Kouran Jabo is a social business based in Chad that aims at making solar energy accessible for households and small businesses by facilitating its purchase. In Sub-Saharan Africa, access to electricity for low-income people keeps being an issue and Chad is among the most affected in Africa. Kouran Jabo’s goal is to bring solutions that will enhance low income people’s lives by giving them access to a clean, renewable and modern source of energy: solar power.

Kouran Jabo’s founding members grew up in Chad. When they were younger, they used to study their school lessons in the light of kerosene lamps and candles. After the depletion of these resources, they had to wait until the sun was up to proceed. Years later, and despite the neighbouring countries’ development, situation has not changed for many Chadian and more than 90% of them still do not have any access to the power grid. In 2018, they decide to address the issue by founding Kouran Jabo.

Chadian low income households generally don’t have many options for accessing electricity and it is not unusual for a family to spend up to 50% of its income in lighting solutions. There is no surprise Chad has the lowest electrification rates in the world, with only 6.4% of the population having access to electricity.

Danger for health

Kerosene lamps, candles or low quality battery-operated lamps .Not only are these alternatives very costly but also pretty dangerous for health. Particles released by candles and kerosene lamps cause respiratory illnesses, when they don’t simply result in a fire or other domestic incidents.

Danger for the environment

The impact on our environment is as well to take into account as we know that these short term energy solutions are contributing to the country’s high carbon emissions, with around 2 million tons emitted per year.

Kouran Jabo is a start-up that relies on solar power to offer energy independence to households, including low income ones. Chad is an ideal place for this kind of initiative as it benefits from a yearly solar irradiation of between 2 000 and 2 800 kWh/m2 and a sunshine duration of between 2 750 and 3 250 hours.

Kouran Jabo provides solar kits designed to answer Chadian families’ needs. Each of our kits has 3 lamps, 1 solar panel and one charging station for mobile phones.

The Pay As You Go concept : Affordable and Accessible

Inspired by microeconomic principles, Kouran Jabo developed a pay-as-you-go model allowing consumers to spread over time their payments. Their energy consumption can then be daily, weekly or monthly paid.

This type of payment gives them the possibility to buy more quickly a solar kit and directly start using a green and autonomous energy. This solution is particularly useful in remote regions where there is no connection to any network and where major public investments are needed to access the national power grid. Low income households can purchase our family kit (BetFodda) with a progress payment planned over 6 months.

Distribution

Kouran Jabo’s distribution channel is based on the organization of campaigns all over Chad rural areas. These campaigns allow us to be in direct contact with the final users, giving us the opportunity to directly educate them on how to use our products and to spread access to solar energy. Afterwards, and in order to keep in touch with our users, a local agent is recruited and trained by Kouran Jabo. This focal point will then be in charge of distribution in the area and a Kouran Jabo’s representative.

• Kouran Jabo is one of the Med’Innovant 2018 laureates in Marseille, France

• Kouran Jabo is the winner of the digital innovation award by Reach For Change, Tchad

• Kouran Jabo on RFI radio : L'émission l'Afrique en marche : http://www.rfi.fr/emission/20190519-tchad-kouran-jabo-une-start-up-mise-le-soleil

• La chronique La Vie Ici : http://www.rfi.fr/emission/20190408-kouran-djabo-energie-solaire-carte

• Kouran Jabo on TV5 channel : https://information.tv5monde.com/video/avec-ses-kits-solaires-l-entrepreneur-youssouf-ali-mbodou-eclaire-les-foyers-tchadiens

Your contribution will lead to an improvement in the living conditions of 120 Chadian families and a reduction in the carbon emission that our planet is suffering from.

• Making energy accessible and affordable to as many as possible
• Reducing CO2emissions
• Creating jobs in rural areas

• Contributing to better academic results for children enrolled in school
• Improving purchasing power
• Eliminating the risk of fire accidentally cause and harmful gas inhalation

Kouran Jabo team

Young, dynamic and concerned about environment protection, the Kouran Jabo team is driven by a commons goal and shared value that to bring an added value to the Chadian society, currently suffering from lack of electricity access .

Contribute to Kouran Jabo and let’s together spread green energy.

Share it with the hashtag #Affordableenergytoall

PS: If you want to contribute but cannot do it online, use MOBILE MONEY at: +23590049049