Solar lighting impresses in East Africa
A year ago, Fonroche Lighting set up a new subsidiary in Africa. After Senegal on the continent’s west coast, we now have a second base of operations in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. In both locations, the objective is the same — help us be more responsive and forge better, closer relations with customers and prospects in the region. We take a brief look at the subsidiary’s first year in business.
East Africa welcomes Fonroche’s solar solution
An autonomous local team
To increase our availability and establish a genuine local footprint in this huge potential growth market, Fonroche Lighting East Africa was formed in Kenya in October 2018.
Recruited locally, the team of five people know the East African market better than anyone. To transfer skills effectively and ensure the same standards are applied across all our projects worldwide, they were given solid training at Fonroche Lighting headquarters in France.
Covering the entire East Africa region, their main day-to-day task is to convince regional governments, non-governmental organizations, private developers and other potential customers to adopt our solar lighting solution.
A year of outreach actions
In East Africa, public lighting is largely limited to the major cities and main transport corridors, leaving a whole swathe of the population in the dark. Solar lighting is a rapidly deployable solution, improving safety, security and living standards in those unserved areas. On this basis, Fonroche Lighting East Africa has conducted a number of actions this year to reach out to decisionmakers and persuade them to adopt our green, sustainable solution.
A showcase in the heart of capital
And what better than a real-world showcase to convince them! A set of Fonroche solar streetlights has been installed at Parklands Baptist Church in Nairobi to demonstrate their powerful, effective lighting, 365 nights a year. This church in the heart of the nation’s capital is attended by thousands of people a week, making it a perfect place to charm the public as well.
Fonroche Lighting at trade fairs
In 2019, the Kenya team were at the Council of Governors 6th Annual Devolution Conference in March, then the Future Energy East Africa in September.
Visitors at both regional events were impressed by Fonroche Lighting’s solar technology and the performance of our streetlights, as well as our record of successful projects around the world!
