ImpactAlpha, January 26 — U.K.-based Bboxx launched in 2010 to provide pay-as-you-go solar products to low-income African households without electricity. A $15 million loan from SBM Bank Kenya, will help Bboxx expand its solar products and services to 470,000 rural Kenyans.
The U.K. government-backed intermediary GuarantCo, provided a guarantee of $11.3 million to back 75% of the loan total. The goal: bring more commercial banks into off-grid solar lending to make loans in local currency and reduce companies’ exchange risks.
Bboxx will purchase nearly 90,000 solar home systems and appliances, such as refrigerators and phones. The deal “will help us expand our services to more remote regions of the country,” said Bboxx’s Jeff Vanden Berghe.
Last week, Bboxx received a $5.5 million loan from Africa Go Green Fund to provide clean solar-powered cookstoves.
