SolarBuilders

The problem

Nigerian homeowners going solar face two unknowns at once: what system they actually need, and which installer will not disappear after taking a deposit. The market had directories and it had vendors. It did not have verification, and it did not have a sizing tool anyone would trust.

What I did

• Built the funnel around a free sizing calculator: answer the technical question first, earn the right to make the match second.
• Defined the verification standard that separates a listed builder from a vetted one, since the whole proposition rests on it.
• Ran founding supply-side outreach to established Nigerian solar companies to seed the directory with credible installers.
• Positioned free listings for builders to solve the cold-start problem before charging anyone.
• Chose WhatsApp as the contact channel rather than a lead form, because it is where Nigerian business already happens and it removes the broker sitting between homeowner and builder.
• Specified the diaspora path as its own use case — commissioning and funding an install from abroad, with progress reaching the payer over WhatsApp — alongside residential, SME, hybrid and C&I.
• Added savings tracking against generator spend, so the value of the system keeps proving itself after the install is done.

Where it landed

Stack & tools