Fenix International, an energy company and subsidiary of ENGIE, has opened its sixth market in Mozambique, where it expects to reach 200,000 households with clean energy and inclusive financial services within three years
Headquartered in Kampala, the company has already connected 500,000 customers to solar power in Uganda, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Nigeria.
Luke Hodgkinson, managing director of Fenix Mozambique, said, “Mozambique has set an ambitious target with their ProEnergia initiative to reach 100 per cent of the population with electricity by 2030.”
“The country represents an optimal market for off-grid solar products, with only 27 per cent of households currently connected to electricity and a highly distributed population. Fenix’s operations here will focus on reaching those most in need of energy access, particularly districts in the North and people who are using expensive, polluting, and dangerous methods such as kerosene and candles to light their homes,” he added.
Fenix’s latest product, Fenix Power, is a GSM-enabled power system that enables the company to remotely identify product usage and potential technical issues and improve customer experience. Fenix is the first PAYGO solar company in Mozambique to use these Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to reduce costs and bring affordable technology to rural, last-mile customers.
Fenix has partnered with Vodacom and Vodafone M-Pesa SA to address the challenges of distribution, connectivity and mobile payments that have left rural Mozambicans underserved by affordable energy products in the past.
Gulamo Nabi, from Vodafone M-Pesa SA, commented, “We’ve been working to unlock the potential of M-Pesa for the millions of Mozambicans in rural areas, far from the national grid or traditional financial services.
“Vodafone M-Pesa SA is excited to work with Fenix to access these areas and provide the easy, fast and secure payment platform for customers to light up their homes with clean, affordable energy.”
Fenix is committed to delivering its solution to the hardest-to-reach rural areas of Mozambique. Fenix will train and employ more than 150 full-time sales and marketing, customer service, product diagnostics and logistics professionals to serve its customers across the country.
