Innovation

The United Arab Emirates-headquartered company operates in Sub-Saharan Africa, where it offers off-grid solar kits for rent for people to whom the access to electricity is often poor, unreliable and expensive. These solar kits can be used to electrify lights, a radio and a TV and to charge mobile phones through monthly subscription plans. The solar kit owners can pay for the usage via mobile pay platforms. Furthermore, these kits offer a cheaper access to electricity compared to the traditional ways. Before the installation of Pawame solar kits, households paid 15 dollars monthly for electricity whereas after the solar kits are in use, only 13 dollars per month is paid through a one-and-a-half-year contract.

Pawame’s innovation improves the health and well-being of inhabitants by offering a safer and non-toxic option for traditional fossil fuel kerosene lamps that require regular refilling (SDG 3). The solar kits provide clean and cheap energy that is not only better for the people but also for the environment as it is powered by renewable resources (SDG 7). The innovation impacts the community through electrification and the ability to educate and study after the nightfall (SDG 4). Pawame’s innovation thus supports job and wealth creation within local communities.

Inspiration

As Fabrizio Curtale – a shareholder of Pawame – argues, Pawame's inspiration for the innovation was driven by the idea to “give energy access to rural people” in order to serve the African population without access to electricity and enhance the quality of life for 150 million households. Pawame's primary aim, therefore, was to provide an energy solution that is cheaper and cleaner than the currently used energy sources. Fabrizio also points out that to “do good for the people” is the overall driving force and intention of the innovation. He says that all of the co-founders only “want the best for Africa”, which originates in the deep and personal connection each of them has to the African continent. Therefore, they created a device that can help to make people’s lives safer and more convenient by replacing the old kerosene lamps with the solar home systems.

Overall impact

“With our innovation, we were able to give electricity to 5.000 families so far”, Fabrizio reveals in the interview. Pawame was able to give over 300,000 people opportunities and benefits that arise from daily energy access and thus lead to significant social and economic improvements to those consumers. According to Kibet – a business development manager of Pawame – their solution was a “life-changer for rural people by improving their daily life and making them happy. As the rural Kenyan area wasn´t connected to an extensive electricity grid before and the citizens had to walk over ten kilometres for buying kerosene”. He further points out that the solar systems represent a cheaper solution by offering access to clean energy in a convenient way. The enhanced use of solar power over kerosene further led to cost savings, but more importantly, to huge long-term health benefits with the reduction of 12,000 tons of CO2 per year.

In the long run, the innovation will encourage the job and wealth creation. In local Kenyan communities, the company itself will create 500 jobs and contribute to growing prosperity for local people. Following Fabrizio’s idea and “as students now have the possibility to study even at night”, Pawame will impact the community through electrification and the ability to educate and enhance communication with a potential of 250 million extra hours of light for studying. Additionally, the company will be able to establish a comprehensive power grid providing access to the internet, WIFI, and Emirates-headquarters in the next years. Finally, through its further use of mobile money for all transactions, the innovation contributes to an improvement of the local business environment and enhances financial availability and accountability.

Business benefit

The main problem in Africa is energy access. By providing nationwide access to electricity and the internet, Pawame is laying the foundation to expand existing companies or even to create new business models. This at the end brings about opportunities for new investments to develop the region. With the success in Kenya, new projects will be implemented in Uganda, Ethiopia, Ruanda, and Tanzania, which opens up markets in the whole Sub-Saharan Africa and increases the potential benefits for the economy even more.

With the belief “That young entrepreneurs will be further promoted by the granting of microcredits”, Fabrizio outlines possible future developments. Currently, Pawame tracks all the history of payments of its customers and creates credit ratings. In the future, the business will be able to sell this information and can support banks by offering microloans with reasonable interest rates. For example, if a farmer wants to expand his business with bigger agricultural tools, all he needs is a trustworthy credit history, which then can be provided by Pawame. This is not only an opportunity for the business but also for the whole society to grow.

With the capability to connect homes to electricity, the employees of Pawame help to build a safe and sustainable way of life. “Seeing people’s faces just changing”, as Kibet mentioned, improves the well-being of the employees because they know that they are doing something good. The personal growth of Pawame’s employees is, therefore, directly linked to the growth of the company.

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Social and environmental benefit

The innovation of Pawame not only brings an advantage to the society in terms of clean energy, convenience, and a safe solution, but also enables an initiative for the future. Right now, the business provides energy access on an individual level, but in the future, it will be possible to operate on a community level and the goal is to build solar parks to connect whole villages to electricity. , will, furthermore, guarantee environmental benefits like the reduction of CO2 emissions.

In terms of the third SDG - Good Health - Pawame reduces diseases caused by kerosene lamps. At the same time, it provides convenience, because people don’t need to walk long distances anymore and enjoy the comfort of charging their phones at home. Furthermore, there is an opportunity to expand the concept of tele-medicine in Kenya.

In addition, Emirates-headquartered innovation improves the quality of education, due to the possibility to study during the night and dark hours in the morning. Also, it creates new opportunities for personal and economic growth with the possibility to provide knowledge through the Internet (e-learning).

Ultimately, Pawame provides access to a sustainable and clean form of energy and therefore addresses the seventh SDG, Clean Energy.

Interviews

Fabrizio Curtale, Shareholder

Ethney Kibet, Business Development manager