Smiling Through Light is teaming up with the Dutch energy company Spark, to bring last-mile communities in Sierra Leone life-changing energy access. Smiling Through Light is combining their community-led approach with Spark’s leading solar home systems to deliver clean, reliable, and sustainable solar energy products across Sierra Leone.
Smiling Through Light (STL) taps into local networks by working with women who are trusted members of their communities. They create jobs and income opportunities that significantly improve their lives and help lift them out of poverty. This helps Smiling Through Light in their mission to reach the most remote last-mile customers who are unserved by current energy networks. STL's unique approach doubles their impact in last-mile communities by providing both energy access and addressing low employment rates for women.
Working with Spark to connect Sierra Leone to energy access
Spark is an expert in the off-grid solar energy sector, especially when it comes to reaching the most remote regions of sub-Saharan Africa. They understand the challenges companies working to connect communities to energy are facing, and they have innovative solutions.
Their modular, scalable solar home systems are designed to be affordable for customers at the base of the energy pyramid, whilst being easily upgraded. The Spark Kit’s stackable battery design allows customers to add more capacity to power more appliances as their energy needs and incomes grow.
This, combined with their PAYGo, is revolutionary for the communities we serve. It removes the financial barrier for customers, and supports STL’s distribution and growth in the market.
First-Time Energy For Off-Grid Communities
In Sierra Leone only around one in four people - 26% of the population - has electricity access, dropping to just 6% in rural areas. This is primarily where Smiling Through Light works. They know that women shoulder the toughest effects of this energy poverty, relying on dirty, toxic kerosene for lighting at home.
Through this new partnership with Spark, STL will be able to begin to move the needle on these numbers and provide women, small businesses and families with first-time access to affordable energy products that power their home life and work with up to 30W.
The collaboration with Spark will initially offer 3 types of Spark Solar Home Systems aimed at entry-level energy service:
- Spark Start 10W
- Spark Start 20W
- Spark Steady 30W
All are offered on STL's PAYGo model and powered by the Solaris PayOps platform, which allows customers to pay in small instalments for their product, so they can start benefiting from having electricity at home straight away.
We are already making an impact in Sierra Leone with our smart solar systems, providing an on-grid experience in an off-grid setting. There is still a significant need for reliable energy in the country and we believe that this collaboration will help deliver a sustainable solution for customers and businesses in Sierra Leone creating an impact
Mariama Kamara, Founder & Director of Smiling Through Light
Spark is proud to partner with Smiling Through Light as our distributor who, with their local knowledge and expertise, can drive efficiency in the Sierra Leone off-grid energy market and overcome country-specific challenges.
We understand that electricity sparks opportunities for last mile communities that are otherwise out of reach. By providing affordable, and high-quality solar home systems and unlocking financing solutions, we can deliver energy access that leaves no one behind.
Shagun Jain, Commercial Director of Spark