The company is establishing twin facilities in Kenya and Nigeria to manufacture its products closer to the millions of African customers who use them, a first for Sun King and a significant milestone for one of Africa’s fastest-growing industries.

The Kenya facility represents Sun King’s first large-scale manufacturing site in Africa, with the capacity to produce up to 700,000 units per year and scope for further expansion.

A second facility in Nigeria is planned for a later phase, reinforcing Sun King’s long-term commitment to building a resilient, self-sustaining regional supply chain.

Sun King designs, installs, and finances a wide range of solar products and electronics, including smartphones and energy-efficient appliances such as televisions, fans, and freezers that work seamlessly with its solar systems. These products provide clean power and connectivity to millions of households and small businesses.

In Kenya, the new manufacturing facility will start by producing Sun King’s televisions and smartphones, designed to run efficiently on the solar systems that the company delivers.

In both Nigeria and Kenya, Sun King is actively investigating how to expand into additional product lines and explore manufacturing pathways that leverage Kenya’s growing industrial base to lower costs for customers.

“At Sun King, we’re driven by a simple commitment: to deliver the best-quality products at prices that families and businesses can afford. These facilities allow us to harness Africa’s talent and ingenuity to keep delivering on that promise,” T. Patrick Walsh, CEO and co-founder, Sun King

Building Africa’s Manufacturing Future

Africa accounts for only around 2 percent of global manufacturing value added, and in most Sub-Saharan countries, fewer than one in ten workers are employed in manufacturing. Yet the continent’s population is projected to double by 2050, with half of all new entrants to the global labour force coming from Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

Sun King’s investment responds directly to this challenge. Local manufacturing will create skilled jobs, build technical capacity, and retain more value within African economies, supporting governments’ efforts to promote industrialisation, resilience, and inclusive economic growth.

The new facilities will support the assembly and production of Sun King’s expanding portfolio of products for households and businesses across Africa.

The Nairobi site alone is set to employ hundreds of entirely locally hired staff, supported by technical training, skills development, and upskilling programmes that promote fair employment opportunities for men and women.

“To unlock the full potential of Nigeria’s energy transition, we need the private sector — our industrialists, innovators, and financiers,  to take bold steps forward.” Noted Kashim Shettima, Vice President of Nigeria, “We [The Government of Nigeria] are enhancing incentives for local manufacturing, streamlining regulatory frameworks, and deepening collaboration with State Governments, investors, and development partners to de-risk private capital and accelerate the growth of a self-sustaining renewable energy market.”

“I want to thank Sun King for the courage and confidence that they have shown. This milestone is a symbol of growing confidence in Kenya’s local manufacturing,” Dr. Juma Mukhwana, Principal Secretary, State Department of Industry, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. “This is very much in line with the Kenyan Government’s agenda, such as the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.”

Driving Growth and Resilience

By localising key elements of its manufacturing process in Africa, Sun King aims to reduce logistics costs and carbon emissions, shorten supply chains, and ensure product availability for customers. These investments help the continent capture more economic value generated by its growing demand for energy and technology.

The solar industry is emerging as one of Africa’s largest sources of new employment, as demand for clean, affordable energy accelerates across the continent. Sun King alone has created nearly 40,000 jobs globally, 99 percent of them in Africa and Asia, where the company sells, installs, and services its products.

“Our new Kenyan facility, and the one soon to follow in Nigeria, reflect Sun King’s long-term partnership with governments and local communities to advance Africa’s manufacturing capability,” said Dr. Wale Aboyade, senior vice president, Public Policy and Government Relations, Sun King. “Both countries have the policy vision, the talent, and the ambition to lead this transformation, and we’re proud to help turn that potential into lasting industrial growth across the continent.”

The investment capitalises on the rapid expansion of solar and consumer technology markets across Africa, led by Sun King’s strong growth trajectory.

Today, one in five Kenyan households has access to a Sun King product, and the company delivers more than 330,000 solar kits every month across the continent, up from just 10,000 in 2017.

Alongside this, Sun King’s smartphone and television sales have grown rapidly, reflecting rising demand for affordable, reliable products that enable both power and connectivity.

