Azuri Technologies announced the creation of Azuri East Africa, based in Nairobi, to consolidate its growing presence in the region. Azuri has appointed mobile industry leader and former Regional CFO of Eaton Towers, Snehar Shah, to lead its East Africa operations.
The Nairobi office will bring together Azuri’s East African activities under a single operating entity in order to best share the organisation’s knowledge of PayGo best practice while maintaining the responsiveness of local representation.
As a pioneer of Pay-As-You-Go solar power when it first entered the Kenyan market in 2011, Azuri has since expanded its reach outside the home of Africa’s Silicon Valley to serve some 80,000 households across multiple African countries. Azuri East Africa will be a launch pad for further expansion across the East African region.
Azuri Technologies home solar systems brings European design with high quality components to provide enough clean and reliable power for daily home lighting and mobile phone charging. Azuri’s latest products include HomeSmart, a machine-learning technology that adapts to each customer’s individual needs to guarantee light at night, even in cloudy conditions. Instead of an upfront cost, Azuri systems are purchased through a Pay-As-You-Go model, providing access to essential power to rural off-grid households.
In Kenya, Azuri’s Quad solar home system provides customers with four LED lights with mobile phone charging and a rechargeable radio all for KES 50 per day. The new Duo product with two lights and charger requires no deposit and equivalent daily payments as low as KES 31.50 per day.
Kenya’s Deputy Director of Renewable Energy, Faith Wandera-Odongo, said: “As the country continues to grow, greater demand is placed on the national grid due to increased economic activities. Strategic alternatives like those promoted by Azuri Technologies are instrumental in providing necessary clean and affordable solutions for both rural and urban consumers.”
The appointment of Snehar Shah as the General Manager of Azuri East Africa brings twenty years of expertise in investment, finance, and business development to Azuri. Until recently Regional Chief Financial Officer of mobile towers business, Eaton Towers, Snehar has a strong history in the telecoms and consumer services markets including with mobile operator Orange where he was head of the company’s mobile money business unit.
Azuri Technologies is a commercial provider of PayGo solar home systems to rural off-grid communities. Azuri is leveraging solar and mobile technology to allow users in 12 different countries to access renewable, distributed power on a pay-as-you-go basis. Azuri’s HQ is located in Cambridge, United Kingdom, with staff based in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
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