As load shedding continues to be the bane of South Africa's citizens, some companies and entrepreneurs are profiting by offering alternative or renewable energy options.
Hohm Energy, the country's first fintech and solar marketplace, is one of them. They have created a light-hearted but powerful video campaign to persuade people to take control of their helpless position as a result of rolling power outages.
WATCH:
In the clip, a couple is hurrying to cook dinner in their kitchen before load shedding hits. The woman briefly looks at her phone and says to her man, ‘’It's time.’’
The oblivious husband completely misreads what she means but tells her he thought she would be scared, but there is never the right time anyway.
‘’I have been doing all this research, and I just feel like, what are we waiting for,’’ the woman says.
At the end of the conversation, the man shouts, ‘’We’re having a baby,’’ while the woman says, ‘’We’re getting solar.’’ An awkward silence then fills the air momentarily between the duo.
Hohm Energy claims that it was designed with the intention of successfully scaling demand and generating accurate and thorough proposals for its clients, including solar installers and homeowners.
‘’This is a software company that has built a marketplace and platform to enable the South African solar industry to scale whilst providing a convenient and trusted service experience for everyone.
‘’Hohm’s software uses a homeowners’ unique design parameters of geo-location, orientation and angle of the roof to generate a bespoke solar proposal within less than four minutes,’’ says chief executive, Tim Ohlsen.
Here are some facts about the company:
There are around 25,000 users on the network.
11,800 matches were made between consumers and installers.
R2.3 billion in solar solutions - 76 megawatts of solar supply.
Finance applications totalling R1.1 billion - equivalent to 37+ Megawatts - were received.
Across the country, they have 48 active and vetted installers.
Customers were matched with solar systems ranging from R48,000 to R980,000, so there was something for everyone (average value R216 000).
Ohlsen believes that no South African should ever have to be in the dark. ‘’Reliable power should be a basic human right. Hohm Energy has emerged as an innovator paving the way for a true solar aggregator model that uses proprietary software technology to streamline all stakeholders in a solar project.’’
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