LiftUp/OffGridBox – Rwanda, Africa

Location: Rwanda

Partner: LiftUp/OffGridBox

Placement: Community Development

Impact: 2,000 People

 

OffGridBox is an all-in-one sustainable solution providing clean water and solar power to people in remote areas. OffGridBox is the brainchild of founders Emiliano Cecchini and Davide Bonsignore from 2014. They became inspired to create more efficient technical solutions after working on several clean energy projects in South Africa that took more than 3 weeks to install.
Since then, the founders produced about 80 boxes (set up in only 3 hours) deployed in a dozen countries, serving thousands of people in difficult circumstances. Projects range from disaster relief to rural electrification. OffGridBox is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the company’s mission is to provide affordable clean water and electricity in remote areas. For more information about OffGridBox, please visit https://www.offgridbox.com

The Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) model empowers rural communities by providing access to renewable energy and clean water at an affordable price.

 

If you are interested in making the same impact while also generating revenues, consider joining our OffGridBox SunRaising Campaign. All it takes is an initial investment that covers production, shipment, installation, and training. We’re donating $300 from each OffGridBox SunRaising Campaign to help fund the deployment of the boxes.

So far, OffGridBox has successfully installed dozens of PAYG boxes, with more boxes (already funded!) being deployed in the near future in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and the DRC.

OffGridBox users do the following:

– Purchase a battery kit + jerrycans (micro loans available)

– Pay a small amount (18 cents) to recharge the battery, get purified water, and access Wi-Fi from the box at each visit

– Use services about 2-3 times a week

– About 400 families are served from each box

 

Women entrepreneurs are trained to run the boxes with our mobile application and people in remote areas now have access to purified water, clean energy, and Wi-Fi for communication! The box also provides energy for small businesses like welders, carpenters, computer workshops, etc.