In effect, Hughes and his team have created a flexible mortgage, secured against a solar power generator that, as a last resort, they can turn off in the event of repayment problems: “It’s a win-win,” he says. “We can make it work at scale and we’re solving a massive problem – kicking out kerosene, a fuel that causes problems, and then in the next phase offering credit to consumers on the back of them having built a credit history. That’s the really powerful part of the story – giving someone a chance to show that they can buy some collateral and then refinance it.
“Take that to any budding entrepreneur in an emerging market that can’t afford the equipment, that then becomes his or her productive asset, it is revenue generation, employment and an opportunity to use clean technology to drive that forward.”
As a co-founder and board member still having a steer on M-KOPA’s strategy, Hughes is happiest working on the longer-term product roadmap.
“I believe strongly in the need for continuous innovation,” he says, “but that itself is a challenging process in a fast-moving sector, especially as a young company with limited resources and an absolute need to deliver the core business results.
“To help with this, I created M-KOPA Labs, a dedicated team who can raise separate funds to push on with the next phase of the business model and test out early-stage opportunities that embody device connectivity, digital payments and new technologies that can underpin scalable solutions. I am very optimistic about the power of digital technology to help address development issues. It’s a new tool and we are only just figuring out how to use it.”
Here, as elsewhere, Hughes creates a nurturing environment for his colleagues: “It’s all about teamwork for me. I really enjoy working with people who have bought into the vision and are equally relentless in looking for solutions to problems. I’m not a micro-manager, looking over people’s shoulders and task- managing people. Trust is important; I rely a lot on other people. Change is hard, so I don’t come down heavily on people if they try something that hasn’t worked, as long as we all learn from the experience.”
It is an approach that is paying off. Having restructured the core business in 2017, M-KOPA was EBITDA-positive in the second half of 2018, with growth up 30% year-on-year. The plan now is to make a considered foray into new African markets and explore the possibility of entry into Asia.
Hughes commits to a small number of advisory roles and helping other entrepreneurs in the digital sector, but when he isn’t doing this or working on M-KOPA’s growth opportunities, he tries hard to find ways to switch off . “I struggle to not think about work,” he admits.
“Change is a constant and it is always on my mind, but I’m fortunate to live on the edge of the South Downs, a beautiful part of the world. It’s perfect for my wife and me to head out on long walks with our energetic Hungarian Viszla, who has an innate ability to find a good pub. Or I take my mountain bike out and that forces me to think no more than three seconds ahead. These breaks are important to me. Switching off does significantly help clear space in my brain.”
For the billions of people who could benefit from the solutions that spring from Hughes’ inventive mind, one can only hope that his mountain bike gets plenty of use and his dog finds many more pubs.
Comments (0)
You must be a registered user to add a comment here. If you’ve already registered, please log in. If you haven’t registered yet, please register and log in.
Login/Create a Profile