Okra Solar

Okra is an IoT technology solution that enables solar generating communities to share, store and uti But until now, power hasn’t been cheap.

For the vast majority of the 760Million people living off-grid, access to reliable electricity brings about a whole new world of opportunities and experiences. Okra is a plug & play hardware + software solution that allows smart pay-as-you-go microgrids to be created by connecting existing off the shelf solar panels and batteries. Okra mesh-grid design allows for grids to start small, with more pa

nels and batteries able to be added to the grid to increase capacity as demand increases. Remote monitoring keeps grid operators informed so they can eliminate blackouts, adapt to variations in demand and identify exactly where and when the grid needs scaling. Each household is metered and charged using mobile payments, meaning families without bank accounts can easily access affordable power, for the first time.

04/09/2026

For a barber, reliable power is a crucial part of the business. That's where Okra steps in ✂️⚡

Musa Mohammed runs a barbershop in Burum Community, Nigeria. Before Okra, he ran on a generator: it was loud, an inconvenience, unreliable and expensive. He would spend around ₦3,000 a day for energy to cut out mid-haircut over fuel or a faulty carburetor.
On top of that, customers complained about the noise and the smoke.

With Okra, everything changed. Now he spends ₦200 a day, and no longer has to drag a generator or face random blackouts. Just flipipng a switch to get energy has given him peace of mind.

This change also brought major personal life improvements. Musa says his income has doubled, his children go to school and eat well, and his customers keep coming back to a shop that runs smoothly. Next, he's planning to renovate and add a TV so people can watch football and the news. 📺

Access to energy unlocks so much more than just light. It powers communities and helps families get better opportunities: it gives room to dream bigger. Power to the People. 🔋

02/09/2026

Can impact pay for itself? 🌱

That was the question at our latest Field Day in Porto, where we hosted Lukasz Urbaniak for a session on building social businesses in Nepal. Over more than 5 years, he's worked on projects as varied as roads made from recycled plastic, menstrual products made from banana tree fibres, and water filtration for schools, all with one goal: impact that creates lasting change.

What made it resonate with us?

🟢 You can't just drop in a product: you have to build the whole ecosystem around it, infrastructure included.
🟢 There are always more stakeholders than you planned for, each shaping whether a solution survives.
🟢 Local buy-in takes time. Training and trust are crucial steps for the success of the project.
🟢 You can start by solving one problem, and end up realizing it was really about another.

For a company bringing energy access to the last mile, every one hit home. Building technology is only part of the solution. The people, infrastructure and ecosystem are what makes impact truly possible.

Thank you, Lukasz, for a session that left us thinking. This is exactly why we do Field Days. 💡

20/08/2026

Meet Tioluwa John, Deployment Specialist at Okra. ⚡

His job is to bridge the gap between our technology and the communities we serve. And that gap is bridged through people: the warehouse teams, the installers, and everyone who makes sure our equipment gets from the box to the field, and works exactly as it should.

From equipping warehouse teams to know what to send where, to hands-on field training where installers learn to deploy to Okra's standard, the journey is thorough, but rewarding. By the end, every participant is certified and ready to bring more mesh-grids to life.

This is the very process that we took First Electric and SOSAI through recently, to onboard their installers ahead of deployments. They've rolled out over 1,000 new household installs in the past couple of months and are just getting started!

These are the people behind our deployments, who help bring the technology to the place where it is most needed. Without them, no mesh-grid would bring Power to the People. 🔋

11/08/2026

We're looking for a Junior Visual Designer & Content Marketer to join our Porto team. You might fit right in. 🇵🇹🎨

This is a 6-month IEFP internship, so if you're eligible for IEFP programs and know your way around Figma and the Adobe Creative Suite, keep reading.

You'll work closely with our marketing team to keep Okra looking sharp everywhere we show up: scheduling and posting content, drafting captions, keeping our slide decks and documents aligned to our templates, and making sure that whether someone meets us on LinkedIn or in a pitch deck, it all feels unmistakably Okra. We're looking for a sharp eye for the details that keeps everything polished (yes, including catching that one outdated logo 👀). From day one, you'll have real ownership over the work.

We're looking for someone with a background in Graphic Design, Visual Communication or Marketing, a knack for juggling small projects, and the curiosity to learn on the job.

