ASOBO Ltd.
E-Mobility for Africa’s fishing industry
Important information for stakeholders:
In the period between Q3 2022 and Q1 2023, nearly all of the newly delivered motors in use for Asobo failed. This also applied to replacement deliveries. For the motors of the first motor generation, the manufacturer Torqeedo cannot supply spare parts (PC boards). All this has led to threatening breakdowns in the night operations of fishermen on Lake Victoria. For the safety of our customers, Asobo was forced to stop the operation until further notice. Safety in all its operations is a top priority for ASOBO which will never compromised. This problem is widely known and Asobo is only one of more affected customers. E-Wave is undertaking every effort to protect its rights against the supplier.
This B2B startup replaces fisherman’s harmful and expensive gasoline engines with cheaper, eco-friendly electric motors – as a service.
Lake Victoria is one of the largest lakes in the world and the source of livelihood and food for more than thirty million people in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
The founders of E-Wave observed the inefficient, expensive and harmful motorisation and set out to develop a disruptive win-win-win solution. Corresponding pilot projects on the lake started already in 2017.
The result of years of intensive development and collaboration with their extensive network of branch experts was the foundation of ASOBO ltd in 2019.
Development and next steps
After a three-year successful pilot program with up to fifty engines, ASOBO is ready to begin scaling e-mobility as-a-service.
2019 - ASOBO Ltd. founded.
2022 - Proof-of-Concept phase completed, challenges with existing electric propulsion motors identified.
2024 - scale to 1000 units in operation.
long-term: help make e-mobility the predominant propulsion on the Great African Lakes.
The batteries are loaded by day with renewable energy sources.
Regular maintance ensures dependable operation and asset longlevity.
The charged batteries are delivered to the fishermen.
The fishing traditionally takes place at night.
Learn more about ASOBO in this short video.
Our Investment
principles
If a new initiative is to take root and grow, it must offer real improvements for all stakeholders in key aspects:
- It must be simple, profitable and affordable for a large target group
- It must be economically viable for the investors who pre-fund the initiative and
- it must be ecologically sustainable for our planet.
Difficult? Yes! But possible with expertise and dedication!
Environmently friendly
the CO2 footprint of most developing nations is a fraction of that of our own.
So why is the leverage on an electric fisherboat in Africa so much greater than an e-vehicle at home? Let's discuss the soft aspects of environmental protection.
locally empowering
our goal is the economic liberation of our local facilitators and customers – not their long-term indenturement. The empowerment of women and girls is of particular importance to us and is the focus of our activities. We are convinced this radically un-modern approach is best practice – and the future of resilient altruistic investment strategies.
Financially viable
we can't wait for the UN, World Bank or the Gates Foundation to solve all the world's problems. We all need to support change now. Got a few million for a foundation? Go for it! For the rest of us, philanthro-capitalistic models offer a personally viable, crowd-sourced venture capital opportunity to facilitate change and maintain wealth.
Curious?
Read more about our other projects.
Interested?
Learn more about ASOBO on their web site