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For over 10 years, Zephaniah's business ran on grid power. One day, it was gone. What Zephaniah did next proves the value of off-grid solar for businesses anywhere.
Across Kenya, and in many other countries, millions of people live in places that appear electrified but are not reliably served. In reality, access is often far more precarious: informal grid connections, overloaded transformers never designed for the communities they serve, and electricity that can disappear overnight with a single utility decision or legal action.
This is not a niche problem, nor is it uniquely African. Yet it is largely absent from how the energy access sector defines who is, and is not, served.
In February 2020, there was a blackout in Lunga Lunga – a dense neighborhood inside Mukuru, one of Nairobi’s largest informal settlements. The transformers were removed by the national utility as part of ongoing efforts to protect communities in informal settlements from fire breakouts and stop illegal connections. While the power lines stayed overheard, the actual power was gone in one day.
That was a jolt for Zephaniah Abuya. He has owned and operated an electronics repair workshop, Zeptronix, out of Lunga Lunga since 2009. Televisions, computers, radios, motors – if it had a circuit board, Zephaniah fixed it. His business completely relied on electricity, so when the power was cut, he made a quick decision: He bought a solar panel.
The off-grid energy sector has long understood the power of solar energy to create income and grow businesses. GOGLA’s Putting Solar to Work series has previously explored this potential through solutions like irrigation, cold storage, and milling.
These appliances directly generate income. A farmer needs a water pump to irrigate crops. A fish or meat seller benefits from cold storage to prevent spoilage. A grain processor needs a mill. The challenge for all is affordability; the equipment can simply be too expensive for most customers to manage upfront. While financing options have expanded over the past five years, cost remains a real barrier for many micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) operators.
At the same time, demand for solar productive-use technologies continues to grow. According to GOGLA sales data, more than 20,000 solar water pumps and nearly 4,000 solar refrigeration units were sold in 2024 in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the same year, we also tracked nearly 26,000 solar generators sold – the first year these systems were included in our reporting.
Solar Generators are becoming the solution to a pain point across sub-Saharan Africa: unreliable electricity. Even when businesses are connected to the grid, more than 70% experience frequent outages, sometimes more than 50 times per month. On average, businesses lose up to 67 operating hours per month, equivalent to roughly 6.7% of annual sales.
Most businesses don’t run on a single appliance, they run on power. Consistent, reliable, sufficient power to keep the lights on, the tools running, the customers served, and the doors open past dark. For MSMEs in off-grid and poorly-electrified areas, the inability to access that kind of power is not an inconvenience. It is a structural ceiling on what their business can become.
Zephaniah is one of millions of entrepreneurs operating under that ceiling, and his story shows what happens when it disappears.
When the transformers disappeared in February 2020, Zephaniah bought a 100-watt solar panel – enough for him to do some lighter repair work and charge mobile phones. In a neighborhood that had suddenly gone dark, that turned out to be a lucrative service – and allowed the residents in the neighborhood to remain connected to each other and to the world. Zephaniah is clear about how this re-started his business: “In a day I used to make more money charging phones than doing repairs.”
He saved the income and upgraded to 200 watts. Then 300 watts, with a 200 amp-hour battery. Each step expanded what he could do: more complex repair jobs, bigger televisions, heavier equipment. As his capacity grew, so did his reputation – his was the workshop with the lights on and reliable energy, in a neighborhood without access.
Then in 2022, a Sun King agent named Isabella passed by the repair shop and introduced Zephaniah to the PowerPlay: a solar panel, lithium battery, and inverter, engineered as a single integrated unit. Zephaniah was sold, and set up the same day. By the end of the week, he had rewired his entire workshop around the solar generator system.
A solar panel produces direct current (DC). DC flows in one direction at a fixed voltage, and it’s well suited to certain things: LED lights, phone charging, a small radio. But most commercial equipment – power tools, large screens, electric motors – is designed to run on alternating current (AC). AC is what comes out of a standard wall socket. Without something to bridge the two, a solar system can light a room or home. With a quality inverter, solar can run a growing business.
Not a product demo — Zephaniah explains in his own words how his Sun King solar generator runs an entire off-grid workshop in Nairobi.
It is worth being specific about what Zephaniah’s 600-watt Sun King inverter system actually powers, as the list challenges assumptions about what stand-alone solar can handle.
