We’re hugely excited to announce that we’ll be taking our solar projects to Uganda! As we approach the million lights mark, plans for the next 12 months are already well under way. We’ve set ourselves the ambitious goal of selling a further million lights and expanding in to two additional countries.
Work in Senegal, our first West African venture, is already under way with split tests to measure how effective the Light Libraries projects were at seeding the market unearthing some really positive results. Expect more news to follow from Senegal shortly.
Uganda presented itself as a frontrunner for expansion due to its proximity to Kenya and Tanzania and its transport connections to Nairobi. Making it possible to expand current distribution networks and channels rather than set up entirely new ones from the bottom up.
Uganda is similar in size to Kenya with a population of 25.13 million and a comparable rural electrification rate of 4%. It also currently benefits from solar duty and VAT exemptions. All of these criteria make John Keane, SunnyMoney Managing Director, confident of replicating the success his sales teams have had in Uganda’s neighbouring counties.
John said “We’re really excited to be moving in to Uganda and see this as a crucial step to expanding our operations even further afield. We’re confident that the outstanding success our teams have had in Kenya and Tanzania can be repeated in Uganda. We’re doing what we can to roll out these life changing solar lights through the SunnyMoney Schools Programme by the end of the summer”.
Solar light sales have rocketed over the last 12 months with around 60% of the near million sold to date coming within the last financial year. While plans to sell a further million inside the next 12 months may seem like a pipe dream, especially when taking in to account the four years it took to get this far, the sales teams are confident the new country expansion will provide the perfect platform to build on.
John added “Next year’s targets may seem ambitious but we’re confident that with a lot of sweat and toil from our fantastic sales teams, two more countries contributing to the mix, and the amazing support from people all over the world that another million lights will be shining in Africa this time next year”.