d.light, the global provider of transformational household products and affordable finance for low-income households, has partnered with global telecom operator Orange to open up access to d.light’s range of low-cost solar products for customers in 11 African countries.
d.light solar-powered products, including solar home systems, solar inverters, TVs, fans, and portable solar torches, are available to Orange customers via its Orange Smart Energies platform.
The partnership is already up and running in Ivory Coast, where Orange has thirty million customers, and also Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It will expand into a further five African countries in which Orange operates – Senegal, Mali, Burkino Faso, Guinea, and the Central African Republic (CAR).
d.light products are available at Orange’s own stores and also its partner retail outlets and sales agents. Customers can pay using the Orange Money service, allowing them to make purchases via “Pay As You Go” (PAYG).
Nick Imudia, CEO, d.light
Mobile operators are natural partners for off-grid solar providers like d.light as they have the scale and the resources to reach rural communities in remote locations which are not connected to the energy grid. In addition, operator billing-based mobile money services like Orange Money give low-income households the flexibility to make payments for solar products as and when they can afford to do so. People can access affordable renewable solar energy solutions via simple mobile prepayment. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2022 600 million people in Africa were without access to electricity. The impacts of the global pandemic and the international energy crisis combined to slow down and obstruct the progress that had been made in recent years to improve electricity access across the continent. There is still much work to do to extend availability of reliable, affordable electricity to low-income households and off-grid communities in Africa so that many more people can benefit from the improved living standards, opportunities and economic development that it enables.
