The home solar kit supplier Easy Solar recently launched an online sales platform. The aim of this digital initiative is to improve the distribution of its products in Sierra Leone.
In order to improve the distribution of home solar kits in Sierra Leone, the company Easy Solar is launching an online sales platform. This is an e-commerce site entirely dedicated to its products, including solar lamps, solar home systems, solar powered household appliances and eco-friendly cookers.
“The company now offers online shopping via a secure payment portal (shop.easysolar.org), with easy delivery and pickup at any of its 21 stores across the country,” says Easy Solar. The initiative is coupled with the now classic payment method in Africa, pay-as-you-go, i.e. pay-as-you-go. This collection system is facilitated by mobile money, which is also available in remote areas.
Easy Solar’s new online sales platform is primarily aimed at the Sierra Leonean diaspora. “The majority of Sierra Leonean households in rural areas receive money from someone living in a big city, while remittances from abroad are estimated at nearly $200 million per year. We believe that by tapping into these existing remittance flows, this platform is the next step towards real access to electricity for all,” says Nthabiseng Mosia, co-founder and customer experience manager at Easy Solar.
The company, which employs 500 people to date, offers its services in Sierra Leone and Liberia. In these two West African countries, Easy Solar has installed its solar home systems in 50,000 homes, providing access to electricity to more than 350,000 people. The company’s efforts have been recognized by the Schwab Foundation, which has awarded Easy Solar the Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2019). This prize, launched in 1998, is supported by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Like Easy Solar, several other solar kit suppliers in Africa have decided to launch e-commerce platforms to promote the distribution of their products. This is the case of Solar Africa, a Franco-Mauritian company that distributes solar panels, inverters and batteries for electricity storage.
Jean Marie Takouleu
