Why We Invested in Instollar: The Green Workforce Africa's Energy Boom Demands

Delta40 | Portfolio Company Announcement | CleanTech | West Africa

We are proud to announce our investment in Instollar, a Lagos-based renewable energy workforce platform that trains, certifies, and deploys solar technicians across Africa. Founded by Chinwe Udo-Davis, a former HR Director at Schneider Electric, Instollar is building the execution infrastructure that Africa's solar boom actually needs. In 2025 alone, the continent installed 4.5 GW of new solar capacity, a 54% year-on-year increase and the fastest single-year growth on record. Nigeria became Africa's second-largest solar market, adding 803 MW in a single year. The panels are arriving. The financing is moving. But there is a bottleneck nobody is talking about loudly enough: Execution. You still need someone to install, maintain, and deliver all of it reliably, consistently, and at scale.

That is why Delta40 invested in Instollar.

The Market

Africa's renewable energy buildout is creating jobs at a pace the existing workforce pipeline cannot match. Research by FSD Africa and Shortlist projects 3.3 million green jobs across Africa by 2030, with solar leading demand. Globally, green job postings grew at 9% per year between 2018 and 2023 while the supply of trained workers grew at only 5%. A BCG report estimates a global shortfall of 7 million skilled green workers by 2030.

In Nigeria, this is acute. Solar market capacity grew 141% in a single year, yet the formal training and deployment infrastructure for technicians has not kept pace. Solar companies find and vet workers through WhatsApp groups, referrals, and informal channels, with no visibility into quality or performance. The labor coordination problem is not a footnote to the energy access problem. It is central to it.

Technology and Business Model

Instollar is building the execution infrastructure layer for solar deployment across Africa. On the supply side, it builds the green workforce through training, certifications, and skills development. On the demand side, it connects that workforce to solar companies through proximity-based matching, real-time project tracking, structured quality assurance, and standardized delivery across distributed teams.

What makes the model defensible is not just the network, it is the standardization of execution. More certified technicians increase coverage and reliability for solar companies. More contracts create consistent income for technicians. Both sides reinforce each other, and both need Instollar to find what they are looking for.

The Team

Chinwe Udo-Davis spent years as HR Director at Schneider Electric, sitting in rooms where hiring decisions were made and watching solar companies across Africa fail to find qualified technical staff, project after project. She did not come to this problem from the outside. Her background in HR, workforce development, and multinational energy operations is precisely the right foundation for a business whose core product is human capital at scale.

Traction and Impact

Instollar has trained and certified over 1,500 technicians and supported 3,000+ clean energy projects across energy audits, mesh installations, and mini-grid maintenance. Companies using the platform have achieved faster deployment timelines, reduced costs, and more consistent installation quality. Instollar is also creating a direct pathway for youth and women into the green economy, connecting underserved communities to income opportunities within the energy transition. Every technician deployed accelerates a solar installation that displaces diesel or grid power, making environmental impact an output of the business model, not an add-on.

Delta40 Venture Studio

Instollar is targeting 50,000 solar unit installations and 10,000 maintenance projects over the next 18 to 24 months, while growing its technician database to 5,000 verified freelancers. Delta40's venture studio will work alongside the team on technology build-out, go-to-market execution, and senior talent acquisition for the next phase of growth. Nigeria's $2.5 billion solar off-grid market accounted for nearly 80% of West Africa's solar additions in 2025. Instollar is not chasing a future market but is solving a current bottleneck in one that is already moving. We will work alongside Chinwe to unlock growth, build scalable systems and tap into Africa’s solar boom.

Get Involved

If you are an investor interested in the green economy and Africa's energy transition, we would love to connect and share more about the opportunity. If you are a solar company or clean energy developer looking for a reliable, vetted installation workforce, visit instollar.co. If you are an experienced operator in renewable energy, workforce tech, or platform businesses looking for your next challenge, Instollar is building a serious team.

Welcome to the Delta40 portfolio,  Chinwe and the Instollar team 🌍