M-kopa

M-Kopa (M = mobile, 'kopa' is Swahili for 'borrowed') is a Kenyan solar energy company that was founded in 2011 by Nick Hughes, Chad Larson, and Jesse Moore.^[1] Moore and Hughes were previously colleagues at Vodafone,^[2] and Larson and Moore were fellow MBA students at Oxford University ^[3][4] The company sells home solar systems in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.^[5] 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,^[6] to own the solar system. Daily payments are made through M-PESA, a mobile phone based money system, and in addition to getting solar power, customers also slowly off-set the cost of the device.^[7] The system is meant for an off-grid household who is using kerosene (paraffin) lamps to light their home, and paying for batteries and phone charging.

The latest M-KOPA 4, has 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.^[8] M-KOPA Solar sells through a network of dealers, across the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.^[9]

M-KOPA was launched commercially in 2012 and has connected over 300,000 homes in East Africa to Solar power, as of early January 2016 ^[10] and has over $40 million of revenue to date.^[11][12] M-Kopa estimates that 80 percent of its customers live on less than $2 a day.^[13]

Awards

M-kopa has received recognition from various institutions including the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Award 2014,^[14] the Zayed Future Energy Award 2015,^[15] as well as two awards from the Financial Times for Technology in Sustainable Finance and Excellence in sustainable finance, both in 2013.

Controversy

Bloomberg Business Week identified M-KOPA as "the solar company making a profit off of poor Africans." ^[16] In February 2015, M-Kopa announced a plan to blacklist defaulters on its loans with the credit bureaus.^[17] A similar named company in Kenya, MKOPA Investments, has disputed M-KOPAs use of the name and has demanded M-KOPA cease and desist.^[18]

References

1. ↑ http://www.shellfoundation.org/Our-Focus/Partner-Profiles/M-KOPA/Summary
2. ↑ http://www.corporateknights.com/channels/clean-technology/pay-go-solar-takes-off-east-africa-14340024/
3. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/11/barack-obama-visit-kenya-jfk-ireland/
4. ↑ http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/faculty-research/skoll-centre-social-entrepreneurship/news/oxford-mba-graduates-secure-20m-funding-light-million-homes-kenya
5. ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-mkopa-solar-in-africa/
6. ↑ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ccfaa1ba-d0f1-11e5-831d-09f7778e7377.html#axzz4IdkGmJy8
7. ↑ http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21685504-electrification-plans-are-stalling-because-distributors-wont-pay-power-hungry
8. ↑ http://www.m-kopa.com/products/
9. ↑ http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/25/pay-as-you-go-solar-power-takes-off-in-africa.html
10. ↑ http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/01/m-kopa-pay-as-you-go-solar-africa/
11. ↑ http://www.akilah.net/people-to-know/m-kopas-founder-on-bringing-hundreds-of-solar-jobs-to-east-africa/
12. ↑ http://allafrica.com/stories/201511131483.html
13. ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-mkopa-solar-in-africa/
14. ↑ http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2014/04/m-kopa-solar-scoops-bloomberg-new-energy-finance-award//
15. ↑ http://www.zayedfutureenergyprize.com/en/media-centre/press-releases/details/?id=1751/
16. ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-mkopa-solar-in-africa/
17. ↑ http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/M-Pesa-solar-dealer-to-blacklist-defaulters-with-credit-bureaus/539550-2628252-p0gnpfz/index.html
18. ↑ http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/Safaricom-drawn-into-dispute-over-M-Kopa-name/-/539550/3029506/-/4twgtl/-/index.html