Kenyan solar home distributor Pawame receives co-guarantee for crowdfunding campaign
Debt crowdfunding platform TRINE today launched a campaign to fund a loan to Kenyan solar home system distributor Pawame. The EUR 150,000 ($177,000) loan is to finance pay-as-you-go solar home systems from Fosera and will provide 6,513 people with electricity.
Energy 4 Impact and German solar manufacturer Fosera will provide a co-guarantee on the loan, representing 50% of the loan value. The guarantee is designed to protect crowdfunding lenders in the case of loan default. The guarantee represents the first of this kind in the off-grid energy space.
Pawame has been active in Kenya since May 2016 and raised $50,000 on debt crowdfunding platform Kiva in April 2017, inclusive of $10,000 in match funding from the Crowd Power programme. Pawame has grown quickly since entering the Kenyan market last year and has installed 2,000 systems.
The co-guarantee provided by Fosera and Energy 4 Impact will guarantee up to 50% of the loan value ($88,500) on a declining balance basis, so the value of the guarantee will reduce as the loan is repaid by the borrower (and the 50% guarantee will be applied to the outstanding balance).
