M-KOPA pay-as-you-go solar home systems

Description

M-KOPA pioneered the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar home system model in Kenya: founded in 2010 in Nairobi, commercially launched in late 2012. Households pay a deposit and then daily or weekly micro-payments via mobile money (M-Pesa), with a GSM/M2M chip that locks the unit if payments stop. Once the payments are completed, the customer owns the solar kit. The model turned an unaffordable purchase into a financeable asset for off-grid and underbanked households, and later expanded into financing for smartphones, appliances and loans.

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