Renewable energy in Uganda: 3 tips for businesses
BrightLife is a social enterprise in Uganda that provides sustainable energy products, such as solar lighting systems, appliances and improved cookstoves. These products help create healthier and safer homes, increase productivity and reduce household expenses. Laurynas Vaičiulis has been BrightLife's CEO for 4 years and has previous experience with pay-as-you-go energy systems in Africa. Here, he shares what he has learnt and tips for businesses.
1. Quality over quantity
A valuable lesson and BrightLife's number 1 tip for other solar companies is that sales volume is not as important as having reliable, loyal customers that pay on time.
It is better to prioritise acquiring good customers than simply selling to many customers.
Offer a suitable payment system
To get reliable customers, you need to offer a suitable payment system and pricing. A pay-as-you-go system means clients pay for a service before using and it cannot use more energy than they have paid for. BrightLife customers can lease a solar home system and pay with mobile money. This allows customers to pay small amounts they can afford weekly or monthly. BrightLife also offers flexibility, tolerating late payments and delays to some extent. As a result, they reclaim less than 10% of the solar home systems due to very delayed or non-payment. This payment flexibility allows about 234,000 people to use solar energy through the pay-as-you-go system, even if they have a lower income.
2. Customers prefer white light
BrightLife learnt in Uganda that customers strongly prefer white light (7,000 Kelvins). They often link yellow, warm light (3,000 Kelvins) to less valuable candles or kerosene lamps. Also, white light mimics natural daylight, which is preferable for doing homework.
3. Invest in women
A third of BrightLife's sales agents are women. These agents often have better sales and collection results than colleagues who are men. BrightLife's women agents have good sales skills and connect well with household needs. Still, it is challenging for women to travel alone for work on motorcycles because this mode of transport is mostly used by men. BrightLife is now testing electric cargo bikes for transport, which is universally accepted for men and women in Uganda. This will help empower women, as more women can work independently and provide for their families.
SDG 7 Results
"SDG 7 Results has triggered us to go where nobody goes. We go to far-away rural areas, low coverage areas, and places without a connection to the electricity grid," says Laurynas Vaičiulis. BrightLife receives a subsidy to support operating in hard-to-reach areas and promote sustainable access to energy for all.
SDG 7 Results contributes to access to sustainable energy for households in low and middle-income countries. This programme uses results-based financing. This means that SDG 7 Results only provides subsidies once projects have achieved the agreed results. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency funds this project on behalf of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Read more inspiring energy transition business cases or find out more about what we do to achieve energy access and the transition to green energy.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Featured
