d.light, a company that provides solar-powered products, has raised about US$ 176 million to upscale its PayGo consumer finance offering that will broaden its operations across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
- The funding, provided by an asset management company called African Frontier Capital, will accelerate d.light’s distribution model that will see more low-income households benefit from renting and owning solar-powered equipment.
- The multi-currency facility will oversee the company’s plans to provide about six million East Africans in need of solar-powered appliances, with the products over the next three years.
- d.light was founded in 2007 and since 2020, it has secured about US$ 718 million across five facilities to establish its foothold in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“This new facility is another landmark step in d.light’s mission to provide people with affordable energy that is also clean, safe and sustainable. It lets us expand our reach so that millions of off-grid families across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda can experience the benefits of solar energy,” said the CEO of d.light, Nedjip Tozun.
d.light started its operations in Kenya in 2011, before entering Uganda in 2015 and Tanzania in 2016. The funding will maintain the company’s positive cash flow as it seeks to detach itself from equity financing.
“Facilities like this make possible our pioneering PayGo consumer financing model with which we are able to offer solar home systems and high efficiency appliances to the people that need them most in a way that is affordable and sustainable,” Tozun said.
In February this year, the company announced that its Kenyan off-grid solar provider, Brighter Life Kenya 1 Limited (BLK1), successfully cleared its debt. The US$ 110 million facility was also ahead of schedule from internally generating its cash flows.
“This milestone is a testament to how data-driven financial innovation can play an important role in bringing financial inclusion to the world’s most vulnerable communities, helping them to gain access to clean and modern energy and ensuing social and economic benefits that come about as a result,” said AFC’s founder and CEO, Eric De Moudt.
“We are grateful to d.light for its ongoing leadership in the off-grid solar sector and proud to partner with such a visionary company,” De Moudt added.
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