650 million people still live without electricity. We're building the brand that tells that story to the world, and you'll help keep it sharp. 🌍

Ready to jump in? Apply via the link below and come help us bring Power to the People. 🔋

https://www.okrasolar.com/careers/junior-visual-designer-content-marketer-intern

04/08/2026

Before the lights come on, there's the training. ⚡

We're in Alakio, a community in Nasarawa, Nigeria, where First Electric has begun training the installers who will bring power to 5,156 connections across three states.

For communities like Alakio, there's never been light. No grid wire has ever reached this far. That changes now, household by household, as a new team of installers gains the knowledge and experience to deliver reliable power where it's needed most. 💡

As Deji Fayomi, C.O.O of First Electric, put it: This is good, important work. It's a mission that will change the lives of the people in this community, people who've waited a lifetime for electricity.

To the First Electric team: we're proud to watch you bring Power to the People. 🔋

31/07/2026

Earlier this month, part of our team spent time in China, and it was a stretch full of firsts. 🇨🇳

🟢 The first time for some colleagues to meet who they'd worked alongside for six or more years.
🟢 Seeing two new manufacturers produce our Leafs and Pods for the very first time.
🟢 Our new designs going out into the world and come back, passing every electronics test right off the bat.

Being on the ground means navigating the real challenges of hardware head-on, component shortages, lead times and rising costs, with a team that meets every one of them with the same attitude: keep problem-solving, keep going.

We come back from this trip energized, better connected, and ready to build what's next. ⚡

27/07/2026

Last week, our team had the pleasure of visiting the Amparo factory in Porto, and what we learned was fascinating. 🦿

Amparo builds something remarkable: an innovative prosthetic socket for amputees. Their technology has already reached people across China, the UK, and even conflict zones like Gaza. It's a powerful example of what thoughtful hardware can do for people's lives.

We were kindly shown around by Vanessa Carvalho, their CPO, given a product explanation by their CEO Frederico Carpinteiro, and walked through the factory floor by their engineers. As a fellow hardware company, there's something special about seeing another product being built end to end. For many on our team, it was their first time seeing a process like this up close, since all of our own manufacturing happens in China.

Grateful to the Amparo team for having us. It's always inspiring to connect with people building bold things for the people who need them most. ⚡

16/07/2026

Deep in the heart of Kogi State, Nigeria, surrounded by endless rainforest, lies a village called Ojúwó Òbèlè. 🌍

For generations, families here have processed their own palm oil by hand, running it through old, worn-out machines. Hardworking people, doing what they've always done, but with one thing missing. As one resident put it, a village that has always lived without light, without water, without even a road. His father lived it. He's lived it his whole life too.

With Okra, that changes. ⚡

In partnership with Sosai Renewable Energies, we brought power to Ojúwó Òbèlè for the very first time. After studying the community's needs, a 60-connection mesh-grid turned out to be the best fit. For a village this size, tucked away with no proper roads - running poles, heavy cabling, and a central power plant simply isn't viable: the numbers never add up for developers, and the logistics are punishing.

Mesh-grids work differently. They're built household by household, scaling to match exactly what a community needs, and they reach dispersed, hard-to-access homes that traditional infrastructure would leave behind.

For a community that has waited generations, that means reliable power finally designed around how people here actually live. 💡

10/07/2026

What does it mean to experiment your way forward? 🔬

In this video, Tiago Gala, our Senior Hardware Engineer, talks about Okra's Value Nº4 and how a culture of experimentation shapes the way we build.

From proposing bold ideas and challenging assumptions to embracing the failures that teach us the most, it's all about staying curious and iterating fast. We start small, testing on a single household, then scale to tens, and eventually thousands, learning at every step.

Because the best solutions aren't found by playing it safe, they're built through careful risk, iteration, and a whole lot of trying.

🎥 Watch the next in our series on Okra's values and let us know if this one resonates with you!

15/06/2026

What does a day in the life of a Repair Technician at Okra look like?

Meet Jethro Edward, the person making sure our devices get back in the field, fast. ⚡

Devices sometimes fail; that’s just a normal part of life. But any time a mesh-grid component has to go for repair, it means a household without electricity, and that's exactly why he doesn't waste time. From diagnosing component failures to racing a 48-hour turnaround, his work is a quiet but crucial part of keeping last-mile communities powered.

Follow along for a day in his life, and see what it takes to get a device from the bench back to the field, and a family back to the power, access, and opportunities that come with it. 💡

Power to the People, one repair at a time.

Endereço

Porto

Website

http://www.okrasolar.com/

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