Our story

Early market insights

In 2013, we saw solar solutions start to gain traction in Africa. We were inspired by their growth but knew that they could only serve customers at the wealthier end of the off-grid market. When we compared these products to the mobile phone revolution that had gone before, we didn’t see solar solutions as analogous, since they generally require consumer debt and long-term commitment.

Looking around further, drinking water and washing powder gave us further insight into how our markets function. Many consumers don’t buy large bottles of drinking water or 5kg buckets of washing powder, but instead buy single serving packet water and single-use sachets of washing powder. These pay-per-use offerings confirmed to us that consumers want to match their daily spend to their needs on a range of products from airtime to drinking water. We knew that in addition to solar home system, the off-grid market would need an energy service that could match customers’ ability to pay in the smallest units possible without long term commitments.

Steady beginnings

We set about finding a way to offer consumers the simplest form of energy with the fewest barriers to entry that wouldn’t require customers to take on debt or long-term payment obligations. Through trials in The Gambia, we developed and patented our smart battery ecosystem. Between 2013 and 2017, the founders worked on MOPO alongside other jobs in business, development, renewable energy, and infrastructure until 2017 when we launched a successful prototype MOPO Hub in Sierra Leone.

Building a platform for scale

As the founders went full time and began to grow the team, we recognised that scale would be enabled by working with the existing informal market and so we set about developing an operating model that could bridge between the informality of existing markets and the repeatability required for scale. This involved heavy investment in supply chain, installation process, fintech integration, and operations model before scaling the solution.

MOPO50: growth through multiplication

In 2019, MOPO50 realised positive unit economics at a hub level and began to scale across Sierra Leone. By 2020, Sierra Leone had become EBITDA positive, prompting our launch in a second country, Liberia, and in 2021, we expanded further into Nigeria. Our millionth rental occurred in Q1 2021, and within a year, we reached five million rentals. Today, our growth continues at a remarkable pace.

Pressing the advantage

In order to realise the necessary technology to reach our market, we developed a specialised UK based design and engineering team with experience in battery lifecycle optimisation, hardware development, design for manufacturing, supply chain, software development, firmware, offline monitoring, fintech integration and the unique nature of our last mile operating environment. As the MOPO50 business began to flourish, we reapplied the team to advance our technology into new services and the development of the MOPOMax. This powerful leverage allows us to press the advantage already proven with the MOPO50.