A loan helped to provide affordable clean energy access to off-grid households in the Democratic Republic of Congo.


Altech's story

Over 90% of the population in the DRC lacks connection to the national power grid. Electrification rates range from less than 1% in rural areas to roughly 19% in urban areas. Households with grid access experience an average of 17 blackouts per month. The primary challenges to reliable electricity are accessibility and affordability.

Alternative Energy Technologies Group (Altech) is the market leader for clean energy in the DRC and was established in 2013 by Congolese co-founders, Washikala Malango and Iongwa Mashangao, who were forced to flee their home village and grew up together in a refugee camp in Tanzania. Altech’s mission is to expand access to reliable and affordable clean energy with a three-pronged approach: living energy poverty, finding the right technology (solar lamps, solar home systems, clean cookstoves), and offering smarter payment plans. Altech’s pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) financing makes their products affordable to poor, off-grid Congolese households and organisations.

As of 2020, Altech has impacted more than 1 million lives, created more than 800 jobs, saved over $32 million in energy costs for consumers, and helped to avoid 250,000 tons of CO2 emissions. Altech’s vision is to eliminate energy poverty in the DRC by 2030.

This loan of $100,000 will be used to purchase and distribute solar home systems that will provide electrification to off-grid Congolese households. It is Altech’s first loan through Kiva’s Labs: Social Enterprises program.


This loan is special because:

It provides solar energy in one of the least electrified countries in the world.



Loan details


Lenders and lending teams




Loan details