Kenya’s M-Kopa wins $1.5M, plans to build university institute

Solar energy in Africa is really hip and happening.

The pay-as-you-go solar energy startup from Kenya, M-Kopa, has just won the 2015 Zayed Future Energy Prize worth US$1.5-million.

Jesse Moore, Managing Director and Co-Founder of M-Kopa Solar says that the company is soon to power over a million homes living off-the-grid:

We are honoured to win the Zayed Future Energy Prize. The prize brings global attention to M-KOPA Solar’s business model, which has brought clean, affordable solar power to 150 000 homes in East Africa in less than three years. We believe that the ‘wireless energy’ revolution is just beginning and that M-Kopa Solar will soon power millions living off the grid.

Moore further adds that the company has proven it can scale and is now reaching a massive pace of 500 plus sales a day across the region. “With the recognition and backing of the Zayed Future Energy Prize, we will continue to develop our exceptional team in order to reach millions of customers as soon as we can,” he says.

Read more: 5 bright startups lighting up the African continent using solar power

This ceremony also marked the announcement of the company’s training facility, which will be located at M-Kopa’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The university hopes to provide training to over 1 000 staff and 3 000 sales agents across East Africa by 2018, as well as to M-Kopa’s licensing and distribution partners in other parts of Africa and Asia.

With a focus on renewable energy, the Zayed Future Energy Prize winners and finalists have positively impacted the lives of more than 150 million people around the world in the last seven years.

While the company shows massive growth and expansion across the East African region, it’s facing competition from the likes of the American Solar City-funded Off Grid Electric which raised US$16-million early last year to help it scale across the region.

M-Kopa raised US$20-million last year in its mission to power over a million homes in Kenya.