How Vectar Energy moved from selling solar generators to building carbon-market infrastructure

In 2025, Biodun Ogunleye, the Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, revealed that approximately 30,000 people die each year in the state due to carbon monoxide exposure. Growing up, Deborah Fadeyi witnessed the prevalence of generators in everyday life and tragically lost a friend to carbon monoxide poisoning from generator fumes in 1999.

That experience stayed with her, as Nigeria still struggles with the issue today. Determined to find a solution, Fadeyi founded Vectar Energy, a climate finance company based in the United Kingdom. Initially, Vectar focused on creating solar-powered portable power stations to replace small petrol generators. However, the company has since evolved into a platform that connects small solar projects into a single portfolio, enabling them to access carbon markets.

The journey to becoming Vectar Energy began when Fadeyi experimented with locally fabricated solar-generator systems in 2019 through her earlier venture, YettyFlames. These early systems were crude compared to what Vectar would eventually produce, but they provided valuable hands-on experience. In 2020, Fadeyi turned her work into a structured business and founded Vectar Energy, building it on her own.

The first product was the Vectar Eco, a portable solar power station designed to replace small petrol generators that households and businesses commonly used. Developing the product required significant investment and overcoming various challenges, including designing a portable and powerful unit while keeping costs affordable for customers.

Despite the benefits of switching from petrol to solar generators, many customers struggled to afford the upfront cost of the Vectar Eco and its variants, such as the Vectar Eco Mini. To address this, Vectar explored partnerships with lenders, but found that many prospective customers could not meet the stringent credit requirements.

As a result, Vectar introduced non-interest instalment plans for customers in Lagos and Abuja, but found that these arrangements were not sufficient to make the units affordable for the target market. In 2024, Vectar Energy launched SUNWISE, an initiative aimed at making portable solar systems more accessible to nano and small businesses without requiring full upfront payment.

This rent-to-own arrangement started at ₦2,000 ($1.49) per day and allowed businesses to gradually acquire the solar systems while benefiting from the environmental value they generated.