in 2012 and had connected over 300,000 homes in East Africa to solar power by January 2016.[7]

Off-the-grid household customers pay a deposit to take the solar system home, then pay a daily amount through M-Pesa for a year,[8] after which they own it. In addition to getting solar power, customers also slowly off-set the cost of the device.[9]

History

The company was founded in 2011 by Nick Hughes, Chad Larson, and Jesse Moore.[2] Hughes previously set up and ran M-Pesa at Vodafone, where Moore also worked whilst completing his MBA.[6] Larson and Moore were fellow MBA students at Oxford University.[3][4]

It raised money in 2011, with incubation by Signal Point Partners.[10] Backing investors have included Richard Branson, Generation Investment Management, Blue Haven Initiative and LGT Venture Philanthropy, an investment vehicle of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein.[11][12] M-Kopa was launched commercially in late 2012.[7][1] The company's initial goal was to sell 1,000 units a week within three years, and that milestone was reached within 12 months.[12]

By 2015, it said it had powered 150,000 households in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, with around 10,000 mobile payments made by users on its cloud platform, M-KOPAnet, made on a daily basis.[1] It had over $40 million of revenue by 2015.[13][14] In 2015, M-Kopa estimated that 80 percent of its customers lived on less than $2 a day.[5] In 2015, Bloomberg Businessweek identified M-Kopa as "the solar company making a profit off of poor Africans."[5] In February 2015, M-Kopa announced a plan to blacklist defaulters on its loans with credit bureaus.[15]

It had connected over 300,000 homes in East Africa to Solar power, as of early January 2016[7] In 2016, M-Kopa sold 30,000 solar TVs in Kenya, looking to add internet access.[14] By December 2016, the company had sold around 400,000 systems in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda since its launch in 2011, under CEO Jesse Moore.[16] As of 2016, there were plans to begin manufacturing all the products in Kenya.[17]

A similar named company in Kenya, MKOPA Investments, has disputed M-Kopa's use of the name and has demanded M-Kopa cease and desist.[18]

By January 2018, the company had wired at least 500,000 homes, and sold about 90,000 solar rechargeable televisions.[19] In 2018, it was reported that M-Kopa was going to acquire an additional 500,000 photovoltaic solar panels, under chairman Mugo Kibati, in an agreement with Solinc East Africa.[20] In February 2018, M-Kopa received $10 million in funding from FinDev Canada in a new funding round led by CDC, and including existing shareholders LGT Venture Philanthropy and Generation Investment Management. Nick O'Donohoe remained M-Kopa's CEO.[21]

Business model and products

Customers pay a deposit of 3,500 KES (approx $35), take the system home then pay 50 KES (approx $0.50) a day for a period of one year,[8] to own the solar system. Daily payments are made through M-Pesa, a mobile phone based money system,[9] at about 45 cents a day.[1] This way, in addition to getting solar power, customers also slowly off-set the cost of the device.[9] As of 2015, after 12 months of regular payments, the solar system is fully owned by the customer who can use it for free access to solar energy.[1]

According to the company, part of the business model's plan is to offset the dangerous use of kerosene (paraffin) lamps to light homes that are off electric grids.[1] The system also helps customers who need to charge batteries and mobile phones.

M-Kopa Solar sells through a network of dealers, across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.[1]

In 2015, the M-KOPA III device had one solar panel, two LED lights, a USB phone charger, and a solar powered radio that was portable.[1]

The latest M-Kopa 4 had an eight watt solar panel that charges cell phones, a radio and a torch, via USB, includes 2 LED bulbs with light switches, as well as a rechargeable LED torch (flashlight) and a radio.[22] There is a more powerful panel and television in an upgrade package.[23]

Awards

M-kopa has received recognition from various institutions including the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Award 2014,[24] the Zayed Future Energy Award 2015,[25] as well as two awards from the Financial Times for Technology in Sustainable Finance and Excellence in sustainable finance, both in 2013.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Pay-as-you-go solar power takes off in Africa", Anmar Frangoul, CNBC, February 25, 2015
  2. 1 2 "Shell Foundation - Summary". www.shellfoundation.org. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  3. 1 2 Mutiga, Murithi (2015-07-11). "Barack Obama goes back to Kenya: 'It's like JFK going back to Ireland'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  4. 1 2 "Social enterprise MBA | M-KOPA Solar | Saïd Business School". www.sbs.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  5. 1 2 3 "The Solar Company Making a Profit on Poor Africans". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  6. 1 2 "Pay-as-you go solar takes off in East Africa | Corporate Knights". Corporate Knights. 2015-06-11. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  7. 1 2 3 "How This Solar Startup Became a Multinational Social Enterprise". Triple Pundit: People, Planet, Profit. 2016-01-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  8. 1 2 Aglionby, John (2016-03-17). "Lightbulb moment for M-Kopa". Financial Times. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  9. 1 2 3 "Power hungry". The Economist. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  10. ↑ "Banking on the Poor", Stanford Social Innovation Review, Dennis Price, 2016
  11. ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/m-kopa#/entity
  12. 1 2 https://www.ft.com/content/ccfaa1ba-d0f1-11e5-831d-09f7778e7377?mhq5j=e5
  13. ↑ "M-KOPA's Founder on Bringing Hundreds of Solar Jobs to East Africa and What He Looks for in New Hires". MindSky. 2015-11-13. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  14. 1 2 Odengo, Rose (2015-11-13). "East Africa: M-Kopa's Founder On Bringing Hundreds of Solar Jobs to East Africa and What He Looks for in New Hires". Akilah Net (Kigali). Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  15. ↑ "M-Pesa solar dealer M-Kopa to blacklist defaulters". Business Daily. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  16. ↑ "Africa Finds Power Off the Grid", MIT Technology Review, Jonathan W. Rosen, December 2, 2016
  17. ↑ "Solar-powered televisions brighten homes in rural Kenya", August 1, 2016, Reuters
  18. ↑ "Safaricom drawn into dispute over M-Kopa name". Business Daily. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  19. ↑ "Outdated policies, high taxes discourage uptake of solar", Abel Muhatia, January 17, 20178, The Star
  20. ↑ "M-kopa strikes deal for 500,000 photovoltaic solar panels", Patrick Alushula, January 16, 2018
  21. ↑ "M-Kopa solar gets more funding from Canada", Otiato Guguyu, Standard Media, March 17, 2018
  22. ↑ "Products". M-KOPA Solar. 2014-11-28. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  23. ↑ "In remote Kenyan villages, solar startups bring light", PBS.com, November 22, 2017
  24. ↑ "M-KOPA Solar scoops Bloomberg New Energy finance award - Capital Business". Capital Business. 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  25. ↑ "Press release details –Zayed Future Energy Prize". www.zayedfutureenergyprize.com. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
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