NIGERIA – Bboxx, a renewable energy provider, has partnered with Solar Sister, a clean energy and women’s empowerment network operating in several African markets, to implement and accelerate the provision of solar energy to off-grid areas across Nigeria.
Solar Sister has been active across Sub-Saharan Africa since 2010 and opened its first Nigerian office in Lagos in 2014. Since then, they have reached over 500,000 Nigerians in rural areas, providing them with access to clean energy and cookstoves.
They recruit, train and support female entrepreneurs, helping them to build businesses and bring clean energy into their communities. Across the continent, over 5,800 Solar Sister entrepreneurs have supplied energy solutions to 2 million people, with major projects taking place in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Bboxx will provide Solar Sister with its entry-level clean energy product, Flexx10, following the successful launch of its entry-level brand Flexx by Bboxx earlier this year.
The new brand aims to offer energy solutions for millions of people at the bottom of the energy pyramid, enabling Bboxx to serve members of the rural population they had not reached previously, unlocking even more potential.
This is central to Bboxx’s mission to solve energy poverty, in line with the UN’s SDG7 – clean energy for all. Solar Sister will use their extensive distribution networks in Nigeria to service the target regions with these products using their local female workforce.
This partnership marks the start of a long-term relationship between Bboxx and Solar Sister, with the joint aim of combining forces in other African markets in the future. Bboxx remains committed to transforming lives and unlocking potential through access to energy.
Bboxx launches Togo Smartphone initiative
10 months after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Togolese government, the startup Bboxx-EDF Togo is finally launching the “Togo Smartphone” initiative, which intends to provide Togolese with access to a new variety of products. digital.
The British startup will offer Togolese with next-generation smartphones on a 12-month payment plan through this programme. Initially, only civil servants or public sector employees will be eligible for this offer. Following that, the project will be expanded to include other Togolese users.
To gain access, the civil servant or agent of the state will go to an online platform, register, provide a certain amount of information, and this information will be passed to the hierarchical managers of the ministerial department concerned who will validate this information and it will go through the Digital Economy and Digital Transformation and after that will go to the level of the Ministry of Finance for final validation before arriving at Bboxx-EDF Togo.
Bboxx-EDF Togo will give participants of this programme with a guarantee for the term of the contract to improve the user experience.
Bboxx has been present in Togo since 2017. In 2020, it signed an agreement with the French electrical firm EDF to provide solar irrigation equipment to 5,000 farmers in order to increase agricultural output and economic potential.
Bboxx partners Orange
Bboxx and Orange, a telecommunications operator, have partnered to launch a new connected community through an ABC model (Anchor Business Community) mini-grid project to accelerate the provision of clean energy access for households across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), transforming lives and unlocking potential for all.
Together with GoShop, the largest solar EPC company in the DRC, Bboxx has created a joint venture company to build a hybrid mini-grid plant to supply energy to Orange’s telecoms infrastructure.
85% of the energy will be generated through solar panels, connecting the local community around the telecom tower to clean energy solutions and services.
Bboxx aims to connect more than 600 households in Bukavu by the end of 2022, and is working with the rural energy agency to get into a subsidy program that will enable low-income customers to have access to basic energy supply.
Bboxx will also be partnering with Orange Energie to integrate Orange’s Smart Metering platform and Bboxx Pulse, Bboxx’s proprietary fully integrated operating system. The merger of these technologies will enable the close monitoring of the mini-grids performance and the remote management of customers, including collecting and managing payments through PAYG (pay-as-you-go) solutions.
Using this innovative and cost-effective ABC model, Bboxx plans to launch 24 additional mini-grid projects with Orange across the DRC over the coming months, electrifying 150,000 people by 2024 and directly addressing the electrification challenge in the country.
This partnership is the first of many within Bboxx’s Connected Community programme, which will see the potential delivery of 750 mini-grids and 1 million customers across Africa within the next 5 years.
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