Zephaniah runs three soldering irons simultaneously from the moment he opens until he closes at nine at night – 25, 30, and 40 watts each. He repairs large televisions, including old CRT models that draw heavy current, which plenty of people in the neighborhood use. The 600-watt system supports long-range WiFi routers serving homes, schools, and churches across a wide radius, a home theatre system, and security lights that run through the night. It also provides him the power needed to test his own self-built battery packs, which can be easily charged in other parts of Nairobi.
600 watts is modest by commercial standards, but sufficient for everything Zephaniah runs, with capacity to spare. He monitors his battery through the working day. “If you check the battery,” he says “It is 100%. Meaning it has room to do other jobs.”
That headroom matters – it’s why his business can keep growing.
Today, Zephaniah uses his stand-alone solar generator system to earn income in many different ways, all from one small shop.
The repair shop is the foundation: televisions, computers, radios, motors, whatever customers bring in. On a good day, he earns 8,000 to 15,000 Kenyan shillings (KES), or as much as 115 USD. On a slow evening, a couple of jobs still bring in 1,000 to 2,000 KES (~7.50 to ~15.50 USD).
The WiFi business has become something close to a neighbourhood utility, working with fifteen transmission stations and one hundred and eighty routers. Customers pay per session – five shillings to browse, more for longer packages, a monthly rate for regulars. Students study at night. Families send messages and have video calls. The network runs 24 hours a day, powered entirely by solar.
“The WiFi business – last month I earned sixty-seven thousand shillings. We are yet to finish this month.”
And then there is the battery assembly part of his business. Zephaniah builds lithium battery packs in his workshop, assembling them from components, and is able to test them with the PowerPlay before selling to his customers.
His monthly combined self-reported income reaches around KES 100,000 – roughly 775 USD after costs. To put this into perspective, average monthly earnings in Kenya’s informal sector wages range from approximately KES 7,000 (~$54 USD) in rural areas to KES 14,000 (~$108 USD) in urban centers, with more skilled workers earning over KES 20,000 (~$155 USD). Zephaniah’s earnings may only be one story, but it provides a truly useful benchmark for understanding the opportunities for growth and financial security.
“Solar in general has really helped me. The fact that you pocket 100% of profit – when I finish paying, I have no bills.”
A farmer that needs to irrigate needs a water pump. A technician needs a way to power tools. Both can use off-grid solar productively, to earn an income.
This is the reframe the industry needs. Solar generator systems and high-capacity solar home systems are not simply consumer products that happen to find their way into businesses. For off-grid MSME operators in both rural and peri-urban areas, solar generators are the infrastructure that makes business possible and profitable.
Zephaniah’s path to a six-figure monthly income illustrates exactly how that happens. What began with a 100-watt panel grew into a system capable of running tools, supporting a neighbourhood internet network, charging electric motorcycle batteries, and reinvesting in the next step up.
Sun King’s customer data reflects this shift in how systems are used. The pattern is increasingly clear: reliable solar power is putting small businesses to work.
Among surveyed customers in Kenya, nearly 40% use the system exclusively for business or for both home and work. There's strong repayment performance among business-related users.
Ask Zephaniah what his system has actually given him, and the conversation moves quickly away from watts and inverters. “From 2020 to now, I have four graduates from this work. For me to do this work depends on power, and the power I am using is from Sun King” he states.
Zephaniah’s three brothers and sister are the graduates he mentions. One brother is a civil engineer, and another is a Kenya Defense Force officer. His other siblings are both working as teachers. He also has children at home that are currently being educated – his daughter is in her second year at Egerton University, and his son is a first-year at Kenyatta University. His niece is in Form Four at Alliance High School, one of Kenya’s most selective schools.
“All that education has been powered through solar. If I was using grid electricity and there was a blackout for two days, I would have no work – I would just be basking in the sun waiting for it to come back.”
He has bought land – four parcels, two upcountry and two in Nairobi. He is finishing a house in Athi River. When his family moves in, he already knows what energy system he will use. “I am going to use solar. I do not want grid electricity. I have seen so many advantages in solar.”
He would like a PowerHub next, which can power 2 kilowatts – over three times more powerful than the 600 watts he’s currently using. He is already planning where to put it in the shop.
Zephaniah explains in his own words what he's built in the past five years and what it means for his family.
Many GOGLA members manufacture and distribute solar inverter systems. You can find them here.
This article is part of the Putting Solar to Work series, produced by GOGLA with support from the IKEA Foundation. The series explores how off-grid solar energy is being used productively by businesses, farmers, and entrepreneurs across the Global South.
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