M-Kopa hires Mugo Kibati as board chair

Solar energy start-up M-Kopa has handpicked former Vision 2030 director general, Mugo Kibati as chair of the board of directors as it seeks to establish a Nairobi based executive team.

In 2015, it appointed former corporate vice president of operations at Motorola Carl Thielk as chief operations officer and last year took up former telecoms boss Yesse Oenga to serve as chief commercial officer.

“Mugo, Carl and Yesse are world class executives who bring even more depth and breadth to our team.  We are thrilled to have them at M-KOPA and know that they will each play a key role in helping us scale across East Africa and beyond,” M-Kopa CEO Jesse Moore said.

The Kenyan start up that was founded in 2009 by Nick Hughes and Moore, has set out an ambitious target of connecting 1 million customers by next year.

LANDED FINANCING

The firm recently landed private equity growth round financing of Sh1.9 billion ($19 million) courtesy of Al Gore's investment vehicle Generation Investment Management.

The leading clean energy provider of pay-as-you-go rooftop solar systems are now evolving to a new frontier, providing communications services.

The company wants to use their customer relationships to provide an additional number of products including both mobile phones and digital TVs.

“It is great to be part of the M-KOPA family. Like many Kenyans, I have been following the progress and impact of M-KOPA for some time. I am inspired by what we can do, as a business, to transform the lives of millions of low income families in our country, our region and around the world,” Mr Kibati said.

Kibati is also Group CEO of Pan Africa Insurance and board chairman of Lake Turkana Wind Power Limited.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate also previously served Chief Executive Officer of East African Cables Limited and was selected as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.