#60: M-Kopa - How the asset financing platform is providing access to consumer products across Kenya & Africa
Afrobility: Africa Tech and Business
Intro
Olumide and Bankole introduce M-Kopa, episode scope, and episode context on African energy and asset financing.
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
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