On a recent Monday morning, Nelson Balogun, popularly known as ‘Balo’, switched on the generator that powers his shop close to Tejuosho market, Nigeria’s commercial capital at exactly 10:05 am. After three attempts it roared to life, coughing up clouds of grey smoke in the process.
Inside Balogun’s multipurpose shop are places to watch television, play video games, get a haircut and fix a mobile phone.
He wants to expand his operations but faces what so far seems an impossible obstacle. It’s not a staff shortage, government regulations or software glitches.
“One thing will not allow us to do that”, he says is, “electricity.”
Balogun’s generator consumes between 17 and 27 litres of petrol each day, he said, which costs him between N2,500($6.08) and N4,000 ($9.72) by the country’s official exchange rate.
Then there is an additional N1,500 ($3.65) per week to gauge and change the generator’s oil. A mechanic comes for maintenance and repairs three times a month, costing at least N1,000 per visit ($2.43) exempting the cost of any spare parts.
To change this narrative, Starsight Energy is bridging the shortfalls in Nigeria’s energy mix with bold innovations, social investments, and local capacity development.
Since 2015, Starsight Energy, which provides solar power to commercial and industrial (C&I) customers, has installed its small-scale plants at more than 500 sites, with 36 MW of generation capacity and 28 MWh of electricity storage capacity.
The company was ranked by the Financial Times (FT) among the fastest-growing companies in Africa. BusinessDay was a cooperation partner in the research.
Covering the period between 2017 and 2020, while taking the COVID-19 pandemic into consideration, the FT’s ranking showed the Nigeria-based, energy provider, increased its revenue from $0.8 million in 2017 to $8.8 million in 2020.
Read also: Africa Specialty Risks energy division capacity hits $38m
The FT ranking also showed Starsight Energy increased its employee strength from 42 in 2017 to 108 in 2020.
The company also recently announced the conclusion of a competitive local currency refinancing agreement with Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF).
According to the FT, the inaugural annual ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing companies provides a snapshot of the corporate landscape in a continent where technology and support-service businesses have had to adapt to a radically altered environment.
Two weeks ago, the company announced the conclusion of a competitive local currency refinancing agreement with Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF).
The agreement is for a 10-year N8 billion refinancing of $20 million of current debt with two development finance institutions (DFIs) invested in the energy sector in Africa.
“As we continue to expand in Africa, we closely monitor the local economic situation and currency trends, ensuring our capital structure and FX exposure is optimal for that specific market,” says Paul van Zijl, Starsight’s Group Chief Financial Officer.
“The Nigerian economy has some similarities to that of South Africa – local currency income and local currency expenses necessitate local currency debt.”
Last year, Starsight Energy also announced it has expanded east by acquiring half of the East African operations of Nairobi-based peer Premier Solar Group.
“We are excited to be partnering with Premier Solar Group in East Africa. The newly formed company will deliver significant financial capacity to the region’s energy efficiency market and offer new and existing clients an unprecedented opportunity to scale their sustainable power, cooling, and storage systems,” Starsight Energy’s CEO Tony Carr said in a press statement.
He noted that the company will combine Starsight’s industry-leading service and technology with Premier Solar Group’s established footprint in Kenya.
“We look forward to bringing our unparalleled service and 99.9percent uptime guarantee to the new C&I [commercial and industrial] clients in the region,” Carr said.
