MCI Opportunities in Nigeria Series – Part 5 of 7
Across Nigeria, a reliable electricity connection remains inaccessible for most people. 85 million lack access all together, and many more face daily blackouts, resulting in the nonconsumption of power for over 200 million people. Schools go without lighting. Clinics lack vaccine refrigeration. Microentrepreneurs rely on back up fuel generators. Productivity is limited by darkness.
But as we’ve previously written, massive unmet need also presents massive opportunity.
As part of our landscape analysis of market-creating innovation (MCI) opportunities in Nigeria, we identified solar energy as one of the highest-potential sectors for unlocking opportunity. Thanks to integrated business models and innovative financing models, solar companies can now reach those who were once priced out of reliable electricity. And in doing so don’t just provide power—but create jobs, improve productivity, and spark broader economic development.
The gaps and demand
Nigeria produces an estimated 1,750 kWh per capita of electricity (and the national grid can only deliver about 4 GW of that to consumers at any given time), meanwhile the global average is 3,700 kWh per capita. The cost of this gap is steep: Nigerians spend, on average, 23% of their GDP per capita to purchase just 1,000 kWh of solar power. In contrast, consumers in the US spend 0.2%. Despite this investment unreliable electricity hinders productivity and remains a major barrier to growth for Nigerian entrepreneurs.
A recent World Bank assessment of 980 Nigerian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the south-south, south-east, south-west, north-west, and north-central regions of Nigeria reported access to finance, electricity, and transport as the top three most common obstacles for MSMEs across a variety of sectors. Specifically, electricity and fuel shortages are the second and third biggest obstacles across all agricultural, wholesale and retail, and manufacturing MSMEs.
More recently, SMEDAN’s 2024 MSME Survey of 567 MSMEs operating in 13 activity sectors, found that the high cost of energy still significantly impacts their productivity. 21% of those surveyed (the second largest response percentage) reported poor infrastructure, including epileptic power supply, as a key challenge affecting the growth of their business. 67% of respondents expressed their intention to transition to solar energy, as opposed to relying on the national grid, demonstrating a growing interest in adopting renewable energy across sectors.
There is a clear demand for reliable electricity, and while solar energy presents a promising solution for both MSMEs and households, adoption remains limited due to a range of economic, social, and structural barriers. High upfront costs and limited access to affordable financing make solar systems inaccessible to most Nigerians. Even when systems are acquired, a lack of technical infrastructure, skilled maintenance services, and after-sales support often leads to poor performance or disuse.
This is where market-creating innovators can and are stepping in.
Solar market-creating innovation in action
SunFi, a Nigerian solar fintech company, exemplifies an MCI company removing the barriers to electricity consumption and solar adoption. Founded in 2022 by Rotimi Thomas, Tomiwa Igun, and Olaoluwa Faniyi, SunFi connects households and small businesses to tailored solar solutions by offering flexible financing, equipment procurement, logistics, installation, and remote monitoring. It serves as an end-to-end platform targeting both nonconsumers and microentrepreneurs, particularly solar agents and installers.
SunFi’s platform is anchored on addressing the significant financing gap for both suppliers and end users, in addition to providing value-added services that make solar energy more accessible. Some of SunFi’s service offerings to microentrepreneurs include: financing, customer acquisition and marketing support, technical training, digitized optimized designs and models, virtual warehousing and logistics support, and a certified installer network. All these services result in a significant increase in productivity and a decrease in cost to the average customer and seller.
SunFi is just one example of a Nigerian company that is not just selling solar equipment – but creating entirely new markets by designing a system solution to nonconsumption. And we can’t forget that as the market for solar products grows, many jobs will be created as a result.
If electricity production in the country were raised to 3,000 kWh per capita (from its current 1,750 kWh per capita) with 50% of that growth met through solar—the market opportunity would reach over $54 billion. Our research estimates that this will create approximately 538,500 new jobs in the country.
Nigeria’s solar innovators such as SunFi are already showing what’s possible. With the right support there is a powerful opportunity for many more entrepreneurs to not only meet urgent electricity needs, but also to create inclusive economic growth, dignified jobs, and a pathway toward long-term, sustainable prosperity.
For more of our MCI Opportunities in Nigeria Series, read:
Unlocking Opportunity: A New Vision for Eyecare in Nigeria
Unlocking Opportunity: Diagnosing a Market Gap in Nigeria
Unlocking Opportunity: How Poultry Can Catalyze Prosperity in Nigeria
Unlocking Opportunity: Pharmacies for better health
