Agsol is an award winning social business incorporated in 2016 by long-term collaborators and friends, Matt Carr and Greg Denn. Combined, they have spent more than 40 years working in the agricultural and renewable energy sectors across three continents. Agsol is committed to providing agricultural and energy access solutions to off-grid farming communities across the world. As a social enterprise Agsol keeps its drive for social impact at the core of what it does and commits to reinvest the majority of any profits into furthering its social mission.
About
We are committed to engineering high-quality products that bring positive change to the world.
WHO ARE WE?
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Matt Carr: CEO & Co-founder
Matt is a renewable energy technical and market access specialist. He has worked at the forefront of energy access throughout the Pacific, Asia and Africa with solar start-ups, international power companies, multi-lateral donors and NGOs. Matt is based in Kenya.
Greg Denn: GM China & Co-founder
Greg is a seasoned business owner and deeply practical mechanical engineer. Prior to Agsol he was manufacturing and supplying agricultural machines and renewable energy technologies throughout the Pacific for two decades. Greg is responsible for product development and manufacturing in China.
Silard Liptak: CTO
Silard is a power engineering specialist. Before Agsol he worked in 8 countries on 4 continents, including Georgia Tech’s Center for Distributed Energy, where he worked on the Tech-to-Market transfer of ultra-low-cost technologies designed specifically for the developing world. Silard leads Agsol’s product development, is based in Hungary and travels regularly between China and Kenya.
Julie Orr: Financial Consultant
Julie brings over ten years’ experience in finance and business operations. She is a Chartered Accountant and started her career in management consulting. After 5 years rising through the ranks of Deloitte, Julie moved to East Africa and has spent the past 8 years working with NGOs, social enterprises and SMEs to improve their management, financial control and growth strategies.
Paul Keir: Operations Manager – East Africa
Paul has lived most of his life in Kenya. During this time he has started and managed a myriad of successful businesses including hotels, restaurants, regional wine distribution company, a CO2 business and a bulk commodity trading company. He brings a wealth of experience of how to get things done in Kenya and the region.
Vina Zhong: Operations Manager – China
Vina has over 14 years’ experience in purchasing, logistics and marketing. She is Agsol’s all-round fixer when it comes to the smooth operation of our China base. Having started her career in a remote and poor village, Vina’s professional development is a testament to her motivation and aptitude, teaching herself business skills, English and Japanese along the way.
HISTORY
Agsol developed from an established Papua New Guinean (PNG) business, Project Support Services (PSS), that had been manufacturing and supplying agricultural machinery and solar technologies in PNG and Pacific markets since 2001. Agsol was formed in 2016 to build on the early successes that PSS had with “solarising” small agro-processing machines and to take these technologies to a global market.
The first products were developed in 2015 and comprised small agro-processing machines retrofitted with 24 volt motors and control systems (see video below). After more than 800 solar machine sales and lots of feedback and iterations, we continue to apply this information to design the best machines of their kind in the world.
Agsol established itself in Kenya in mid 2018 to target the East African market, specifically related to grain milling. We presently offer our Village Mill product line, designed to serve mini-grids and large (>2kW) solar systems and we are field trialling our new MicroMill for standalone solar. Our primary R&D and manufacturing facility is located in China.
PARTNERS
We partner with in-country solar companies, agricultural machinery suppliers, micro-utility providers, project developers and investors to deploy our unique machines in rural markets. Our approach enables delivery of productive machines and the renewable energy systems that power them, to communities far beyond the reach of the grid.
