Agsol is an award winning social business that 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?
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: Director & 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.
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.
Ismael Bett: Sales Manager
Bett is responsible for all things sales and customer management. Prior to Agsol, he worked in the renewable energy and power sector for 10 years in technical and sales roles to bring energy products and services to market. Bett has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Willeke Westra: Partnerships & Business Development Manager
Willeke is a business development expert with 10+ years of work experience in East Africa, with a keen focus on helping social businesses grow their impact. She has a background in communications and a strong track record in negotiating impactful partnerships all over Africa. Willeke is based in Kenya.
Florence (Joy) Akinyi: Electrical Engineer
Joy is an electrical and telecommunications engineer with a passion for using technology to provide solutions to human problems. She is eager to learn and up-skill, having previously interned at a variety of engineering fields. She aspires to use her skills and expertise in engineering to bring a positive impact to her community.
Diana Muchunu: Administration & Marketing
Diana has over five years’ experience in finance, administration, and project coordination. She is proficient at developing and implementing cash budgets and managing costs. She supports Agsol in a variety of areas including marketing, procurement, market research and accounting.
Dennis Kurgat: Electrical Engineer
Kurgat is an electrical and electronics engineer with a passion to bring solutions to problems in the society. Prior to Agsol, he worked in both Kenya Power and Lighting Company and Rivatex East Africa Limited as an attaché. He is collaborative and always ready to learn new approaches in the engineering and technology field.
Kevin Onyango: Workshop Technician
Kevin has been working with Agsol in various capacities for four years. He has extensive experience in assembling and trouble-shooting an array of agricultural machines. In addition, he has developed a knowledge of photovoltaics and has supported on field trips and with machine testing.
Sylvia Wanyama: Workshop Assistant
Sylvia is a hardworking member of the team who is highly conscious about orderliness and cleanliness. She is responsible for housekeeping in our factory and warehouse and assists with packing and dispatch.
Mary Njuguna: Testing Assistant
Mary is a soft spoken member of the team who is hard-working and a quick learner in our QC department. She supports with machine testing and ensuring quality of product.
HISTORY
Agsol was formed in 2016 to build on early successes with “solarising” small agro-processing machines. However, our early work highlighted that retrofitting off-the-shelf machines didn’t produce a viable or scaleable solution. This is because small agricultrual machines are never designed for efficiency, and require oversized and expensive solar systems to run them.
Agsol established itself in Kenya in 2018 and has been striving towards making the most efficient and affordable milling machine ever developed. After 5 years of R&D and market testing, we have achieved that.
PARTNERS
We partner with solar companies, agri-machinery suppliers, agri-service providers, mini-grid developers, asset financing companies and project developers to bring our unique machines to rural markets.
We’ve been fortunate to be supported by some fabulous forward thinking funders that realise efficient, affordable, milling technologies have immense potential for impact, and that developing entirely new innovation like this is complicated and expensive.
