An African company is seeking global partners to help launch its solar powered charging stations in countries with little or no access to grid power.

Solar Way’s charging lockers allow for 14 phones to be securely charged at the same time and can be installed in a retail environment or taken ‘on the road’. The station takes a ‘small fee’ depending on how long the phone takes to charge.

“In order to bring the solar powered charging stations to the largest possible customer base, we are seeking to partner with mobile operators – particularly those with millions of customers off-grid – as well as retailers and other consumer outlets which have large footprints across Africa and other emerging markets,” said Marco Signorini, CEO of Solar Way.

Solar Way has also unveiled Power Stix, solar powered candles with the facility to charge a cell phone. The candle costs fewer than $20, while the average African family living off-grid spends $12 every month on normal candles.