Zola Electric Co-Founder Xavier Helgesen

In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Xavier Helgesen, the co-founder and former CEO of Zola Electric. Zola is a provider of solar and storage systems in Africa. Since its founding in 2012 as Off-Grid Electric, the company has served over a million people with clean power in five countries.Over the years, Zola has evolved from a small, scrappy startup that offered basic energy packages into a hardware software company that installs sleek, scalable power systems that rival the grid in performance. This conversation was recorded in 2019 in front of a live audience at Powerhouse’s headquarters in Oakland, CAThis podcast is brought to you by DLA Piper, a full-service global law firm that works with leading technology companies and their investors to meet all their legal needs. It’s also brought to you by AES, a fortune-500 company helping organizations transition to new, smarter and cleaner solutions. AES is working toward a world that is 100% carbon-free.Powerhouse partners with leading corporations and investors to help them lead the next century of clean technology innovation. Our fund, Powerhouse Ventures, invests in founding teams building innovative software to rapidly transform our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more about Powerhouse at https://www.powerhouse.fund/