“Opening our own manufacturing facility in Kenya gives us the scale to deliver more efficiently, the flexibility to innovate faster, and the foundation to grow a resilient manufacturing ecosystem here in Africa. For our customers, it means faster access to products and quality solutions made closer to home,” said Kota Kojima, chief operating officer, Sun King.

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• Sun King closes a $156 million (KES equivalent) securitisation, the largest and first majority commercial-bank-backed deal of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa.
• Backed by private capital from Absa Bank Kenya, Citi, The Co-operative Bank of Kenya, KCB Bank, and Stanbic Bank Kenya.
• The new deal is expected to finance approximately 1.4 million solar products and smartphones in Kenya.

Sun King, the world’s largest off-grid solar energy company, has closed a landmark $156 million (KES 20.1 billion) securitisation to scale affordable solar across Kenya.

The local currency deal will enable an estimated 1.4 million low-income households and businesses to access electricity, often for the first time, and shift away from costly, polluting fuels like kerosene and diesel.

This is Sun King’s second and largest Kenyan-Shilling-denominated securitisation. The deal is the largest securitisation ever completed in Sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa.

Arranged and structured by Citi with Stanbic Bank Kenya Ltd (part of the Standard Bank Group) acting as the placement agent, the securitisation is backed by five international and local commercial banks and three development finance institutions. It builds on the company’s award-winning $130 million securitisation completed in 2023.

Sun King’s pay-as-you-go solar model allows households to access solar products by making small, flexible payments starting from as little as $0.19 (KES 25) per day through mobile money.

To date, Sun King has extended $1.3 billion in solar loans to almost 10 million individual customers across Africa.

The securitisation enables Sun King to raise long-term local currency debt by converting future customer repayments for financed solar products into investable assets.

“Millions of off-grid households have switched to solar thanks to small ‘pay-as-you-go’ loans. This deal signals a major turning point for green energy finance in Africa,” said Anish Thakkar, co-founder of Sun King. “It shows that African commercial banks believe in the power of pay-as-you-go solar and are ready to back it with serious capital. Return-seeking, local capital in local currency is essential to unlocking the scale and speed needed to achieve universal energy access.”

The transaction includes:

• A senior tranche funded by five commercial banks: Absa Bank Kenya Ltd, Citi, The Co-operative Bank of Kenya, KCB Bank Kenya Limited, and Stanbic Bank Kenya Ltd; and
• A mezzanine tranche provided by development finance institutions: British International Investment, the Dutch development bank FMO, and Norfund, the Norwegian Investment Fund for developing countries.

Both senior and mezzanine tranches have been privately rated by a credit ratings agency. The funds are raised under Sun King’s Sustainable Financing Framework, which received a Second Party Opinion (SPO) from Moody’s Investor Relations, earning a Very Good (SQS2) score. The securitisation is a private offer in line with Kenya’s capital market regulations.

To date, an estimated 30% of Kenyan homes have access to Sun King solar. With this new funding, solar access is expected to grow significantly.

The new securitisation is expected to deliver loans that enable the purchase of approximately 1.4 million solar products and smartphones in Kenya.

Together with Sun King’s 2023 securitisation, the two transactions will help deliver an estimated 3.7 million solar products and smartphones.

This second securitisation is part of Sun King’s broader effort to raise local currency capital across Africa. So far, Sun King has raised $450 million across Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

The securitisation shows how appropriate financial tools can mobilise local private capital to solve local challenges, such as energy access and the just transition.

“This securitisation demonstrates the effectiveness of pay-as-you-go business models to reach underserved communities at scale and the role of development finance institutions to mobilise private capital,” said Jorge Rubio Nava, Citi’s global head of Social Finance. “Over the last few years, we’ve successfully partnered with Sun King to develop innovative financial tools that bring sustainable and affordable energy solutions to millions of households across Kenya and beyond.”

The IEA reports that Kenya is one of the few Sub-Saharan African countries on track for near-universal electricity access by 2030, with standalone, distributed rooftop solar playing a central role.

The transaction supports the goals of Mission 300, the World Bank- and African Development Bank-led initiative to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030, which recognises that mobilising local capital is critical to achieving that target.

This securitisation is a key example of how return-seeking local finance can help scale clean energy access sustainably.

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