Greenlight Planet launches new platform to facilitate solar lamps purchase

NAIROBI: Greenlight Planet has launched the Sun King Eco Easy Buy, an innovative pay-as-you-go platform that enables customers to purchase Sun King Eco solar lamps in staggered 10-week instalments.

The firm is currently a global leader in providing under-electrified communities with access to clean, affordable solar lighting technologies. To date, over three million households in low-income off-grid communities use Greenlight’s Sun King line of solar home lighting solutions ranging from $10 to $100 (Sh900 to Sh9000).

According to Anish Thakkar, CEO and co-founder of Greenlight Planet, most customers earn less than $2 (Sh180) a day and have very little disposable income. “Some are dependent on daily wages, often used to purchase basic necessities, including kerosene, mobile phone airtime and food in small increments. We needed to find an alternative to up-front payments that fit this purchasing pattern,” he said.

EASY BUY

Enabled by a ground-breaking pay-as-you-go system powered by Angaza Design, the Sun King Eco Easy Buy affords customers the ability to buy with a small downpayment at the time of purchase and pay the balance through weekly instalments across a few months.

Customers can make a modest up-front payment of Sh250 at the time of purchase and an additional Sh100 each week for a total of 10 weeks to complete ownership of their Sun King.  “Angaza’s innovative technology platform allows customers to buy Sun King solar lights through a series of secure mobile payments,” added Lesley Marincola, CEO of San Francisco and Nairobi-based Angaza Design.

“This ‘pay as you go’ technology leverages a cloud-based software system, embedded data transfer hardware and firmware, and an easy-to-use mobile phone app,” said Marincola.