Above: Ecoligo CEO Mr. Martin Baart (R) engaging with members of the Kenyan delegation during the Kenyan-German Business roundtable held in Nairobi
During German President Frank Walter Steinmeier’s visit to Nairobi this week, a delegation of leaders from six organizations accompanied the federal president to Kenya. Senior representatives from Ecoligo, Siemens, Krones AG, Pilz Schindler GmbH, AfricaWorks and SAFRI that are active in a variety of sectors in Kenya made up the German economic delegation. The purpose of the state visit is to give new impetus to the good bilateral relations between Kenya and Germany and to discuss the country’s economic opportunities and common issues for the future.
Ecoligo CEO Martin Baart has been instrumental in the delegation of German companies accompanying the president. Ecoligo provides clean, affordable solar energy to Kenya’s businesses such as flower farms, malls and hotels, lowering their energy costs and enabling them to grow and boost the local economy. Since the foundation of its Kenyan subsidiary Ecoligo Ltd. in 2019, the company has already implemented 10 solar and energy efficiency projects in Kenya with an estimated investment of over 1 Million EUR. Martin Baart, Ecoligo’s CEO and co-founder, said: “We started the company with the goal of supporting sustainable economic growth in markets like Kenya. That our impact has been recognized by the German and Kenyan governments makes me extremely proud as it signifies that we’re achieving our goal and making a difference”.
The company offers a fully financed solar-as-a-service model, taking care of the financing, installation and maintenance of projects and thereby allowing clients easy, hassle-free access to affordable and clean power. Ecoligo’s customers pay monthly to lease the system and can make savings from day one, without the need for an upfront investment. To overcome the finance gap for such projects, Ecoligo developed an innovative but impactful path: projects are financed on the crowd investing platform by individuals in Germany, enabling citizen participation in Kenya’s transition to renewable energy.
As the economic center of East Africa, Kenya has a central role in the region’s development. Additionally, the country is a focal point for initiatives to tackle climate change. These two topics are central to the delegation’s itinerary, which includes a trip to the German healthcare company B. Braun, the United Nations and the Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology, and representatives of Kenya’s trade and industrial sectors. As a business active at the intersection of economy and environment, Ecoligo is well placed to provide valuable contribution to these discussions and demonstrate how innovative business models can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
