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Dulas: saving lives worldwide with its solar-powered medical fridges and UKEF support
Global immunisation programmes rely on its off-grid technology, but Dulas needed access to working capital to ride the peaks and troughs of demand.
Temperature control is critical for vaccines and other life-saving medications. But for some remote communities the availability of refrigeration and power is not guaranteed. In 1982, the co-founder of Dulas invented the world’s first solar-powered medical fridge. Today, that pioneering technology has supported immunisation efforts in more than 80 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
The Welsh renewable energy technology company is still the only UK-based manufacturer of vaccine fridges with World Health Organisation accreditation. Beyond their solar-power fridges, Dulas also provides technical support and consultancy for renewable energy developers working on wind, solar, biomass and hydro-energy solutions.
The challenge
Dulas has an established export strategy, with international sales accounting for up to 60% of its trade. Order volumes can be significant – the average in 2024, for example, was between 100 and 300 units per order. In 2020, Dulas secured a contract with the Nigerian Ministry of Health for 780 vaccine refrigerators.
But even though demand was strong, it was often tied to unpredictable situations such as conflict or natural disasters. Dulas found those peaks and troughs of demand were affecting cashflow and stifling the company’s longer term growth ambitions.
In 2022, following the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dulas approached Stephen Wilson, UKEF’s Export Finance Manager for Wales for support.
The solution
And that transformative support was secured. HSBC UK provided a £600,000 finance package backed by UKEF’s General Export Facility (GEF). This enabled the Welsh company to future-proof its operations and build more consistency into its production schedules.
The GEF scheme has been specifically designed to help British small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) scale up their exports. In 2024/5, SMEs accessed over £576m in working capital loans through this initiative.
Since that first financial package, Dulas has secured further support from UKEF and HSBC UK, with new arrangements for £600,000 granted in 2023 and £800,000 in 2024.
The impact
With a financing solution that addressed Dulas’s unique business cycle challenges, the company has been able to expand its workforce, future proof its operations and secure more deals worldwide.
The company has grown its workforce and now employs 100 staff across its headquarters in Powys, its office in Inverness, and manufacturing facility in Bognor Regis. It has also secured a string of international contracts worth £2.5m in West Africa and is now planning further expansion across the region and beyond.
The GEF facility has been an invaluable tool for our export business, supporting us to manage our business in a challenging, but very rewarding, sector. We are very proud to manufacture our products within the UK and to contribute towards global efforts to eradicate common childhood illnesses, and international humanitarian efforts.
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