Turning lights on in remote DRC: How Power Africa and PAYGO financing are changing lives in underserved communities
“Thieves and bandits come when it is dark. Our customers are in need of security.”
— Alice Katula, Bboxx Manager, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Alice Katula lives in Bunia, the capital city of Ituri Province in the northeast corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a region that has struggled with political instability for decades. Here, where just five percent of 830,000 households have access to electricity, the dark nighttime hours mean heightened risk to families and property.
Alice is a business manager at Bboxx, a Power Africa partner company that designs, produces, distributes, and finances innovative solar systems to improve access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. Through this role, Alice is helping address the critical need for electricity for lighting, communication, and household appliances, as well as to power technology for small businesses.
In 2020, Power Africa awarded Bboxx with a grant to introduce pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) solar energy solutions to DRC’s Ituri and North Kivu provinces. The Power Africa investment enabled Bboxx to open three new retail outlets in the area, train approximately 100 technicians and sales agents, and sell more than 3,000 solar home system (SHS) kits. Through these efforts, nearly 15,000 people now have first-time reliable and affordable electricity access.
“This region has a very difficult history — so many organizations don’t want to come and invest here,” shared Didier Shindano, a Bboxx retail supervisor in DRC. “The fact that Bboxx agreed to open a shop to help the community with solar products is one of the things that makes me the most proud.”
Prior to Bboxx’s arrival in the Ituri and North Kivu regions, sales of off-grid solar products were almost entirely cash-based, meaning customers with little or no savings were unable to obtain much-needed energy access. Power Africa’s partnership with Bboxx changed that by introducing the PAYGO model.
The PAYGO business model allows customers to purchase off-grid solar kits through monthly installments. Customers can pay via their mobile phones, offering enhanced monetary security to both the customer and the business.
Bboxx’s offerings in Ituri and North Kivu range from small systems for lighting to larger kits that can power televisions. Through its PAYGO repayment plans, Bboxx is making quality solar energy products accessible to lower-income customers.
COVID-19 makes Bboxx’s mission more complicated, but also more critical. In addition to light, off-grid solar extends access to information. Each of Bboxx’s solar kits is packaged with a radio, and some come with a television, connecting customers to critical news and educational material about COVID-19.
In their outlets and interactions with staff and customers, Bboxx follows social distancing and sanitation recommendations of health advisory bodies, including providing handwashing stations outside their shops. In addition, Bboxx employees share updated information on the pandemic with their clients when discussing their service offerings.
[RELATED STORY: Off-grid solar companies draw on Ebola lessons to respond to COVID-19]
“The Power Africa grant enabled Bboxx to expand operations and grow its footprint in DRC. Without the partnership, it would have been very risky for Bboxx to invest in [these] unstable regions facing such tragic conflicts,” said Louis de Muylder, Head of New Products and Strategy for Bboxx.
“Thanks to the support of Power Africa, we overcame the barrier of potential risks to serve hundreds of families and thousands more to come.”
Currently, more than 42,000 households across DRC are actively using Bboxx SHS kits.
Power Africa supports off-grid energy companies like Bboxx to increase their sales of SHS and life-changing appliances to connect more sub-Saharan African families and communities living beyond the grid to reliable electricity.
