WHO WE ARE
SolarRise is a pioneering solar PV and storage financing business for Africa’s commercial and industrial sector. Our vision is to finance 200MW of solar PV and storage solutions in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025.
Founded in April 2017 with offices in Cape Town, South Africa, SolarRise was born out of the belief that a solar revolution in Africa not only makes good environmental sense but also financial sense for businesses who choose to solarize their operations.
The technology, construction and operational know-how is readily available. SolarRise is closing the financing gap to make solar readily deployable for shopping centers, warehouses, factories, farms, hotels and lodges.
What we believe
We believe our world is experiencing an unprecedented carbon crisis and that anthropogenic climate change is fundamentally altering our planet in devastating ways. Our global ecosystem is under threat - the quality of our air, our water and ultimately the lives of our children for generations to come are at stake. We believe the time to act is now.
We believe that Africa can be the first continent to achieve unprecedented economic growth off the back of distributed solar and storage - not polluting fossil fuels.
We believe Africa has the potential to leapfrog the grid and become a global leader in adopting clean technologies.
We believe in the power of innovative financing to enable that transition.
meet the team
Founder & CEO:
Margo Buchanan
Margo brings a decade of experience originating, developing and closing over $1bn in wind and solar deals in Africa. A former AES and NRG developer, she is a seasoned power expert with an expertise in new business development, deal-making and financial structuring. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in Journalism and French from Northwestern University.
VP of Finance:
Daniel Freeman
Daniel has 20 years experience in project financing and financial modeling and analysis of power generation projects around the world. He has worked closely with Entergy, Globeleq, GazProm, GE, NRG, British Gas, AES, Marubeni and Mainstream. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and holds a BSc in Accounting and Financial Analysis from Warwick University.
Senior Advisor:
Melissa Cheong
Melissa is the Chief Investment Officer at Zoma Capital, the private family office of Ben and Lucy Ana Walton. She has held various positions working with family offices in the U.S. and within the financial services sector at organizations such as Treehouse Investments, Imprint Capital, Plainfield Asset Management, Metzler Bank and Deutsche Bank.
Senior Advisor:
Jonathan Hoffman
Jonathan is the head of business development for Southern Africa for Globeleq, one of Africa’s leading IPPs. He has extensive experience negotiating acquisitions with sellers, as well as raising third party capital to fund infrastructureprojects. He was a founding member of EleQtra and previously worked for ABB Equity Ventures and Bear Sterns.
Senior Advisor: Peter Gutman
Peter is a Managing Director at Gore Street Capital and has over 25 years of international experience. He is currently an investor/director of multiple distributed generation businesses in the solar sector both in the US and East Africa. Peter holds an MBA from The University of Chicago GSB, an MSc from the London School of Economics and an engineering degree from The University of Michigan.