SBM Bank Kenya has agreed to provide $17 million in financing to Safer Power Group as the energy company moves to expand local manufacturing of equipment used in clean energy projects.
The deal, announced in Nairobi on August 28, will help fund Safer Power’s manufacturing workshop and the construction of a new factory. The company says the investment will allow it to produce more specialised electrical equipment locally.
Safer Power is a licensed panel builder for Schneider Electric, the global energy technology company.
The planned expansion will cover equipment including switchboards, control panels, synchronisation panels, distribution boards, meter boards, changeover systems and battery racks.
The agreement comes as investment in renewable energy grows across East Africa. The region’s renewable energy market was valued at about $4.3 billion in 2025, according to figures cited by the companies.
For SBM Bank, the financing is part of a wider push to increase lending to businesses. The bank said its loan book rose 18.3 per cent year-on-year to Sh54.09 billion by the end of June 2026, taking it above the Sh50 billion mark for the first time.
Edgar Mwandawiro, SBM Bank Kenya’s chief risk officer, said financing was becoming increasingly important as businesses faced higher costs and climate-related risks.
“Access to targeted capital is no longer just an ESG obligation,” Mwandawiro said. “It is a necessary catalyst to unlock industrial resilience and energy sovereignty for our economy.”
Safer Power chief executive Dalmus Mbai said manufacturers in the region still face steep costs when buying specialised machinery and securing credit.
He also pointed to the cost of importing equipment and dependence on foreign suppliers as barriers to the growth of local manufacturing.
Mbai said the company’s expansion would help build local engineering and assembly capacity while creating jobs requiring specialised technical skills.
The company is also developing a green hydrogen proof-of-concept project and has unveiled a roadmap for the technology.
Green hydrogen is attracting growing interest as countries and industries look for alternatives to fossil fuels. But the sector remains costly and requires significant investment in infrastructure, equipment and skills.
The financing agreement therefore comes with both opportunity and challenges. Expanding local production could reduce reliance on imported equipment, but manufacturers will still face the high cost of technology, financing and access to markets.
SBM Bank said its increased lending to local businesses reflects a strategy to move away from lower-yielding government securities and provide more financing to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
For Safer Power, the immediate task is to turn the financing into increased production.
If the factory expansion proceeds as planned, the company will have greater capacity to supply equipment to an energy market that is becoming increasingly focused on cleaner and locally produced solutions.
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