There are more than 1.2 billion people around the world that live in the dark, without access to electricity. These people live in remote locations, making it impossible for the traditional energy companies to reach them. Ironically this 17% of the world’s population, planet´s poorest, pay for the most expensive energy sources (candles/kerosene/diesel), which are not only expensive, but also dangerous and significantly limit their development.

Kingo’s Moonshot Vision is to bring clean energy to 5 million people by 2025, and 50 million people by 2035, making it the largest clean energy user base in history. However, being a small and new company from Guatemala, Kingo was very far from that Vision.

We identified 2 big barriers we needed to overcome in order to get Kingo closer to its objectives:

Barrier No. 1: Awareness

Kingo was practically unknown outside its original area of influence. In order to increase its reach and possibilities for growth, Kingo needed to become visible to potential investors, strategic partners and users in markets such as Latin America, USA and Europe.

Barrier No. 2: Trust

Kingo represented an important cultural change by making people switch from their traditional alternatives to a prepaid solar energy service.

With no access to credit, low income homes in faraway rural communities struggle to have electricity, even as solar power becomes more affordable, because they have to buy and maintain the complete power system.

Much solar equipment installed in this areas, rapidly falls into disrepair or suffers from battery degradation because customers cannot afford its necessary maintenance costs.

Through field research, we observed that people in off-grid communities, where cell phone coverage is available, were using pre-paid mobile phones. They buy cellphone time in the same corner stores where they get their candles to light their homes. Since they have no electricity back home they are also paying, as much as the cellphone time to charge their cellphones. Ironically, the power to charge these phones comes from solar energy systems owned by the same store.

Why not then combine the Solar Energy existing technology with the prepaid business model?

Through the use of technology and a deep understanding of local realities, we created a cultural change solution that went beyond communications in order to provide accessible clean energy to those who need it most.

If the sun shines for all, why can’t all benefit from it?

From the Mayan God of sun “Kin” and “Go” comes KINGO: Accessible solar energy on demand.

Kingo allows people to purchase electricity without the need to buy or maintain equipment, and at half the cost of candles and kerosene. Thanks to its cloud-based platform, users just pay for the energy they need, either by the month, week, day or hour. Much like buying a candle, Kingo sells prepaid energy at any corner store, delivering it through unique energy codes that only match their Kingo back home. Kingo doesn’t need internet connection, making it accessible to some of the most marginalized populations, including those who lack access to both electricity and cell phone coverage (50% of the population off-grid).

Kingo can install, at no cost for customers, six different units (company owned) with varying capabilities: from a basic single lightbulb to a more robust system that supports other household appliances.

Kingo´s innovative technology and service model attracted one of the most relevant environmental activists in the world, Leonardo DiCaprio. Being featured in more than 60 media outlets worldwide, including Mashable and Fast Company, has allowed Kingo to reach +200MM people, as well as to obtain +$1.8MM in AdValue.

Through the traction generated to date, Kingo has raised USD$45MM in capital. The company has experienced dramatic growth, increasing sales in 540% and Website/Facebook followers in 320%, while reducing the amount of Carbon emissions by 32K tons.

After Kingo 100% of our users report perceiving financial savings, an increase in study time for children in 200%, 100% in connectivity, 0 incidents caused by fires or burns and 98% increase in productivity.

Kingo has been invited to participate in Xprize. But more importantly, Kingo has created a scalable global solution to positively impact climate change and improve the future of planet earth.

There are more than 1.2 billion people in the world who live in the dark, without access to electricity, making them the poorest people on earth. These people are, on the most part, uneducated, unhealthy, stagnated, and poor. Ironically, they also pay for the most expensive energy sources (candles and kerosene), which are not only costly, but also dangerous, unclean and significantly limiting to their development. This situation is most common in countries such as Guatemala, where population density, socioeconomic indicators, demographics and national grid coverage currently limit millions of people from having access to electricity. These communities, however, are also familiar with consuming mobile phone services on a prepaid basis, as the Telco business for years has focused primarily on this socio-economic segment, or the “bottom of the pyramid”.