Page 4 - AfrElec Week 34

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec
Africa’s pay-as-you-go
potential whets Japanese
investment appetite
Mitsubishi’s investment in BBOXX paves the way for Japan’s deeper engagement with Africa’s power development and the global energy transition, writes Richard Lockhart
AFRICA
WHAT:
Mitsubishi is to back BBOXX’s off-grid solar expansion
WHY:
Mitsubishi aims to expand investment in off-grid
WHAT NEXT:
BBOXX aims to expand into Asia, while Mitsubishi is keen to mitigate its involvement in coal and to improve its green credentials
JAPAN’S Mitsubishi has invested almost $50mn in leading African pay-as-you-go power pro- vider BBOXX in a bid to increase its exposure to the continent’s rapidly expanding retail power markets.
The African next-generation utility com- pleted a Series D funding round, with Mitsubishi providing a substantial portion of the total sum raised of $50mn.
BBOXX said in statement that it would use the money to help drive its growth across Africa, where it currently operates in 12 countries, as well as break into Asian markets.
Pay as you go
BBOXX currently provides pay-as-you-go solar energy systems to households and small businesses in 12 countries in Africa through its trademark BBOXX PulseT real-time remote monitoring system.
With 600mn Africans without reliable power connections, BBOXX is leading a number of providers that use mobile-phone based pay- ment technology, small-scale solar panels and low start-up costs to provide reliable power to both homes and businesses.
e company has already installed this type of system in 200,000 homes in Togo, Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“ e Mitsubishi investment into BBOXX is part of an upcoming trend,” said BBOXX CEO Mansoor Hamayun.
“ ere is genuine increased interest by the Japanese government and companies to invest further across a range of industries in Africa.”
New strategy
There is genuine increased interest by the Japanese government and Japanese countries to
For Japan, the deal comes as Tokyo hosts a num-
ber of African leaders at the Tokyo International
Conference on African Development (TICAD). invest further
e Japanese government is using the event to launch a more visible investment programme across Africa, expanding on its previous focus on development aid. Tokyo aims to move from just being an aid donor to being an investor in sus- tainable development and critical infrastructure, o en in the private sector.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged on August 28 to boost private investment in Africa to more than $20bn over the next three years.
across a range
of industries in
Africa
Mansoor Hamayun CEO BBOXX
P4
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 34 28•August•2019