UK Based Mobile Power Receives €3 Million to Accelerate Solar Charged Battery Rental Business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Summary
The Results-Based Financing from The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA), a Scandinavian multi-donor environmental and climate focussed fund, follows BGFAs initial 2022 investment in the Company, which facilitated the development of battery rental operations to customers in Liberia.Through its solar powered MOPO hubs and utilising a network of local agents, the Company rents its proprietary MOPO batteries to customers who have limited access to power, providing clean energy to households and small businesses, as well as electric vehicles. The pay-per-use battery sharing service reaches across the affordability spectrum as it requires no deposit, no debt, and access to power on the customers own terms. The MOPO50 provides basic household energyfor lighting, phone charging and Direct Current (DC) appliances; whilst the larger MOPOMax has two use cases, one as a battery swap for e-motorbike taxis and the other replaces small petrol generators (0-4 kVA).The business is already operating successfully in Nigeria, DRC, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Chad, and Uganda. BGFA is a multi-donor facility established and managed by Nefco, the Nordic Green Bank, which aims to bring clean and affordable energy to Sub-Saharan Africa. To this end, we are talking to multiple partners and look forward to concluding further financing to aggregate our successful model.Kari H\xe4mekoski, Senior Programme Manager at Nefco, said: We are pleased that previous BGFA investees, such as Mobile Power, see an opportunity to unlock further investments and expand to other BGFA-supported countries.