Juan Rodríguez

"In Guatemala nearly 3 million inhabitants lack electricity, and in Honduras and Nicaragua they constitute more than 30% of the population. For these people a home solar kit allows them to save up to 35% per month and represents progress in health, education and decreased dependence on fossil fuels.

This young Guatemalan has managed to supply light to more than 4,000 homes that had been disconnected from the network by selling home solar kits based on microloans for three years. Nowadays, in order to solve the difficult access to micro-credit loans faced by families in need, she has created a new exploitation model for this solar equipment using prepaid top-ups that works using a communal distribution network. Through Kingo, the users do not have to buy the equipment, nor pay the installation and maintenance fees. Additionally, the top-up model allows top-ups to be made without cell phone coverage, which benefits 50% of customers in Guatemala.

600 sets of equipment have already been installed since 2013 in Alta Verapaz and Petén (Guatemala), and they could provide light to more than 20,000 users. Rodriguez combines the impact of delivering energy to underprivileged families with the creation of a distribution network that simultaneously generates income and jobs. Thanks to Kingo the model is expanding in Asia and Africa and is expected to reach other countries in Latin America soon as well."