Taming the Strange Beasts: Servicing and the Future of PAYGo

Webinar

05 March 2019 9:00 am - 10:00 am EST

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Pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) solar companies offer a single, intuitive product to their customers – solar power that can be obtained for little upfront cost and paid for over time. Yet from an investor’s perspective, PAYGo companies are anything but intuitive. PAYGo companies combine manufacturing, distribution, and financing value chains in unusual ways, which can be difficult for investors to untangle when analyzing current and potential investments.

CGAP and CDC organized this webinar to explore the nature and implications of the PAYGo business model and how it can be harness to achieve sustainable growth, with a focus on addressing the issue of servicer risk. Presenters summarized findings from the new CGAP-CDC paper, "Taming the Strange Beasts: Servicing and the Future of PAYGo,” before discussing the implications of these findings with guest experts from PAYGo firms PEG Africa and Baobab+, as well as one of the leading African financial services companies, Equity Bank.

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Speakers

	Michael Nyaga \| General Manager - Digital Lending, Equity Bank As general manager in charge of digital lending for Equity Group, Michael Nyaga is involved in product innovation, digitization initiatives, credit card management and in continuous training and empowerment of the over 1,200 Credit Team in various branches. The consumer credit portfolio under his direction currently controls 20 percent of the total personal loan market in the East African region. He is also involved in engagements with development finance institutions on credit facilities with respect to risk sharing agreements. He is a senior member of Equity’s Core Transformation Team and specifically in charge of digitizing the bank’s credit operations.
	Alexandre Coster \| Founder and CEO, Baobab+ Alexandre Coster is the founder and CEO of Baobab+ from Baobab Group (formerly Microcred). Alexandre is a social entrepreneur who has created and developed different social business in Africa for more than 12 years in education, micro & digital finance, access to energy, digital and pure water. Previously he created the first French Business School in Africa, ETICCA Dakar before being the group marketing director of Microcred group where he supported the development of new institutions and the group's overall digital transformation. In 2017, Alexandre was selected as a Young Leader by AfricaFrance foundation and French Agency of Development (AFD).
	Hugh Whalan \| Co-founder and CEO, PEG Africa Hugh Whalan is the co-founder and CEO of PEG Africa, an asset financing company that uses pay-as-you-go technology to provide solar home systems to households in Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, and Senegal. Whalan has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, as one of Australia's top 30 entrepreneurs under 30, and as an Aspen Institute Global Leadership Fellow. He has been featured in a wide range of mainstream media, including CNN, Forbes, and The New York Times. He is an occasional contributor to Fast Company.
	Daniel Waldron \| Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP Daniel Waldron leads CGAP's work on access to energy and safe water. Before joining CGAP, he worked as a research analyst for Petrides & Co., an energy investment bank. Other highlights include serving as a research and data analyst for Better Than Cash Alliance and ongoing work for BFA and Mastercard Foundation on the Financial Inclusion on Business Runways (FIBR) initiative. He also served for two years as an environmental volunteer for Peace Corps Tanzania.
	Geoffrey Manley \| Investment Director, Debt, CDC Geoffrey Manley joined CDC in 2012 as investment director in the Debt team working across several sectors with a particular focus on energy. Since 2016, he has led the development and execution of CDC’s debt initiative for off-grid solar. Prior to joining CDC, Geoffrey was a chief investment officer in the private sector operations department at the African Development Bank, where he was responsible for leading teams in corporate and project finance transactions in a variety of sectors, including energy, agribusiness, and financial services. Previously, Geoffrey was an associate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and an analyst at Mercer Consulting.

	Michael Nyaga \| General Manager - Digital Lending, Equity Bank As general manager in charge of digital lending for Equity Group, Michael Nyaga is involved in product innovation, digitization initiatives, credit card management and in continuous training and empowerment of the over 1,200 Credit Team in various branches. The consumer credit portfolio under his direction currently controls 20 percent of the total personal loan market in the East African region. He is also involved in engagements with development finance institutions on credit facilities with respect to risk sharing agreements. He is a senior member of Equity’s Core Transformation Team and specifically in charge of digitizing the bank’s credit operations.
	Alexandre Coster \| Founder and CEO, Baobab+ Alexandre Coster is the founder and CEO of Baobab+ from Baobab Group (formerly Microcred). Alexandre is a social entrepreneur who has created and developed different social business in Africa for more than 12 years in education, micro & digital finance, access to energy, digital and pure water. Previously he created the first French Business School in Africa, ETICCA Dakar before being the group marketing director of Microcred group where he supported the development of new institutions and the group's overall digital transformation. In 2017, Alexandre was selected as a Young Leader by AfricaFrance foundation and French Agency of Development (AFD).
	Hugh Whalan \| Co-founder and CEO, PEG Africa Hugh Whalan is the co-founder and CEO of PEG Africa, an asset financing company that uses pay-as-you-go technology to provide solar home systems to households in Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, and Senegal. Whalan has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, as one of Australia's top 30 entrepreneurs under 30, and as an Aspen Institute Global Leadership Fellow. He has been featured in a wide range of mainstream media, including CNN, Forbes, and The New York Times. He is an occasional contributor to Fast Company.
	Daniel Waldron \| Financial Sector Specialist, CGAP Daniel Waldron leads CGAP's work on access to energy and safe water. Before joining CGAP, he worked as a research analyst for Petrides & Co., an energy investment bank. Other highlights include serving as a research and data analyst for Better Than Cash Alliance and ongoing work for BFA and Mastercard Foundation on the Financial Inclusion on Business Runways (FIBR) initiative. He also served for two years as an environmental volunteer for Peace Corps Tanzania.
	Geoffrey Manley \| Investment Director, Debt, CDC Geoffrey Manley joined CDC in 2012 as investment director in the Debt team working across several sectors with a particular focus on energy. Since 2016, he has led the development and execution of CDC’s debt initiative for off-grid solar. Prior to joining CDC, Geoffrey was a chief investment officer in the private sector operations department at the African Development Bank, where he was responsible for leading teams in corporate and project finance transactions in a variety of sectors, including energy, agribusiness, and financial services. Previously, Geoffrey was an associate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and an analyst at Mercer Consulting.

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Taming the Strange Beasts: Servicing and the Future of PAYGo

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