A survey carried out by Village Energy through the Global LEAP Awards Refrigeration Challenge on 36 off-grid SMEs that received solar refrigerators in 2018 in 5 districts, found that in two years 83 percent of beneficiaries have expanded their businesses remarkably.
The expansion is related to the solar refrigerators which boosted income in that 27 percent of the 83 were later able to purchase a new solar system and appliance on their own because of increased income .
The survey found that the average daily revenue from drinks for those who got fridges increased from twelve dollars per day (Ugx45,000) to twenty-nine dollars (Ugx108,000) per day.
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While the average total daily income increased from 39 dollars(Ugx146,000) per day to 70 dollars (Ugx262,000) a day, 50% reported expanding into a new business line and all respondents reported an increase in customers and sale.
In addition ,many respondents were able to do things such as buying land, saving money for future plans, buying clothes for their children, starting projects like piggery and basically improving their standard of living.
According to Waringa Matindi, the Chief Executive Officer of Village Energy, Solar Energy refrigerators are continuously improving livelihoods and boosting incomes by enhancing productivity, expanding working hours, and increasing products/services, as well as cutting energy costs and eliminating business losses that are energy-related.
Matindi notes that although affordability is a key barrier to adoption, innovative models can be leveraged to increase access to existing solar solutions.
She says “The partnership between Equity Bank and Village Energy can be useful to provide access for SMEs. Equity’s Eco loan will increase available financing to consumers and Village Energy’s remote monitoring, a 2-year system warranty will ensure the solar fridges are working efficiently and the system challenges are handled quickly and efficiently,”
Solar fridges are ideal for businesses, farms, offices, homes, among other establishments.
Village Energy’s Fridge system is inclusive of panels, batteries, a charge controller, remote monitoring, and a year’s warranty.
Recently, the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been advocating for green energy and embracing alternative power means like solar .
Since 2015, Village Energy has been at the helm of helping businesses grow by offering affordable solar solutions.
Village Energy is a Uganda-registered for-profit social enterprise founded in 2008 and situated in Kampala. It is a distributor of customized solar solutions that enable productive use of energy (PUE) for businesses, non-profit institutions & and agriculture in underserved areas.