This week Yvette Torres-Rahman, Partnerships Director at Business Fights Poverty interviews Sam Duby, co-founder and CTO, SteamaCo.
SteamaCo is a Kenyan company working to provide affordable, pre-paid power to rural customers.
Hear from Sam how they are fulfilling the unmet needs in the energy access space. One example he speaks about is a microgrid. Essentially this is a solar energy vending machine set up in remote villages. Users buy small units of power upfront using their mobile phones. They also provide mechanisms for bridge financing, remote management and data that de-risks investment.
He discusses how they aim to use their energy vending machine concept also for grid extensions e.g. in Kenya power lines cross villages where no-one is connected because they cannot afford the 500 USD connection. De facto, their system would become a financing mechanism to give last mile access to energy.
Hear about SteamaCo plans for scaling up their business – including a “business in a box” proposition. They welcome entrepreneurs from across the globe to approach them to set-up similar energy access businesses in their communities.
