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October 8, 2018
GSMA launches Innovation Fund for Rural Connectivity
October 9, 2018
Mobisol, IFC launch PAYG business model in Ethiopia
Mobisol a solar electrification decentralizing company has partnered with IFC’s Lighting Africa to organize a PAYG (pay-as-you-go) business model workshop.
Held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the 22nd of September, the objective of the workshop was to introduce PAYG business models and allow stakeholders the opportunity to define their roles and responsibilities in the Solar Home System value chain.
PAYG is an innovative business model that is nascent in Ethiopia and would provide the solution to a host of distribution challenges.
The payment model was conceived as a solution to addressing the financial struggles of users by delivering affordable electricity to off-grid communities.
With the new system, people can rent a solar home system and make the payments through basic phones on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Typically, different stakeholders of a PAYG value chain for distributing Solar Home Systems do not have defined roles, creating a clear operational and communications gaps. The PAYG business model workshop tackled many of these operational challenges.
The stakeholders involved in the workshop were:The regional energy bureaus, Micro-Finance Institutions, Youth Associations/ Small and Micro Enterprises, Wholesalers/ Importers of Solar Products, Retailers of Solar Products, Mobile Money Companies namely MBIRR and Development Institutes namely The World Bank Ethiopia
First, the participants formed groups and were asked to map out the value chain by using the Business Model Canvas by specifying the nine building blocks.
After presenting the outcomes, they mapped out their envisioned PAYG business model. Two respective groups have agreed to launch the mapped out business model as pilots by December 2018.
The new partnership comes at a time when statistics show that In Sub-Saharan Africa, 600 million people live without electricity. In Ethiopia 60pc of the population face electrification problems.
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