About Sun Exchange
At Sun Exchange, our mission is simple — to connect the world to the sun.
We believe sunshine is one of humanity’s most valuable, yet underutilised, resources. Not only can solar energy sustainably power hospitals, schools, community organisations, businesses and factories, it can also drive entire industries and economies. Solar dramatically reduces carbon emissions and air pollution, and it’s also quickly becoming the most affordable source of electricity. However, financial obstacles continue to hinder solar adoption, especially in emerging markets.
Enter Sun Exchange, the world’s first peer-to-peer solar leasing platform. Through Sun Exchange, anyone, anywhere in the world, can own solar energy-producing cells and build wealth by leasing those cells to power businesses and organisations in emerging markets, with installations and maintenance taken care of by one of Sun Exchange’s carefully selected installation partners. We leverage financial innovation and the power of the crowd to drive sustainable energy development and make the environmental, social and economic benefits of solar accessible and affordable for all.
Founder’s Story
Abe Cambridge has an academic background in climate change science. Through his studies, it became alarmingly clear that climate change presents the most imminent threat to humanity. His studies led him to the conclusion that the solution is to transition the world away from fossil fuels and towards solar power, the most deployable, affordable and accessible type of renewable energy.
After six years of building and running a solar panel installation company in the UK, Abe moved to South Africa in 2014 to work as a solar engineering consultant. He was immediately struck by the absence of solar panels on rooftops, despite Southern Africa being one of the sunniest regions on Earth. As he researched and learned more about the challenges of South Africa’s solar industry, he realised the lack of appropriate finance products for businesses and organisations to go solar was the most common roadblock to solar deployment.
And crucially, unlike his home country of the UK, in a sunny country like South Africa, solar panels are so effective that subsidies are not required to provide a double digit return on investment. At the same time, Abe learned how to use cryptocurrency to send money back home to the UK and soon discovered that the technology made moving money around the world incredibly fast, easily and inexpensive.
It was this realisation that sparked the idea for Sun Exchange - universal peer-to-peer solar cell leasing. After nearly two years of developing Sun Exchange in his spare time, in November 2015, Abe quit his day job and set off on a mission to close the solar funding gap by connecting the world to the sun.
Team
Abraham Cambridge
CEO
Lisa Lyhne
Managing Director
Saul Wainwright
CFO
John Wallace
Head of Business Development
Anthony Stonefield
Head of Venture Development
Lourens Coetzer
CTO
Thavenesh Reddy
Software Developer
David Purkiss
Software Developer
Stevehne Dzon
Solar Engineering
Barrett Jakeman
Community Manager
Liam Kelly
Marketing Lead
Taylor Smears
Marketing
Caroline Skinner
Head of PR
Carter Kirilenko
Marketing Intern
Salomé Bronkhorst
PR
Board Members/Advisors
Jeffrey Frank
Advisor
David Orban
Board Member
Thierry Schang
Advisor
