Zambia’s WidEnergy and Rwanda’s Munyax Eco have secured funding from a female-focused funds platform – Opes-LCEF.

Opes-LCEF is an impact investor that helps new startups in emerging markets to scale and grow. The platform achieves this by providing early-stage social enterprises with catalytic capital.

Presently, Opes-LCEF has a portfolio of 17 investments across 11 countries. Seven of its portfolios operates in East Africa.

Now, the platform has established the Restart East Africa Initiate – a programme aimed at addressing female underrepresentation in the renewable energy sector.

Restart East Africa Initiative is supported by other programmes like the DOEN Foundation and Good Energies Foundation.

The Initiative has now invested in two companies. And the funding is in the form of a zero per cent interest loan.

The two companies include Munyax Eco and Zambia’s WidEnergy.

Munyax Eco installs solar water heaters and has a portfolio of over 1,200 B2B and B2C clients. The firm also deals in solar street lights and photovoltaic off-grid systems.

Munyax Eco mentioned that the capital would help the company expand its product line, finance inventories, and work through the COVID-19 crisis in general.

On the other hand, WidEnergy utilizes a PAYG model to provide last-mile clean energy solutions.

The firm’s innovation allows off-grid households to access solar power.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WidEnergy recorded a drop in sales last year. And the capital from Restart East Africa Initiate is aimed towards extending the firm’s distribution network.

A Nigerian startup has developed an online platform that allows its customers to buy appliances and make payment weekly or monthly.

Besides the flexible payment option, the startup offers its customers this grand opportunity with no interest – how fascinating.

On the online marketplace, CDcare combines savings and loans to allow users of the service to pay a specific amount – either weekly or monthly – towards purchasing an appliance.

When a user saves up to half of the amount of the appliance, the item is shipped. And the automatic payments continue until full payment is made.

CDcare started operations in February 2020. And it was co-founded by Oluwatobi Odukoya and Farohun Ayodeji.

So far, the startup has shipped over 1,000 appliances across 20 Nigerian states since it started operation.

‘’Deji and I were classmates at the university. Our friendship began when he patronized the loan-a-laptop scheme that I created at the university. He later became operations manager of the scheme,’’ said Odukoya.

‘’Together, we built Computer Doctor – the first mobile computer repair workshop in Africa. Within two years, we fixed over 10,000 units of computers for firms and individuals across Nigeria.’’

‘’Some of the firms we’ve worked with include Cowrywise, Paystack, Aella Credit, and Flutterwave,’’ he added.

The pair are now committed to solving a significant problem in the country by joining elements of savings and lending platforms.

‘’In Africa, the majority of the people get paid monthly. And there is no way for Africans to make payments for purchases in instalments as it is in other countries,’’ said Odukoya.

‘’We only have lending platforms that are either difficult to access or have high-interest rates. This problem has pushed many Africans to settle for less or buy substandard products because they can’t afford to pay a large sum at once for what they desire.’’

Hence, the duo came up with CDcare – a payment plan that allows the buyer to save half and get a loan for the other half at zero interest.

‘’We make a profit of at least 10% of the total cost of each item delivered on CDcare,’’ Odukoya concluded. 

Classes.ng is one of the many Nigerian startups that leveraged the lockdown period to create something unique.

The firm is on a mission to ensure that learning continues at all levels of educations through online platforms despite the challenges faced by students due to the pandemic.

Classes.ng started in September 2020. So far, the startup has been growing steadily and now, it has unveiled its free marketplace for learning.

According to the firm, the platform comprises a list of tutorial centres, freelance tutors, training institutions, schools, universities, and programmes available for registration in the learning centres.

The startup aims to provide a listing platform for all kinds of classes. And to channel more students to the listed tutors and institutions.

‘’Unlike conventional on-demand tutoring platforms, we do not take part in the training. Neither do we receive commissions on bookings.’’

‘’The platform is a free and open medium. And we generate revenue primarily from traffic with only a few institutions benefiting from the commission model,’’ said Daniel Osi, co-founder of Classes.ng.

On average, the startup records about ten enquiries per day, and it experiences roughly 1,500 unique hits per month.

Following the latest development, Classes.ng hopes to record better numbers.

‘’We are currently operating in Nigeria; however, we have a global target. Recently, we acquired a couple of highly relevant domains in preparation for scale,’’ Daniel concluded.

iXperience was co-founded in 2013 by Rafi Khan and Aaron Fuchs. The Cape-Town based firm started as a coding Bootcamp. And since then, iXperience has turned out as a leading startup in career-focused skills training.

To scale internationally and build out its products, the startup has secured a $2.5m Series A funding round.

The firm partners with individuals and institutions to bridge the gap between traditional learning processes and the skills required in today’s evolving workforce.

iXperience has over 2,500 alumni, and it uses proprietary technology mechanism to ensure the success of students through the learning process.

The startup plans to use the capital raised from the Series A funding round to grow its team and continue its investment in innovative technology platforms.

iXperience also plans to launch programmes across several markets and develop its global strategic partnership divisions.

‘’The world is evolving at an exceptional rate, and the current education system is lagging,’’ Fuchs said.

‘’In the next century, we believe that learning won’t be concentrated on the youth alone but it would be interwoven through a person’s life as they transition across careers and life priorities,’’ Fuchs added.

‘’Our mission is to build immersive and transformational learning experiences that offer our students the best possible life,’’ Fuch concluded.

Two Kenyan firms – Pezesha and MarketForce – have joined forces to offer their customers convenient credit options.

The duo plan to provide affordable inventory and wholesale distribution financing to MarketForce merchants.

MarketForce helps consumer brands to optimize the delivery process of consumer goods and services to retailers and consumers.

The firm achieves this by closing the gap in the last mile distribution to maximize the efficiency across the distribution and sales value chain.

Meanwhile, Pezesha – a peer-to-peer micro-lending startup, connects lenders with high-quality, low-income borrowers.

The two startups are now in a partnership to ensure that Pezesha provides credit to MarketForce merchants who run small retail businesses locally.

The partnership aims to provide distributors and merchants with real-time access to affordable inventory credit options.

Both firms will offer their customers value-added services like financial literacy and digital tools that will help retailers streamline their transactional records.

According to the duo, they aim to reach 10,000 merchants and help them boost their sales by up to 25% with access to affordable inventory credit.

‘’We are excited to collaborate with the innovative Pezesha team to provide the much-needed inventory financing option to our customers,’’ said Tesh Mbaabu, CEO of MarketForce.

‘’We have co-designed a credit product that is instantly accessible and affordable to ensure that our retailers never run out of stock.’’

‘’The partnership with MarketForce is timely as it allows Pezesha to incorporate credit in the existing distribution process in a cost-effective way,’’ said Hilda Moraa, CEO of Pezesha.