May 23, 2013, Cambridge UK: Azuri’s commitment to bringing affordable and clean solar power to rural households in South Sudan has been recognised by the ENERGY GLOBE award, which is today’s most prominent environmental award.

The goal of the Award is to present successful sustainable projects that demonstrate to a broad audience that many of the world’s environmental problems already have good, feasible solutions. This year over 100 countries sent in a total of 1051 entries. The international jury of experts, chaired by Maneka Gandhi, the former minister for the environment in India, evaluated all submissions of a respective country and selected the Energy Globe national winners.

Azuri first introduced its pioneering Indigo pay-as-you-go solar technology in Nimule, South Sudan in 2012 and has been working with local partner Luminance12 to provide rural households with clean lighting and mobile phone charging. Prior to Indigo, it was not uncommon for women to spend up to 3 hours a day collecting grass to burn for lighting and to travel many kilometres to charge their mobile phone several times a week.

Azuri’s CEO, Simon Bransfield-Garth, said: “It is with great delight that Azuri has been awarded the Energy Globe award for South Sudan. With our partner, Luminance12, the deployment in South Sudan which began just a year after the establishment of the country was a milestone in the application of pay-as-you-go solar in genuinely new markets.”

Luminance12’s Director of International Operations, Thomas Bell, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work alongside Azuri in the effort to advance technology and bring affordable energy to the South Sudanese people. We look forward to the deployment of many more pay-as-you-go systems in East Africa.”

The ENERGY GLOBE Award was founded in 1999 by the Austrian energy pioneer Wolfgang Neumann who is committed for 30 years to create awareness on energy efficiency on a global level. The Energy Globe has become an institution in the European Parliament and an annual venue promoting sustainable energy projects from all over the world.

On World Environment Day 2013, 5 June – in cooperation with UNEP – all national winners will be presented with an ENERGY GLOBE Certificate which is an internationally recognized hallmark for sustainability.

Azuri is being profiled as a client story and will receive a range of high profile adverts across national press and digital media as well as on the Barclays website.

In February, Azuri, secured a £1m working capital loan from Barclays through their Social Innovation Facility, which was set up as a catalyst for the development of innovative products that deliver a sustained social impact. With this backing, Azuri will deliver an additional 30,000 solar home systems across Africa.

Watch the full video profiling Azuri on the Barclays website.

Joined by South African Minister for Water and Environmental Affairs, Mrs Edna Molewa and CEOs of leading organisations in the space, the panel focused on the role of innovative funding mechanisms, coupled with innovative technologies to bring energy and other vital services at scale to sub Saharan Africa.

The 20th World Economic Forum summit on Africa returned to Cape Town from 8 to 10 May with over 1,000 participants from more than 80 countries taking part. Under the theme Delivering on Africa’s Promise, the meeting’s agenda integrated the three pillars of Accelerating Economic Diversification, Boosting Strategic Infrastructure and Unlocking Africa’s Talent to discuss in detail strategies for further accelerating Africa’s already impressive economic growth in a way that leads also to broader economic development rather than a concentration of resources in a small number of “hot spots”.

In his opening address to the conference, South African President Jacob Zuma noted that six of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies over the last decade were in Africa, and that sub-Saharan Africa, with an expected annual growth of 5%, was projected to continue its move from a developing region to a hub of global growth.

(photo: CEO Simon Bransfield-Garth presenting Indigo pay-as-you-go solar at the WEF)

In 2012, Azuri was named by the World Economic Forum as one of 23 global Technology Pioneers – innovative technology start-ups from around the world who are poised to make a significant and positive impact on business and society.

Technology Pioneers are selected for their involvement in the development of life-changing technology that has been market proven and show all the signs of being a long-standing market leader. Previous Technology Pioneers have included ground-breaking companies like Google, Twitter, DropBox, and Mozilla.

The Ashden Awards were founded in 2001 to encourage the greater use of sustainable energy to reduce poverty and tackle climate change. Azuri Technologies joins six other finalists in the 2013 International Ashden Awards category.

