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Problem
2.35M households in Zambia are considered “off-grid”, meaning that they lack crucial access to electricity. As a result, many still rely on candles, batteries, diesel generators and other dirty fuel sources for both cooking and illumination. Such methods are unhealthy, harmful to the environment and very costly.
Furthermore, though there is significant latent demand for solar energy in Zambia, most households cannot afford the high up-front costs of most solar energy systems.
Solution
VITALITE was founded in 2013 with the goal of making modern, renewable energy accessible and affordable to all rural farming and peri-urban communities across Zambia. To this end, VITALITE distributes EcoZoom efficient charcoal clean cookstoves and various solar-powered products through a network of distributors and retail hubs. Recently, they have been focused on distributing Zambia’s first fully integrated pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) solar home systems (SHS) [photo 3]. So far they have distributed over 1000 PAYG SHSs.
Loan Use & Impact
VITALITE is seeking a loan to scale their PAYGO SHS distribution by an additional 200+ units. Their impact goal is to reach 220,000 households (over half of the addressable off-grid population) by 2020 with this life-changing, innovative, yet affordable technology.
