For most people in Sub-Saharan Africa, electricity is unstable at best, nonexistent at worst. This leads to a variety of problems: low productivity, heat waves, and a substandard quality of life. On a more structural level, unstable electricity means that businesses have to rely on extra sources of electricity, which increases operational costs, and hospitals have to factor in power outages when storing sensitive medication; the implications are far-reaching.
For Ayoola Dominic, Koolboks started because he just didn’t fathom people not having constant cooling due to power inefficiencies. So he quit a 20-year career across different industries to launch a company that makes solar-powered freezers affordable to everyone.
Koolboks has sold 10,000 units across Africa and raised $11 million in total funding. For Dominic, they’re just getting started.
Day 1: My bedroom was our warehouse
The mission was clear from the start. “Koolboks was born out of wanting to revolutionise the way people experience cooling. We wanted to democratise cooling,” Dominic recalls.
The problem is not unfamiliar: over 600 million people lack access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, leading to massive food waste and a lack of vital medical refrigeration.
But a noble mission doesn’t pay the bills on day one. The early team was a small trio: Dominic, his co-founder, and their first investor. The reality was gritty. “Day one was, as usual, extremely tough. I had to sleep on the floor for a couple of months because I had to leave my initial company,” Ayoola says.
With no cash, personal savings were poured into the first orders. His living space became the company’s headquarters. “My room was actually the warehouse, you know. I sold my couch. I had to sell a few things just to get enough.” He was the supply chain manager, the warehouse manager, the finance manager, and the salesman, all at once.
Their first product was modest. “The first Koolboks was a fridge. It had an LED bulb. Had a USB port… It was just like an upgraded cooler.” The batteries were small, lasting only a few hours, and the cooling was inefficient. “Once you open it like three times, you are not even sure if it’s a cupboard or a fridge, right?” But people bought it. This was just the start.
The Koolboks team had identified that small businesses – mostly frozen foods businesses were a primary audience. This led them to the Ijora fish market in Lagos, where they found their first true customer, a woman named Mama Ibadan. They installed a freezer in her shop as a demo.
“After like two, three weeks, Mama Ibadan refused to let go of the freezer. That was how we got our first customer.” She remains a loyal user and advocate to this day.
Day 500: The pivot that saved everything
The real lessons came when the freezers met the market, and the results were explosive—literally. “We got into trouble a number of times,” Dominic admits. The team discovered that their lab-tested technology couldn’t withstand the realities of a Nigerian fish market.
“A typical fish trader opens a freezer hundreds of times a day. The typical shop is very small and has a pan roof and the temperature in that shop on a normal day is about 40° C, no fan,” he explains. “The compressor heats up… before you know it, after two to three days, the compressor explodes. So we didn’t know that. It was tested in a different environment in France.”
This was the crucial pivot point. Survival of the company meant going back to the drawing board. “We had to change our compressors to accommodate the environment. We had to change the type of batteries we’re using.”
They switched from lead-acid batteries with a one-year lifespan to long-lasting lithium batteries because a customer on a two-year payment plan would stop paying after one year when the battery died.
Day 1000: From Freezers to a Future Platform
Today, Koolboks has sold over 10,000 units across 23 countries. But the journey of adaptation didn’t stop. The biggest obstacle to scaling became the supply chain. “If we go at this pace only 10,000 freezers in four years, and we are claiming that we want to make refrigeration affordable and accessible… we’re far from it.”
This realisation sparked their next evolution: KoolPay. Instead of just manufacturing their own units, they created technology to convert any freezer into a solar-powered, pay-as-you-go appliance. This allows them to pursue their mission on a much broader scale.
But the most significant transformation is in how Ayoola sees the company’s identity. “A lot of people think we’re actually a freezer company. Yes, that was how we started, but in realistic terms, we’re actually a data company.”
The IoT technology in their freezers provides insights into temperature, location, and usage. This data is the foundation for a much larger vision. “We are asking ourselves a very big question. Why are we not able to connect a fish farmer in a rural area with a frozen food seller in the city? Why? Because we have the data to do so.”
The goal for the next chapter is a platform. “We want to be able to connect the average fish seller to tons of opportunities from micro finance banks because initially she didn’t have data, now she has data.”
Reflecting on the customers who shaped this journey, Ayoola says simply, “I see strength. I see resilience. I see hard work… I just respect them when I see them.”
The company that started with a prototype in a bedroom is now building a future where a freezer is not just an appliance, but a gateway to financial inclusion and economic connection for thousands.
Mark your calendars! Moonshot by is back in Lagos on October 15–16! Meet and learn from Africa’s top founders, creatives & tech leaders for 2 days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward ideas. Get your tickets now: moonshot..com
