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The success of the Kenyan M-Kopa, which launched in the early 2010s, has been emulated. A movement
consolidation in the sector is beginning to take shape.
New solar kit players have been jostling on African markets in recent years. the
first to launch, in the early 2010s, was the Kenyan M-Kopa. He invented the model
used by most of these companies: a solar kit with panels on the roof of a house, connected to
a battery. And a mobile payment system, which unlocks access to electricity for a
period of a few days.
Some of these start-ups have raised significant funds, such as M-Kopa, which raised a total of 161.8
million dollars, Zola Electric, financed to the tune of 239 million dollars, or even Bboxx, which received
$165 million.
These sums are particularly significant on a continent where start-ups have only raised 2 billion
dollars in 2019, according to Partech.
“These are models who manage to raise money easily, in particular because they are very popular
to impact funds, and these are available funds," says Marième Diop, investor at Orange
Digital Ventures. However, they are very far from meeting the needs of a gigantic continent,
largely without electricity.
A purchase on credit
If they need funds, it's because the business model of these start-ups is generally based on
credit, because the target populations do not have the means to acquire the hardware, which causes a
cash mismatch. Some players, boosted with capital during their growth phase, are not
thus failed to develop a sustainable model. This is the case, for example, of Mobisol. The start-up
company, created in 2011, went bankrupt last June. Its failure can be explained both by a payroll
too high and high-end equipment, out of reach for part of the population, according to the
founders of Qotto, Fabrice de Gaudemar and Jean-Baptiste Lenoir.
These start-ups, created in Europe, America or Africa, are of increasing interest to large groups
French energy. After its bankruptcy, Mobisol was thus bought by Engie last September. The group
French gas company headed by Isabelle Kocher regularly announces its intention to become a world leader in
the energy transition.
For its part, EDF has chosen to bet on partnerships with local companies, without necessarily
make the acquisition, explains its director for Africa and the Middle East, Valérie Levkov. The electrician nevertheless
acquired 50% of the start-up Bboxx Togo in 2018.
Already very present in East Africa, Rwanda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the
young company wishes to develop in West Africa. The electrician also invested in Zola
Electric, present in Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania, alongside the American Off Grid Electric.