“Since I can remember, business and the search for energy innovation have moved me,” says Charles Deknudt. This concern for undertaking has led Deknudt to found, together with Edrit Salijaj, the Eltex photovoltaic panel installation company. The young Belgian explains that they started, in June 2021, with an investment of 80,000 euros from their own resources. To establish the company’s headquarters, they bet on Catalonia “because of the many hours of sunshine”, and the bet is giving great results.
In just two years, Eltex has carried out some 850 solar installations, totaling more than 7,700 panels, a figure that they expect to multiply by five in 2025. Billing has also grown rapidly, which has gone from 370,000 euros in 2021 to 3.3 million in 2022. For this year they expect to triple the turnover and continue growing until reaching 30 million euros in 2025.
Until now they have worked in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, but by the end of this year they plan to land their services in Madrid, Valencia and Andalusia. On the other hand, Deknudt points out the company’s will to gain weight in the business sphere, which currently represents 20% of the business, compared to 80% in the residential sector.
The entrepreneur indicates that the key to Eltex’s success lies in the installation of the panels with its own personnel, without subcontracting. “We are the only photovoltaic energy installation company with a complete service without subcontracting,” says the co-founder. “Thanks to this -he adds- it only took us a day to do the installation and we managed to ensure that the complete process, from the moment the client arrives at the company to the closing of the project, is carried out in two months, much less than the average six months that other companies in the sector need”.
In order to have enough staff to carry out the installations – the lack of qualified personnel is one of the main problems for companies in the sector – Eltex has created its own academy, Builders, from which it offers training. “One of our biggest milestones has been to exceed 50 employees in less than 14 months and 80 in less than 24 months,” says Deknudt. On the other hand, the entrepreneur advances that they also have in mind the creation of a business accelerator.
To grow even faster, the co-founders want to launch their first round of financing, for an amount yet to be defined.
