SunStride — Pay-As-You-Go Solar for Rural Kenyan Shops

Business Plan

Executive Summary

SunStride is a Kenyan pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar company delivering affordable energy to off-grid micro-retailers — dukas, kiosks, and salons — who currently spend KSh 300–800 per month on kerosene, candles, and phone-charging fees while forgoing the revenue uplift that refrigeration and reliable lighting would unlock.

Our model is simple: a customer pays a deposit of ~KSh 2,500–5,000, then unlocks system usage through daily M-Pesa micropayments of KSh 50–120. A remotely controlled GSM lock disables the system if payments lapse, protecting our asset. Once a customer completes ~18–30 months of payments, they own the hardware outright.

Why now? M-Pesa penetration in rural Kenya exceeds 70%. Solar component costs have fallen ~80% over the last decade. Competitors focus on household lighting kits; no dominant player yet systematically serves the commercial micro-retailer segment with fridge-capable systems at PAYG price points.

Year 1 target: 1,200 systems deployed. Year 3 target: 8,500 systems, yielding projected revenue of ~KSh 340 million with a gross margin approaching 48%.

SunStride is seeking KSh 120 million in seed funding — a blend of equity and concessional debt — to finance hardware inventory, build an agent distribution network across three counties, and fund the receivables portfolio inherent in PAYG lending.

The founding team combines off-grid energy operations experience, fintech credit-risk expertise, and deep rural distribution knowledge. We are registered in Kenya, hold a provisional Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) certification, and have completed a 60-system pilot in Kitui County with a repayment rate of 91%.

> Mission: Power every Kenyan micro-business with clean, affordable energy — one daily payment at a time.

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Company Description

Legal name: SunStride Limited Registration: Incorporated under the Companies Act of Kenya, Nairobi, 2023. Regulatory status: EPRA provisional licence obtained; full certification in progress. KEBS-compliant solar components (Lighting Global quality-verified where applicable). Headquarters: Machakos, Kenya — chosen for proximity to target counties (Kitui, Makueni, Machakos) and lower overhead than Nairobi.

SunStride is structured around three core functions: Hardware & Technology — sourcing, kitting, and IoT-enabling solar systems. Distribution & Field Operations — a network of commissioned local agents who sell, install, and service systems. Portfolio Finance & Collections — M-Pesa payment monitoring, credit scoring, and remote asset management.

Our current stage is post-pilot, pre-scale. The 60-system Kitui pilot ran for seven months and validated unit economics, repayment behaviour, and agent viability. Lessons learned included the need for agent float management and a simplified three-tier product range (Starter, Trader, Pro) rather than bespoke configurations.

SunStride operates on a social-enterprise ethos with commercial discipline: we target double-bottom-line returns — measurable CO₂ displacement and customer income uplift alongside financial sustainability. We are not grant-dependent; our model is designed to become self-financing through portfolio recycling once scale is achieved.

Key partnerships in development: • M-Pesa API integration via Safaricom's Daraja platform (active). • Hardware sourcing from two Tier-1 suppliers (one Chinese OEM, one regional Kenyan distributor). • Concessional debt pipeline through a development-finance-aligned local MFI.

SunStride's long-term ambition is to become the defining energy-as-a-service platform for African micro-retail, beginning in Kenya and expanding to Uganda and Tanzania by Year 5.

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Problem & Customer

The problem has three layers:

Layer 1 — Energy poverty at the commercial margin. An estimated 2.3 million Kenyan micro-retailers operate with no reliable grid connection. They spend KSh 300–800 monthly on kerosene for lighting, losing productive evening hou