Make that $15m: Feds admit extra $2m given to troubled Kenyan start-up
A Kenyan company that received funding from Trudeau's FinDev Canada has been found to have received $2 million more than the nearly $13 million originally reported.
Earlier this month, Rebel News reported that FinDev, a subsidiary of Canada's export credit agency meant to support business in developing countries, defended its decision to grant $12.8 million in funding to M-Kopa Solar. The company laid off 150 employees just two weeks after the contract was signed. The contract was initially proposed by former FinDev CEO Paul Lamontagne, who previously worked in banking and investments in Kenya and other African countries. Lamontagne abruptly resigned from the organization on September 2.
An earlier report by Blacklock's noted that M-Kopa Solar lost over $50 million in two years.
According to a recent update provided by Blacklock's Reporter,
FinDev confirmed it put “an additional US$2 million equity in M-Kopa” in the past year, the equivalent of $2.6 million Canadian, though the company lost millions year over year. The latest funding followed a total $12.8 million in spending in 2018.
At the time of the investment, Kenya had a 40 per cent unemployment rate.
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