WidEnergy Africa

Company

WidEnergy Africa provides last-mile delivery of clean, reliable and affordable energy and connectivity solutions, as well as affordable access to mobile phones.

Problem

In Zambia, the main barriers to mobile internet use are a lack of digital skills and accessible and affordable smartphones and data. In mid-2019, mobile internet adoption among rural and peri-urban populations was just 10%, considerably lower than the national average (24%). There is also a mobile gender gap, particularly in rural areas, which must also be addressed.

Solution

WidEnergy Africa provides rural communities in Zambia with 20 community-based distribution hubs for pay-as-you-go (PAYG) smartphones preloaded with airtime bundles. The GSMA supported WidEnergy in March 2021 to offer PAYG smartphones to their solar home system (SHS) users with proven repayment track records.

Impact

Since partnering with the GSMA, WidEnergy has:

– Sold more than 1,300 PAYG smartphones, 470 of which to women. 71% of their users said their quality of life had “very much improved”.

– Trained 1,366 people in digital skills, 50% of whom were women.

– Signed an agreement with Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa to scale up their business operations by selling and establishing up to 37,000 new, high-quality, clean and affordable SHS to customers in rural and peri-urban areas of Zambia between 2023 and 2027.

A message from the founder

“At WidEnergy Africa, we believe in gender equality. Our partnership with the GSMA Innovation Fund has allowed us to connect the underserved and the many Zambians to whom internet was up until now, a thing out of their reach.”

– Liliane Munezero Ndabaneze, CEO, WidEnergy Africa Ltd.