SOLAD Power Group has joined the Interswitch Financial Inclusion Services Limited agent banking network, known as Quickteller Paypoint as a sub-agent. The partnership will enable SOLAD to digitise collections and provide existing energy customers with a broader range of financial services, as part of the company’s strategy to build a fully integrated digital power-as-a-service network.
SOLAD will integrate its sites into the agent network, beginning with its operations in Ogun State, digitising the customer experience and using power supply as the foundation on which SOLAD customers will be able to pay for more than 5,000 different services at SOLAD customer service centres.
“SOLAD has connected more than 10,000 small businesses with reliable, affordable power and we can now begin to supplement the customer relationship by providing additional value-added services in some of our locations,” said Yewande Olagbende, CEO, SOLAD Power Group Nigeria.
According to Olagbende, the services will include cash-in cash-out, bill payments, and other agent network related activities. She states further that as more SOLAD sites go live, they will be added to the Quickteller Paypoint network ensuring that these services are available to all SOLAD customers.
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“This is part of our long-term ambition to build a fully integrated digital power-as-a-service network that is able to develop and deliver a range of services alongside our power distribution infrastructure. We look forward to rolling out more sub-agents as our network of projects expands,” Olagbende said.
Denis O’Brien, CEO, SOLAD Power Group, while expanding on SOLAD’s digital service ambitions said, it has a unique proposition in that it delivers innovative power solutions using clean energy to communities that desperately need it; “but we recognise that power alone is just the beginning”.
According to O’Brien, by digitising the customer service experience and integrating into other service providers, SOLAD can use power supply as the entry point through which a wide range of digital service propositions can be provided.
“The more we learn about our customers’ needs and preferences, the better we will be able to design and deliver service propositions that meet their unique circumstances,” said O’Brien.
Titilola Shogaolu, the divisional CEO at IFIS, said that the addition of SOLAD will help IFIS unleash its value proposition to the energy sector especially mini-grid and off-grid segments.
According to Shogaolu, payments and collections have become more convenient for both agents and customers alike. “We are excited about the partnership with SOLAD and believe that with our platform, customers utilizing SOLAD services nationwide in the long term will enjoy seamless ways to pay for electricity services,” she said.
SOLAD has existing expansion plans to install mini-grid solutions in 12 more markets across the South West of Nigeria over the next two years, adding more than 20,000 small businesses to its network. The company is a participant in Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA) Mini Grid and SHS component under the World Bank backed Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP).
