Our CEO, Norman Moyo, was recently interviewed on Star FM by the wonderful Nikki Ndoro. In case you missed it, here is the transcript of the show.

Nikki: And now let’s talk about renewable energy and also strides that are being taken to make sure that we embrace renewable energy. I am joined by Mr Norman Moyo, CEO of Distributed Power Africa, and Cumii Technologies. Good morning, how are you doing?

Norman: Good morning Nikki, and good morning to your listeners.

Nikki: Now, we would like to know more about Cumii Technologies and also the work that you are doing, in particular looking at solar energy and renewable energy.

Norman: Thank you, Nikki. Cumii Technologies is a Pan-African IOT (internet of things) company or what we call Artificial Intelligence and also in that we also own Distributed Power Africa, which is a renewable power business. I am mostly excited to share with you and the listeners about the opportunities that renewable energy is bringing to Zimbabwe in particular. We are also part of the Econet Group as an overall business and recently we announced an investment of 250 million dollars into the Zimbabwean economy to basically power up the Zimbabwean energy sector through solar panels across corporate, industrial, even high-end residentials, schools, hospitals, clinics, offices, including the Star FM building itself.

Nikki: I’ve got a smile on my face there because a lot of people have heard of solar energy but you know up until now, and as much as there is reasonable use of solar energy in the country, people don’t understand how solar works. Maybe you can give us more information.

Norman: So, in brief, solar technology has been around for a very long time but it’s been developing on an almost quarterly basis: being improving. Both improving in quality but also in price. So solar today: the price of solar has dropped by nearly 90% over the past 5 years alone. But also, the model of solar is what has been problematic because most people wanted to actually buy the panels and put them on top of their roofs and then you get involved in all sorts of problems including installation and even whether you are buying the right technology. And so we are coming in as Distributed Power Africa with a different model. We are saying you don’t need to buy panels, you don’t need to deploy them, we will come to your building, we will come to your school, hospital or office. We will deploy panels on top of your roof, we will put them in your carport and cover your cars. We will make that investment ourselves, we will do the deployment ourselves, we will also do the monitoring for the next 15 years. You will simply buy the power that you use. You could even ask me, “Can we afford it?” Yes…

Nikki: I’m definitely going to ask that because it’s such a very interesting offer.

Norman: It’s because of what technology does. The technology has been developing so fast in that space and being the technology company that Cumii is today, we’re harnessing some of these technologies for the benefit of the customers so, yes, you can afford it. I will be able to deliver that solution at almost the same price that you are actually enjoying today. We are actually able to meet your current energy cost and when I say energy cost, it’s not only Zesa, it’s Zesa plus the diesel generator you are running, I will eliminate most of the diesel generation from your office, and I will be able to give you very clean power and I’m able to actually sign up an uptime to tell you, I can give you a service level especially when you are a production house or a manufacturing firm, you need power and Zimbabwe needs power today to turn around.

Nikki: I want to tell you it’s an enticing offer. Do you know why? It means that we are able to even touch on rejuvenating the economy by using solar energy. Now, you know, we still want to find out the costs that are involved. There’s somebody that wants to start a business and they are looking at getting a generator and then they need a reliable power source. Well they’re listening right now and they’re like, “This is mind-blowing,” but let’s look at the costs involved for companies interested in solar. We need to understand where we are starting from and what we’ll get from you.

Norman: So Nikki, I’ll start with rejuvenating the economy. We are at a tipping point in the life of the country called Zimbabwe. We have sorted out our politics and now the economics has to come into play. We are now bringing in a very unique platform to actually create that transformation. So we are looking at employing nearly 5000 highly skilled installers in Zimbabwe today and we’re training them so for those that are looking, if you are qualified artisan, if you are an electrician out there, apply to our website and get registered as a technite. We have something called a technite which is basically the Uber of installers. You could literally from anywhere in Gwanda, you can put your hand up, we can tell you that you need to deploy at the nearest school, and we will be able to deploy so we will create a lot of employment through that. But also, you mentioned the cost, the cost for you – you just need to sign a 15-year agreement, you are leasing the facility. You’ll be amazed how many companies in Zimbabwe today are busy trying to become power companies when they are supposed to be a supermarket. Why don’t you stick to what you do best? Let us do the power and you stick to your side of the business. So there is no cost to a company, you put your hand up and sign an agreement, we will show up and deploy. The next month we show you a bill and our bill is as competitive if not even better than your current cost today.

Nikki: I’ve got people asking for your phone number, your contact details right now as we speak, on our social media platform.

Norman: Fantastic. It’s available. I think the best way to contact us, I run the group. This is a Pan-African company so we’re doing this in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria. Now so, to get a hold of me, you will have to go to our website www.cumii.com.

Nikki: This is great news. I have been talking to the CEO of Distributed Power Africa.