After years of studying and then working in North America, he returned home to solve energy access problems by introducing renewable energies. With SunFi, he offers attractive payment plans and better services to clean energy consumers.
Rotimi Thomas (photo) is one of the co-founders and CEO of the fintech company SunFi. The Nigerian entrepreneur is a business administration and environmental management graduate from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and Nicholas School of the Environment in North Carolina.
The fintech startup he oversees, SunFI, was founded in 2021. It "connects people who want solar energy access to payment plans that match their needs." By leveraging technology, it matches its subscribers' needs "to the right energy solution and solar installers."
Recently, in February 2023, the startup raised US$2.325 million in seed funding with Nairobi-based Factor[e] and SCM Capital Asset Management as lead investors. Participating investors included Voltron Capital, Norrsken Impact Accelerator, Ventures Platform, and Sovereign Capital.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Rotimi Thomas explained that the financial resources would help SunFi expand operations and improve its ability to match subscribers with the best and most affordable systems.
Before SunFi, in 2019, the CEO took part in the creation of Aspire Power Solutions, a solar installer that completed over 500 solar projects in Nigeria. His professional career really started in 2005, when he joined the financial services corporation TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. as an investment representative.
About three years later, he joined the financial firm PTC Accounting & Finance as a recruiter before returning to TD Waterhouse in 2009 as a senior investment representative. In 2011, he was hired by The Walt Disney Company as a renewable energy consultant.
In 2012, he was a leadership development intern and risk analyst at Constellation Energy. He was then recruited by the energy company Siemens as a senior associate controller and commercial project manager. In 2014, he was promoted to performance assurance manager for the company's Smart Generation Solutions portfolio in Germany.
The following year, he was appointed head of finance and strategy for Siemens Microgrids USA and, in 2016 he became the investment manager for the company's development fund in Africa. From 2017 to 2018, he was the market development manager for Siemens Power Generation's Gas 2 Power project in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Melchior Koba