d.light, an Off-grid solar provider has announced the closing of a new securitization facility that will purchase USD$176 million of receivables in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The new financing is being provided by social impact-focused asset management company African Frontier Capital.
According to a statement made available to Innovation Village, d.light will leverage the facility to expand its PayGo consumer finance program, aiming to provide solar-powered products to more low-income households and communities lacking electricity. This multi-currency facility will facilitate access to reliable, renewable energy for approximately six million people across three countries within the next three years.
With this new facility, d.light has now closed securitized financing with a total combined purchasing value of USD$718 million across five separate facilities since 2020.
Founded in 2007 at Stanford, California, d.light is a global pioneer in providing affordable, life-changing products to low-income families. With nearly 30 million products sold—ranging from solar lanterns and home systems to TVs, radios, and smartphones—d.light has positively impacted the lives of over 150 million people worldwide.
Commenting on the news, d.light CEO Nedjip Tozun said, “This new facility is another landmark step in d.light’s mission to provide people with affordable energy that is also clean, safe and sustainable. It lets us expand our reach so that millions of off-grid families across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda can experience the benefits of solar energy.
“Facilities like this make possible our pioneering PayGo consumer financing model with which we are able to offer solar home systems and high efficiency appliances to the people that need them most in a way that is affordable and sustainable.”
“With this new facility, d.light has for the first time in its history receivables-based financing facilities in each of our PayGo markets – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria. These facilities allow d.light to remain consistently cash flow positive and remove the requirement for further external equity fundraising to fund our growth,” he adds.
d.light has a solid track record of utilizing securitized finance to support its solar-powered household products in sub-Saharan Africa. Since 2020, the company has established four financing facilities: two in Kenya, one in Nigeria, and one in Tanzania. The total purchasing value of these existing facilities, combined with the new one, amounts to USD $718 million.
In February of this year, d.light announced that its USD $110 million securitization facility, Brighter Life Kenya 1 Limited (BLK1), successfully repaid its entire senior debt in full and ahead of schedule using internally generated cash flows—a first in the off-grid solar sector.
d.light has collaborated with distribution partners in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania since 2010. The company has had its own operations in Kenya since 2011, in Uganda since 2015, and in Tanzania since 2016.
Eric De Moudt, AFC’s founder and CEO, said, “This milestone is a testament to how data-driven financial innovation can play an important role in bringing financial inclusion to the world’s most vulnerable communities, helping them to gain access to clean and modern energy and the ensuing social and economic benefits that come about as a result. We are grateful to d.light for its ongoing leadership in the off-grid solar sector and proud to partner with such a visionary company.”
