In a world where nearly 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live without access to electricity, the advent of solar technology is not just a breakthrough – it’s a beacon of hope. We spoke to Amaury Franklin Fastenakels, who has been at the helm of revolutionizing energy access in Africa through his work at Bboxx since 2013, first as the Director of Global Business Development before becoming its CCO. He has a depth of experience in strategy, supply chain, and CRM, having held senior executive positions in high-growth companies focusing on sales, marketing, data, and emerging economies, and previously having held the position of Associate in The Boston Consulting Group. Amaury’s deep understanding of consumer needs and their interest in solar solutions has helped to spearhead the transition from traditional to renewable energy sources in Africa.
What are the prevailing challenges in the energy industry, and how are you addressing them?
Accessibility of resources has always been an issue within the energy space. Lack of accessibility has led to energy poverty, followed by deteriorated life conditions, widening the gap between the different sections of society.
The scarcity of sufficient energy resources, due to financial constraints and reduced accessibility, is a major factor responsible for the degradation of the African economy. Financial constraints create limited or no access to basic amenities, resulting in their dependency on poor off-grid resources. As a result, it gets difficult for us to provide services in countries where the customers are unaware of the everyday terminologies.
Our focus is to provide physical access to energy resources and essential products to the section of people located in remote areas of Africa. Our solar-based energy products intend to solve the above challenges by assuring a highly convenient and affordable way of life.
Capital is the major concern in countries where, historically, the low affordability ratio is too high. This raises a challenge where it’s difficult to provide services to a section of distant customers unaware of the terms such as contract or reference.
We aim to provide opportunities to the off-grid population by providing them with access to superior technology, infrastructure, and resources through its various products based on on-grid solar technology. Using Bboxx’s smart and creative operating system, we can integrate with the mobile phones of our customers to track down and analyze their transactions, and understand their preferences. This helps in cutting down the costs of finance, leading to larger financial accessibility.
Our initiative of scaling solar-based products through data-powered logistics and innovative financing methods has led to the development of physical infrastructure and business scalability across the rural parts of Africa, resulting in the growth national economies.
By providing access to basic essentials such as electricity, safe water, and cooking gas, we have certainly transformed the lives of millions.
How do you educate your consumers to shift from a traditional source of energy to a renewable source of energy?
Cost efficiency and energy efficiency are two main factors that provide a greater edge to renewable energy resources. To address these issues, our solar products are built with a wide range of striking features which promise to serve multifarious functions and tackle challenges at the product, customer, and business levels. The low-cost module, along with high-energy efficiency, helps in better accessibility and affordability of resources among customers, driving an upsurge in the ownership of solar products.
Our integrated solar-based home systems and appliances provide wide access to electricity in remote parts of Africa, resulting in the growth of individuals and businesses as well as communities.
Solar technology has resulted in solar-based two-wheeler taxis to support e-mobility with a promise of a 40 percent improved profit margin in commercial activities over petrol vehicles. These vehicles can be bought with the help of our financial inclusion plan, which encourages the ownership of solar-based products and appliances by providing the customers with financial assistance. Such creative initiatives led by efficient modules have led to a positive shift in using renewable energy sources.
What are the processes that help you in engaging with the customers and delivering these services?
Our company has an integrated operating system called Bboxx Pulse for managing the multifarious domains of the company’s products and services. It is the key value proposition of the company consisting of components that play a crucial role in running various backend operations.
Primarily, its customer management helps in monitoring the large numbers of online customer transactions. The customer-centric payment dashboard helps in providing a hassle-free payment experience. The second component is the management of actions, which tracks down the products' functioning, service, and efficiency. In addition, it has the hardware, which plays a major role in its on-field functioning. The hardware is responsible for maintaining the efficiency of the massive network of contractors working on the field.
Our system also collects minute data points to analyze the usage of products and their charging efficiency. The process follows a survey of the products by collecting data on their usage, problems, and shortcomings, helping us in providing quality products to the customers along with an enriched customer experience. Machine learning and modern AI models control large data sets – consisting of customer payments, product usage, and location – to form an enhanced customer portfolio management. The ultimate goal is to understand the customers’ preferences and enhance their experiences by being an important part of their journey.
What is your piece of advice to people starting out their career in the energy sector?
There are a lot of opportunities existing in the market that have remained unexplored since the intervention of emerging markets. Renewable energy resources have led to the formation of a striving community of startups, which brings with it a lot of new opportunities, emerging trends, and ideas around the energy space.
The diminished energy services are always looking for technological innovations, and new companies are aiming to channel their inventions via the source of nature. If channeled properly, renewable resources such as solar energy can help overcome the shortcomings of energy distribution around the globe.
