Technology
Off-Grid, Online: Africa's Solar Boom
Pay-as-you-go power
Chidi Okafor 17 min 4.6Nov 27, 2025
About this story
For millions of rural households, the national grid was always going to arrive 'next year' — for decades. Pay-as-you-go solar changed the calculus, letting families buy power in small daily instalments via mobile money.
Solar PowerEnergy AccessInnovation
Transcript preview
Host: For decades, 'the grid is coming' was a promise villages heard but never saw kept.
Host: Now a solar panel and a mobile money account can do the job instead.
Host: Families pay for power the same way they pay for airtime — a little, every day.
Chapters
Author
CH
Chidi Okafor
Nigeria
Tech founder and host of a weekly innovation interview series.
Languages available
🌍 English🇸🇳 French
