Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about M-Kopa, the African asset financing platform. We’ll explore the M-Kopa story across 5 areas:

African electrical power context
M-Kopa's early history
Product & monetization strategy
Competitive positioning & exit options
Then we'll end with our views on its overall outlook.

This episode was recorded on Jan 15, 2023

Companies discussed: M-Kopa, Safaricom (M-Pesa), d.light, Zola Electric, Transsion, Samsung, Nokia (HMD global), Airtel, MTN, Mobisol, Carbon & Fairmoney

Business concepts discussed: Rural electrification, Payment infrastructure, Pay-as-you-go Solar, Off-grid energy, asset financing, credit scoring, risk assessment & renewable energy

Conversation highlights:

(05:45) - Africa electricity access context
(09:45) - Kenya electricity access context
(14:55) - M-Kopa early history
(16:55 ) - Founders’ background
(25:07) - Other ideas before M-Kopa and M-Kopa launch
(28:44) - Launch strategy - partnerships, sales and distribution
(32:05) - Fundraising, Growth, Geo Expansion, Team
(54:01) - Product strategy and how the product works
(1:06:04) - Monetization strategy
(1:14:16) - Competition and options for exit
(01:29:50) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:38:06) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:48:08) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com
Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com
Recommendation 1: Descript: We use it for afrobility and even though I didn't initially think we needed it, it's grown on me. Especially now that I'm using it more aggressively for my personal finance book (myfiredom.com) editing
Recommendation 2: Dances with wolves movie. So so good!
Small win 1: Hung out with mum during thanksgiving break. It was cool!
Small win 2: New years day with friends in London. It was nice!

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Building an AI Chatbot off Podcast Transcripts
Small win: Happy to be back home after months of travelling in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa
Other content: M-Kopa Solar Is Making a Profit on Poor Africans

Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email info@afrobility.com with feedback!

Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at info@afrobility.com

Investors: It would be great to link up with you. Contact us at info@afrobility.com

Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes on Afrobility.com

Unlocked: The State of Search Engine 2025

Search Engine

Ad break

The AI-powered Podcast Player