By Saby Elemba in Owerri
Nigerian indigenous technology giant, Zinox Technologies, is making further inroads into renewable energy with a partnership plan involving Chinese, United Kingdom, South Africa and Dubai companies for an investment consideration of over $250 million.
The investment plan follows years of research, test running of durable and cost efficient multifaceted renewable energy solutions for Africa, particularly Nigeria.
The Nigerian originated technology company, according to available information, has been in the forefront of pioneering innovative technologies and boasts of an enviable track record of efficient delivery of critical tech solutions in Nigeria as well as some African countries.
It is currently pushing a renewable solar energy driven product, the iPOWER – solar, inverters and batteries – a brand drawn from its global partnership, which is now available in Nigeria and offering up to 25 years warranty.
The company said this is deliverable within 24 hours of any order of iPOWER products to major cities in Nigeria subject to stock availability. Details of the investment plan began to emerge following the company’s annual strategic business retreat which was attended by captains of tech and power industries including Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Group, and Kelechi Eze-Okonta, managing director, Zinox Technologies Limited.
Ekeh described Zinox as the tech heartbeat of the continent, and that Zinox has proven that Africa has a level of technology independence with high quality tech related projects that have been timely and successfully deployed across Africa.
“We have taken our time, with huge investments on research with distinguished global partners, to come to this point. We believe that what is worth doing is worth doing well. We now have tested products that have warranties of up to 25 years. We also plan to launch our integrated Executive Mobile Energy solution for professionals, SMES, PaaS for Telcos’ rural telephony infrastructure and students on the 4th of September,” Ekeh explained.
He further disclosed that the sum of $250 million has been secured specifically to expand access to competitive and climate-friendly electricity supplies for Nigerian homes and businesses. He added that the project would enable the creation of new opportunities for improving the quality of life while providing additional support to developers, REAN, and other key stakeholders in the preparation of its priority projects. According to him, Zinox, with its partners , shall launch enterprise products and solutions that will power off grid solutions, estates, hospitality businesses, while continuing with the consumer products with its very successful iPower products for homes, small and medium organisations.
Kelechi Eze-Okonta, managing director of Zinox Technologies Limited, said that they had worked with many credible domestic partners and had deployed renewable solutions in over 25,000 homes, schools and offices in the last seven years.
According to her, “we are now excited to hit the market with specific cost-efficient energy solutions that are budget friendly both for homes and businesses, no matter your size and scope, but most importantly, we will take responsibility no matter who you buy iPower – inverters, solar panels and batteries.
“We are also starting to train over 500 Nigerian engineers and certified technicians from 36 states plus Abuja who shall conduct standard power audit, installations and after sales support nationwide to offer our customer full value for money,” she further said.
Eze-Okonta further noted that Zinox has quietly been test running different configurations of sustainable renewable energy products from solar, wind, and a bit of biomass, with complimentary quality products such as batteries and Inverters engineered and internationally certified to be country and continent specific.
“We want to delete Nigeria as a dump site for all sorts of fake energy products which we really consider as unethical and unacceptable and save the scarce resources available in the country. We take responsibility for iTEC Solar, Inverters and Batteries locally as we are equipped for comprehensive after sales support,” she added.
Zinox shall work closely with key stakeholders such as the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN), and local developers to provide the necessary support to aid the improvement of the acute power supply crisis that threatens economic growth, where over 70 million Nigerians lack access to power, coupled with increasing electricity costs in Nigeria, she said. Noting that renewable energy could help Nigeria not only to meet its energy needs but also power sustainable economic growth and create jobs while achieving global climate and sustainable development objectives.
