NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

The firm produces solar products that charge phone devices and provide power to homes, using off-grid systems.

Nathaniel Peat the firms’ Co – Founder, says Kenya has become an important market for them having already invested Sh26.4 million in the market.

The company is already in other countries including Zambia, United Kingdom and Jamaica.

“We are very interested in Kenya. We will soon set up here right after we finish testing the waters, a huge focus of our work is on empowering communities – we do this by teaching them how to build, assemble and maintain our devices, and by doing so, create a workforce that supports commercial sales, while providing education, learning and jobs,” Peat told Capital FM Business.

The firm will be training about 40 young people in Kibera in conjunction with Kibera Slum Community on how to build, assemble and maintain their solar devices so as they are able to make it a viable business for them.

“We are starting with Kibera, soon we will go to Eldoret, Narok, and Nakuru. We are hoping to train at least 40 people from each town in every quarter. Depending on the uptake, we will decide on when to set up shop here,” he promised.

Kenya is said to have a high potential for solar energy production given the high exposure levels from the sun throughout the year.