Mansoor Hamayun’s Bboxx secures $15-million loan facility to finance solar systems for Kenyans

Mansoor Hamayun’s Bboxx, a fast-growing energy solutions company, has received a Ksh1.6-billion ($15 million) loan facility from SBM Bank Limited, a Nairobi-based bank formerly known as Fidelity Commercial Bank Limited.

According to a press release issued by the company, the capital financing from SBM, which is 75-percent guaranteed by GuarantCo, a subsidiary of the Private Infrastructure Development Group, will be used to provide clean, reliable and affordable energy to nearly half a million people in Kenya through off-grid solar home systems.

Bboxx Kenya, a subsidiary of the Hamayun-led firm, will use the funds to purchase new inventory over the next two years, including 89,600 solar home systems and essential appliances like fridges and phones.

This is expected to serve 470,000 people, 80 percent of whom live in rural areas and rely on torches and polluting fuels such as wood and kerosene as their primary source of lighting.

The initiative will drive Kenya’s broader push toward electrification, bridging the electrification rate disparity between urban (90 percent) and rural areas (60 percent).

Furthermore, the move is consistent with the government’s commitment to expand off-grid electrification, with the aim to establish 2 million new connections by 2022, primarily through solar home systems and mini-grids.

“This transaction is the largest single loan raised by Bboxx Kenya, it will enable us to unlock potential and transform even more lives for the better through energy access in Kenya,” Hamayun, CEO and co-founder of Bboxx, said.

According to Bboxx Kenya Managing Director Jeff Vanden Berghe, the loan facility represents the company’s first local currency transaction, allowing it to provide more renewable, low-cost and safe energy to an additional 470,000 Kenyans.

He also stated that the collaboration with GuarantCo and SBM will allow the company to expand its services to more remote areas in the country, as it continues to work with the Kenyan government to bring power to underserved communities.

Bboxx is a next-generation utility company that transforms lives and unleashes potential through energy access.

Its products and services have a positive impact on the lives of nearly 2 million people in more than 27 markets, directly contributing to 11 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Bboxx has installed over 500,000 solar home systems to date, employing over 1,000 people across nine offices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda,and Togo.

Its subsidiary, Bboxx Kenya, employs 350 people, 40 percent of whom are women.