Vincenzo Capogna

Energy Access and Solar Energy Expert

Italy

About

Experience

  • Vice President Operations (West Africa) at Ignite Power
    Oct 2024 - Present · 1 yr 9 mos

  • Managing Director at westa.solar
    Mar 2021 - Present · 5 yrs 4 mos

    westa.solar (recently acquired by Ignite Power) is a Solar C&I business developing, designing, operating, and financing projects (100kW-1MW) in Nigeria ● Launched the company operations in Nigeria and achieved 3MW of installed capacity ● Responsible for operations, recruitment, fundraising and management of tech dept ● Selected solar monitoring and fault detection software and led technical process improvements

  • CTO at Oolu
    Jul 2015 - Oct 2024 · 9 yrs 4 mos

    OoluSolar (recently acquired by Ignite Power) is a social enterprise focused on the sale, after-sales, and financing of solar hybrid systems and energy access products in West Africa (Senegal, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Cameroon) ● Launched the company operations in Senegal achieving 1,000 SHS sold in the first 30 days (Aug.2015) ● Hired as employee no. 1 in a leadership role responsible for company growth and market expansion ● Identify and manage relations with strategic suppliers including leading technical product improvement ● Set up and managed all technical departments: Solar Products (selection, piloting, and after-sales), IT Dev (development and management of custom-made platform used by the entire company for all key functions), IT System and Network (tech selection and support for call centers, internet access, etc.) ● Restructured all entities and pivoted the business from solar home systems (10-500W) to hybrid inverters and lithium battery systems (1-50kW) reaching over 100 systems installed in 12 months ● Involved in fundraising, business strategy, and investor relations (Series A, B and acquisition)

  • Innovation Manager at SunnyMoney at SolarAid
    Mar 2013 - Apr 2015 · 2 yrs 2 mos

    R&D in Solar Financing (including Pay-As-You-Go), Last-Mile-Distribution and E-waste Recycling ● Full responsibility for the management of SunnyMoney Innovation Department ● Budget management and fundraising – including grant applications ● Recruited and managed a staff of 5 permanent officers and interns ● Designed, managed, and executed R&D strategies and pilot projects (in Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi) ● Built partnerships with businesses, international organizations, and academic institutions

  • Project Manager and Business Developer at WS Energia
    Sep 2012 - Feb 2013 · 6 mos

    Development of Innovative Monitoring and Automatic Fault Detection Systems for PV Plants ● Full development of the R&D project; from the preliminary research to the conceptual design ● Coding of the web interface and integration with the PV sensors – including installation and calibration