An off-grid solar company based in Kenya has been selected as a finalist in the Payment and Fintech Technologies category for the 10th annual SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event, to be held in March 2018 in Austin, US.
Pawame, will be one of the 50 finalists expected to showcase some of their most impressive technology innovations to a panel of hand-picked judges and a live audience.
Out of more than 600 companies that registered to present at the SXSW Accelerator, the solar company made it on the list of finalists spanning 10 separate categories.
“Pawame is electrifying off-grid communities with our clean, affordable and distributed solar solutions, having changed the lives of over 20,000 people in just a year and a half. Our ability to provide consumer financing and use of mobile money for repayment enables us to serve even poor customers in frontier markets. Using the data collected from digital payments, we can create credit profiles for our customers, enabling us to deepen our financial relationship with them by offering them other life-enhancing products that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access or afford,” said Maurice Parets, CEO of Pawame.
“There are few bigger stages than SXSW to reach the financiers, partners and other supporters that we will need to be successful, and few with an audience as likely to be sensitized to the importance of what we are trying to achieve. The chance to be part of such a landmark cultural event and to compete alongside other amazing companies is icing on the cake,” he added.
SXSW Accelerator Event Producer Chris Valentine, noted that over 70 per cent of the companies that have made presentations have gone on to receive funding and others have been acquired.
“We look forward to once again being a launching pad for startups to achieve some of their greatest successes. All of us with SXSW Accelerator are proud and impressed by the companies who are truly changing industries and changing the world,” Chris said.
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Pawame was in January lauded for its work in generating energy to residents of Kakuma Refugee Camp.
It will drive electrification and connectivity in Kakuma through the distribution of its solar home system which will work on an 18 month rent-to-own model with affordable daily payments of $0.50 (Ksh 5.12).
The company is also seeking to raise $250,000, create 50 jobs and better over 5000 lives by the end of 2018.
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