Oolu Burkina Faso has signed an agreement with the Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) to support the scale-up of high-quality solar home systems for people living in rural areas of Burkina Faso.
Launched in 2015, Oolu aims to provide affordable energy access to rural and peri-urban customers in West Africa. So far, it has sold thousands of solar home systems to customers across its six markets.
The Burkina Faso subsidiary of Oolu was established in 2018, making it the first company in the country selling pay as you go (PAYG)-based renewable energy services. It will now scale its operations in the country in partnership with BGFA, a multi-donor funding facility that aims to kick-start markets for clean, off-grid energy in Sub-Saharan African countries.
The total value of the contract is EUR2.5 million (US$2.7 million), with a total project budget of at least EUR5 million (US$5.4 million). With the support of BGFA, Oolu will scale up its current business activities in Burkina Faso, aiming to establish over 28,000 additional subscriptions over a four-year period by providing solar home systems for lighting, mobile phone charging, TVs, fridges and freezers as well as power sources for commercial customers.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with BGFA to further scale up our business activities. In recent years, many communities in Burkina Faso have endured worsening economic, security and climate conditions. With the support from BGFA, we can improve people’s lives in these underserved communities by providing modern and renewable energy access at affordable rates, often for the very first time,” said Dan Rosa, co-founder and chief executive officer at Oolu.
