From East to West, North to South, Africa’s energy sector is failing to keep up with growth and marginalized majority who live in rural areas. 35 hour blackouts are not surprising in some nations while others practically rely on generators. With no solutions in sight, some brave companies have emerged to tackle this big problem, firstly by providing basic lighting solutions. In no particular order, the following are some of the exciting ones:

Solarway

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Solaway is a part of the Econet Wireless Group. It has silently established itself as one of the largest solar vendors in Africa. The company has an operational footprint in Dubai, South Africa, London & Nigeria. It works with Telecoms operators and resellers to provide solar devices centered on lighting, mobile charging and enabling mobile operators to optimise their revenues through solar energy.

D.Light 

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D.light is a solar business with roots in Benin. A peace corp volunteer witnessed how unsafe kerosane lamps are and went back to America with a determination to craft a solution. There he partnered with a fellow entrepreneur and took part in a Stanford University initiative that led to a company…D.Light has a reseller model that recruits local agents to reach communities across Africa and the developing world.

 ToughStuff

Based in Mauritius, Toughstuff is active across Africa. In Eastern and Southern Africa  it operates and/or works with partners in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Madagascar, Tanzania and Ethiopia. The company also operates on a reseller model.

Sunny Money

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Sunny Money is the brand of a social enterprise known as solar aid. By April 2015, it claimed to have sold over 1.7 million solar lanterns in 4 central and east African nations. It too is propelled by a reseller model, relying on agents to reach it’s customers.

Azuri Technologies

According to it’s website; Azuri Technologies is a product and service company that delivers affordable solar power in emerging markets. By combining solar and mobile phone technology, the company’s Indigo product family enables users to benefit from clean renewable energy and simultaneously reduce their energy spend by as much as half.

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