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Mansoor Hamayun is the Co-Founder and CEO of energy tech company Bboxx.
In 2008, Mansoor saw a Rolex advert in Time Magazine, but not the ordinary kind. They awarded a Nepalese NGO for providing electricity to rural homes. What shocked him the most was the 1.6 billion people living in the world with no electricity. They were living in complete darkness, and were forgotten. That triggered the idea of Bboxx.
Mansoor was born and raised in Pakistan before moving to Sweden. He likes to say that he’s had experience in the developing world and the developed world.
“Bboxx is a company solving a set of customer’s problems – isn’t that all businesses? If you’re not solving someone’s problems or needs, you’re not really in business.”
He then went on to study at Imperial College London where he met his co-founders, Christopher Baker-Brian and Laurent Van Houcke. Together they ran a student-led organisation named Equinox. They managed to electrify 600 households during their summer breaks, and had their first stint at fundraising. This set them up with enough experience to eventually become business partners. Now, to date, Bboxx has installed over 200,000 solar energy systems in homes and businesses across East Africa.
“[A Rwandan customer] bought a solar home system and started a barber shop, and he grew the empire to 10 barber shops across Africa – [a] mini empire.”
In this podcast episode, Mansoor sits down with Josh and Alex to discuss:
- Their long term goal to provide everyone electricity by 2030
- The early issue with lack of capital and the struggle to fundraise in the UK
- The challenge of changing people’s perception of Africa
- Sustainable energy and how people can learn to adapt for a better future
- How Bboxx have developed their company culture
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