African enterprises seeking to scale into new markets and build new cap- abilities need access to accurate real-time data about the total performance of the business. For one of Nigeria’s leading renewable-energy providers, a reliance on outdated systems led to inefficiencies that were stifling growth.

“The value proposition for renewables has strengthened significantly over the past year in our market, creating a substantial opportunity for our business to scale,” says Nigerian solar energy company Arnergy CFO James Fabola Jr.

“However, our existing systems could no longer support accurate and effective decision-making. We made a strategic decision to undergo a digital transformation process to build new capabilities that could support our business into the future.

”

Arnergy is a cleantech company headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, and offers sustainable solar solutions tailored to address “pressing energy needs and deliver reliable power to residential and commercial energy users”.

Burgeoning Renewable-Energy Market

Renewable energy is receiving unprecedented attention in Nigeria following the government’s decision to remove favourable fuel subsidies in the second half of 2023 and the subsequent increase in the electricity Band-A tariffs for next generation networks (NGNs) of 68 kWh up to NGN of 225 kWh, in the second quarter of 2024.

This has led to a rapid escalation in the price of petrol and diesel, which accounts for about 80% of power generation in the country.

“The four-fold increase in fuel prices over the past year has strengthened the value proposition for renewable energy in Nigeria,” says Fabola.

He adds that there is “renewed interest in affordable, clean energy”, as customers look to reduce the amount of money allocated to energy costs. He adds that while the upfront capital outlay for solar was a deterrent a few years ago, customers are now able to achieve cost-savings from day one.

“This new market dynamic has created a huge opportunity for scaling clean energy solutions across our region [to] help achieve energy security while accelerating the transition to net zero,” he says.

Partnership, Collaboration Key

Arnergy chose GROW with SAP for Scaleups S/4HANA Cloud for its technology needs and identified a suitable implementation partner to support the deployment and integration.

“We initiated the project by conducting a visioning session which included active engagement from the Arnergy leadership team, including the CEO and CFO, as well as other key stakeholders. We assessed Arnergy’s business model, taking into consideration its value-creation model, the profit model, and the logic that connects both. This afforded us a deep understanding of the business drivers of the project,” says renewable-energy projects company ACED Consulting managing partner Abiola Folawewo – who holds extensive experience with SAP deployments throughout West Africa.

Fabola indicates that Arnergy was prompted to optimise its systems to broaden its collaborative spectrum with other key industry players.

“By relying on several systems running concurrent processes, we experienced inefficiency in our decision-making capabilities, which had an outsized impact on our ability to execute our business strategy. For example, data about our financial performance was only available up to a month later, which limited our agility,” he says.

The implementation team leveraged the SAP Activate methodology, which includes a comprehensive change management process. Folawewo says this included identifying change agents within the business who would be influential in driving adoption of new capabilities.

“We also provided regular communication about new functionality, benefits, productivity boosts and efficiency gains. By constantly communicating the beneficial outcomes of the implementation, we can ensure there is healthy uptake of the new capabilities, further supporting Arnergy’s business objectives,” says Folawewo.

SAP senior account executive supporting the Arnergy digital transformation project Razvan Barsan notes the strong spirit of collaboration with the customer team.

“From day one, we’ve had great buy-in and involvement by the leadership team, who helped communicate a compelling case for adoption within the business to ensure employees leverage the powerful new capabilities introduced by the digital transformation project,” he says.

Going forward, Fabola enthuses that Arnergy will be looking at becoming a central and key player in West Africa’s transition to cleaner energy, as the company optimises its systems for growth and scalability with the addition of the SAP system and continued support of stakeholders and implementation partners.