Happy New Year to all. This was an exciting year for Nithio and we are kicking off 2022 with increased momentum to scale solar financing in Africa. 

In 2021 we officially launched our analytics product, the Nithio Portfolio Portal. Powered by our Risk Analytics Engine, the Portfolio Portal provides localized data on customer ability to pay, forecasts customer repayment rates, monitors portfolio health, and tracks disaggregated impact metrics. It’s an integral tool for assessing potential investments and monitoring existing ones.

We also closed the first $23m in funding for Nithio FI and began lending operations. Nithio FI is an open-ended blended finance vehicle that offers receivables backed financing to solar distributors. We leverage the household credit analysis from our Risk Analytics Engine to inform our investment decisions, and we are particularly excited to be supporting small, local companies as well as larger, international ones. 

As Nithio’s operations expanded, so did our team. We grew by 50% in 2021, adding almost exclusively new team members based in market. We now have a presence in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, in addition to team members in the US and Europe.

As we kick off 2022, we expect this to be the year of rapid growth and accelerated impact. We are optimistic that there is increasing urgency to address climate change and drive resources to sustainable energy solutions. While Africa has contributed roughly 2% to global emissions, the continent faces continued vulnerability to climate change. Scaling clean energy access is essential to building climate resiliency and increasing connectivity. 

Wishing you all a happy and healthy new year. Thank you for your partnership and we look forward to continuing to build a better, more sustainable future with you all in 2022.

Best regards,
Kate Steel