Expanding clean energy in rural Africa isn’t just a technology challenge. It’s a financing challenge. At Solar Pesa, we’ve learned this through our experience. Making solar affordable for rural households through PAYGO works, but it also ties up cash for 6–18 months and more. In just one year we have reached close to 3000 rural homes with solar energy in the West Nile region of Uganda, thanks to D-Prize for their seed grant that launched us off.
We focus on low-income households, farmers and small business owners in rural areas who buy solar products and services using our PAYGO (Pay-As-You-Go) system that we rolled out to make solar energy more affordable. It’s already helping more families and small businesses access clean energy immediately, but there’s a big challenge—PAYGO ties up our working capital while customers pay in small instalments for 6-18 months. This slows down growth by limiting our ability to restock and reach the next village quickly.
With a 30% drop in investment in 2024 according to GOGLA, what is the way forward for early-stage social enterprises working to unlock clean energy access in rural Africa? Clean energy start-ups like ours need access to patient, flexible capital—funding that matches the long repayment cycles of inclusive business models like PAYGO. Traditional funding structures—short-term loans with quick returns—just don’t match the realities of rural markets and PAYGO models.
Solar Pesa Uganda is committed to pushing through these challenges, growing sustainably and reaching more off-grid households and businesses—but we can’t do it alone. We call on funders, impact investors and partners to consider financing enterprises like ours aiming to unlock affordability for end-users through inclusive business models.
Let’s unlock clean energy for rural Africa—together.
