Greenage Technologies is currently raising its round A. We talk with Aaron Esumeh, its CEO.
PetaCrunch: How would you describe Greenage Technologies in a single tweet?
Aaron Esumeh: Greenage Technologies is your smart premier solar equipment manufacturer in Nigeria.
PC: How did it all start and why?
AE: Power is a problem in Nigeria and across the African continent. Several efforts in changing from the use of fuel generators and carbon emission have always been marred by either the use of inferior equipment or the high cost of acquiring a good one. Most times, both scenarios play out thus making renewable energy a challenge to us all. We therefore sought out ways of making our knowledge a solution to the continents problem.
We started as undergraduate students of the University of Nigeria Nsukka as a team of five investing our school time and savings to prove against all odds that a quality commercial solar inverter can be made here in Nigeria. Many saw us as jokers but many more believed in us.
PC: What have you achieved so far?
AE: Our achievements have been overwhelming both to us and around us. We have successfully manufactured and sold over 500 solar inverters of various capacities across 17 states of Nigeria with usage ranging from both office and home use. We’ve attracted several partners and distributor chain across the 6 geo-political zones in the country with quick after sales services and a comprehensive 2-year warranty on products.
Our team has been outstanding with an increase in active workforce to 10 and 4 investors.
PC: How will you use your recent funding round?
AE: We have invested the funds to increase production capacity and attract more distribution partners to enable us ride smoothly in the market. The fund has caused a significant 5x increase in production and with an expected 10x in the next 6 months.
PC: What do you plan to achieve in the next 2-3 years?
AE: We currently manufacture only solar inverters and charge controllers. We plan to expand our market base to 2 more African countries within the next 3 years providing made in Africa brands for our usage.
More so, we are making great plans on beginning our solar panel assembly plant. Our series A round which opened this August is intended to convince investors that Solar panel manufacturing/assembly is a good venture.
