Global provider of transformational household products and affordable finance for low-income households, d.light, announced that it has secured a USD 30 million securitization facility from the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group). This securitization has the capability to purchase up to USD 125 million of receivable assets.
With this fund, the company intends to expand its existing securitized financing facility in Tanzania and scale up its low-cost Pay-Go personal finance service in the African country so that more low-income people and households have access to buy its affordable, solar-powered household products. Since 2020, d.light has raised USD 490 million in total securitized financing.
CEO of d.light Nick Imudia emphasized, "d.light and our lending partners are long-time pioneers in developing securitized finance as an innovative, scalable financing model for raising equity for off-grid solar that is guaranteed against current and future customer sales. We've successfully used the securitization model for several years in Kenya and now we and our partners are expanding it to Tanzania."
Commenting on the financing, CEO of TDB, Michael Awori, said, "Access to energy is critical to the sustainable development of the continent, especially for the most vulnerable off-grid communities. As one of the leading renewable energy financiers in the region, we are delighted to extend this second facility to d.light, this time in Tanzania. Globally, in 2022 alone the company had reached out to over 1.6 million people through PAY-GO model, created close to 2,000 jobs, and averted 1.3 million tons of CO2 and black carbon emissions with solar replacing kerosene lamps. This is the kind of impactful track record TDB is keen to support."
Leveraging the payments received from its existing and future customers for solar products purchased through its Pay-Go service, d.light's Tanzania finance facility uses the raised funds to upscale the company's activities and grow market share in the country. In April 2023, d.light achieved the milestone of transforming 150 million lives worldwide with its range of solar-powered household products.
d.light along with its lending partner African Frontier Capital (AFC) are also using the incoming capital as the basis for a new financing vehicle, Brighter Life Tanzania 1 Limited (BLT1).
Speaking about this, AFC's founder and CEO, Eric De Moudt, said, "We are very happy to announce the launch of our latest social impact securitization, BLT1, which further expands our industry leading off-balance sheet securitization structures into new jurisdictions for d.light and brings the total volume of local currency receivables being financed to almost USD 500 million."
The fifth most populous country in Africa, Tanzania's 63.6 million people are spread across a wide geographical area. The majority of them currently don't have grid connectivity and a reliable power supply. As per the World Bank, only 40% of the population has electricity access. Tanzania was one of d.light's first markets, and the company has been selling its products there since 2008, a year after the company was founded.
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