Simon Bransfield Garth, CEO of Azuri Technologies said:  “We’re thrilled to be selected as a 2013 International Ashden Award finalist. Azuri’s Indigo pay-as-you-go solar is bringing affordable sustainable energy to rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, and this honour is further evidence of the progress being made in bringing innovative and life-changing solutions to off-grid households.”

Sarah Butler-Sloss, Ashden Founder Director said:  “Azuri has created an innovative and culturally appropriate product that also overcomes the huge hurdle of the high upfront costs of solar power.”

Four winners of the 2013 International Ashden Awards will be announced at a prestigious invitation only ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London, UK on 20 June 2013.

On Wednesday 19 June from 9am to 5pm the 2013 Ashden Conference will be held at the Royal Society, Carlton House Terrace, London where some of the UK and international finalists will speak about their work, along with panel debate and discussions.

Follow #Ashden13 on Twitter to keep up with information about this year’s Ashden Awards, which will be webcast on green.tv from 7pm on 20 June.

About, Ashden

The Ashden Awards were set up in 2001 to champion practical, local energy solutions that cut carbon, protect the environment, reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. Since then we have rewarded and supported more than 140 winners across the UK and the developing world. Find out more at www.ashden.org

Ashden: Luke Malcher | +44 (0) 207 410 7068 | luke.malcher@ashden.org

April 18, 2013, Cambridge UK:  Azuri has been chosen as one of this year’s 25 Most Audacious Companies by Inc. Magazine, which recognised the company’s pioneering work in delivering affordable power to the people in Africa: “Many companies have tried to bring sustainable solar power to Africa. Azuri Technologies is one of the few to succeed”.

The search for the most world’s most audacious companies was split among five broad categories: Design, Marketing, Tech, Social Impact, and Culture.  Azuri was selected as one of 5 companies in the Social Impact category. Inc. Magazine describes the companies as “the embodiment of entrepreneurship: Each one is original, ambitious, and totally uncowed by impossible odds.”

The eclectic judging panel which included James Dyson, the founder of Dyson, Max Levchin, Co-founder of PayPal, and Ben Cohen, a co-founder and the former CEO of Ben & Jerry’s, reviewed the nominees and made their own suggestions.

Inc., founded in 1979 and based in New York City, is a monthly publication focused on growing companies, delivering real solutions for today’s innovative business builders.

The full article is available on Inc.com

Initial £1M loan will support scale-up in sub Saharan Africa

February 5th, 2013, Cambridge UK: Azuri, the developer of Indigo pay-as-you-go solar power for off-grid markets, has secured a £1m working capital loan from Barclays to accelerate the deployment of its Indigo home solar systems, transforming the lives of thousands of rural customers in sub Saharan Africa forever.

Azuri is bringing affordable electricity to consumers in emerging countries that lack access to the grid. Its award-winning Indigo technology and business model combines mobile phone and solar technology to deliver affordable pay-as-you-go solar power that replaces kerosene and phone charging services, while cutting users’ spend by as much as 50%.

Since the first Indigo deployments in Kenya in September 2011, the business has been recognised globally for its innovation in solar energy, winning major awards including the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2013. Independent research has shown that Indigo lights can extend users’ productive day by as much as 3.2 hours and that children with solar light on average spend an additional 2-2.5 hours per night on homework.

Access to electricity plays a crucial role in enabling economic and social development throughout the developing world. Azuri’s Indigo already helps thousands of off-grid consumers in Africa to realise their aspirations through electronic access to the knowledge economy; a trend that is seen by the UN as critical to the continent’s long-term development potential.

Barclays’ support for Azuri is evidence of the company’s maturity in the market. The four year term loan is the first step in a broader and longer-term relationship between the two firms and reflects Barclays’ commitment to supporting Azuri and towards economic and social transformation in Africa.

Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO at Azuri, said: “Barclays vision will provide the working capital finance for Azuri to deliver an additional 30,000 solar home systems in Africa this year. This landmark deal represents a major step towards opening up the commercial finance sector for distributed rural power.”

Sean Duffy, Managing Director of Technology, Media and Telecoms Industry at Barclays, said: “Azuri is a highly innovative business, and is leading the way in distributing pay-as-you-go solar power for off-grid markets. We are fully committed to assisting the company’s growth and this campaign, which will deliver significant social and economic benefits in Africa.”