Africa (Commonwealth) _d.light, a global producer of affordable household solar solutions for low-income families, has finalized a $176 million securitization (debt) agreement to fund the company’s development into Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Ned Tozun, CEO of d.light, issued a statement confirming the financing. The extra money will be utilized to purchase receivables from African Frontier Capital (AFC), an asset management company that focuses on social impact, in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The CEO said that by growing its PayGo consumer credit offering, the firm would be able to increase the number of low-income families and communities without electricity that could purchase solar-powered items.
d.light has secured $718 million in securitized finance through five distinct transactions since 2020, including its most recent investment. “With this new facility, d.light has receivables-based financing capabilities in each of our PayGo markets, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria, for the first time in its existence.
“These facilities enable d.light to maintain a continuously positive cash flow and eliminate the need for additional external equity fundraising to finance our expansion,” said the CEO. The CFO of d.light, Ron Pfende, described how the company has dealt with the challenges brought on by the current status of the global economy.
People’s everyday life are still impacted by the challenging macroeconomic conditions in recent years, which were brought on by the pandemic and further disturbed by the conflict in Ukraine, according to Pfende.
Since its founding in 2007 by Standford University professors Ned Tozun and Sam Goldman, d.light has emerged as a global leader in providing inexpensive, sustainable energy to millions of people across 70 nations.
Since introducing its initial product in 2008, the business has been expanding both domestically and globally. The Managing Director for Uganda, Douglas Gavala, revealed that d.light has received a grant of USD 3.4 million, as we previously reported.
d.light is revolutionizing the way people use and pay for energy globally by offering dependable, reasonably priced, and easily accessible distributed solar lighting and power system solutions for homes and small businesses.
More than 12 million solar light and power items have been sold by d.light in 62 countries through five distribution hubs located in East Africa, West Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and the United States. More than 171 million people whose lives would not have been improved by them have gained access to dependable, cheap, safe, and clean energy.
Thanks to the efforts of d.light, solar illumination has been made available to 78 million school-age children, saving $6.1 billion in energy-related costs. By 2030, d.light wants to change one billion lives by affecting one billion via solar illumination.
By providing low-income families with accessible and inexpensive transformational goods, d.light has become a global pioneer in social transformation. Since most of the clients we work with lack access to stable electricity or money, d.light takes away those obstacles. With our Pay As You Go system, we provide financing and dependable electricity through solar energy solutions.
Over 173 million people’s lives have been impacted by the over 25 million devices that d.light has sold, including solar lanterns, solar home systems, TVs, radios, and cellphones. Our goal is to use sustainable goods to improve the lives of one billion people by the year 2030.
In a kerosene mishap in Benin, Africa, in 2004, Peace Corps member Sam Goldman’s neighbor suffered severe burns. Sam was aware that there had to be safer and more effective ways to power homes and businesses in developing nations. Sam met co-founder Ned Tozun when he enrolled in Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability course following his Peace Corps service.
Ned and Sam established d.light in 2007 with the goal of creating a safe, bright, clean lighting and power source for people all around the world, as well as the first solar lantern prototype. The first solar device manufactured by d.light entered the market in 2008.
d.light, a worldwide supplier of cheap financing for low-income households and transformative home goods, announced today the opening of a new securitization facility that will buy USD$176 million worth of receivables from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. African Frontier Capital, an asset management company that focuses on social impact, is providing the additional funding.
d.light plans to use the facility to expand its PayGo consumer finance offering, which will enable more low-income households and communities without access to electricity to purchase solar-powered products. With sustainable goods, d.light will have contributed to the transformation of 1 billion lives by 2030.
