Swedish Elhojen drove 600 miles – only with solar power
With a turnover lift of 550 percent between 2020 and 2023, Swedish electric vehicle manufacturer Roam places itself in a 35th place when the Financial Times together with Statista list Africa’s most fast -growing companies. If you just look at Kenya where the company has its seat, Roam ends up. The ranking includes a total of 130 countries.
– Much of what we talked about when we started the company has now become a reality. And that the growth for Africa and for Roam in particular now shows up in a larger arena is really fun, says Roam’s co -founder and chief strategist Albin Wilson to Di.
What is the recipe for success?
– The right thing in the right place at the right time. And our team of course. I think the company’s composition is the key and that our Swedish mentality as a founder has given the company the magic touch that was needed to succeed.
Roam, which was founded in 2017 By Filip Lövström, Mikael Gånge and Albin Wilson, initially engaged in converting safari vehicles to electric cars.
Today, both electric buses and electric motorcycles are custom built for sub -Saharan conditions. The motorcycle Roam Air, which is the company’s only model, costs the equivalent of SEK 20,000. Last year, the company managed to go all the way from Kenya to South Africa – a trip of 600 miles – by just charging the motorcycle with portable solar panels.
In recent years, Roam has also launched charging and battery rental stations in, among others, Nairobi and Kiambu and collaborated with carpentry platforms such as Uber and Bolt to make electric motorcycles more accessible.
– We have slowly begun our expansion within Kenya, outside Nairobi, and we get the market response we hoped for. It proves our thesis that electrification not only for urban environments such as Lagos, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and Kigali. With our home charging strategy – where you can charge in any withdrawal – we will be able to expand across the entire continent.
The company has several pilot projects In other countries, and already the next country, the company will expand to another country in eastern Africa.
– We have had a strategy to focus on a market and do it really well there before we move on to a new one. Now we have proven that we are the leading supplier of electric vehicles in Kenya. That’s what we want to replicate to the rest of the continent. «
The company is financed by Impact and venture capital funds. Investors include American at One Venture, Ambo Ventures and Renew Capital. Swedish Sabuni & Partners, founded by the former politician Nyamko Sabuni, is also among the owners, as well as the African financing platform M-KOPA, which, like Roam, placed high on FT’s list.
