Local electric mobility solutions firm BasiGo received a timely boost in their operations and expansion from BII, a British investment firm. British International Investment is a financial institution focusing on development and acts as an impact investor. This is a proponent of the Africa Green Industrialization Initiative (AGII) launched at COP28, to support the development of sustainable and resilient industries that can create jobs, reduce emissions, and enhance biodiversity.
The funds will be pivotal in easing the firm’s expansion in the scale of its assembly operations, which is growing fast, due to an increase in demand from various tour bus operators in Kenya.
Financing
Key amongst the financing models will be the Pay-As-You-Drive model, whereby customers will be able to operate the vehicles by just paying a fraction of the full cost. The fund will be crucial in changing the overall motoring landscape in Kenya, where diesel and petrol-powered vehicles are dominant sources of transport.
BasiGo, which began operations in 2021, has been at the forefront of electric mobility in Kenya, having had about 19 buses in operation in Nairobi. Cumulatively, the buses have covered an impressive distance of 1 million kilometers, and carried over a million passengers, which makes it the biggest operator in Sub-Saharan Africa.