Artist and R&B singer Akon took fans and the business
industry by surprise in late 2015 when he announced his vision to bring solar
power to millions of Africans living without electricity. Through his latest
project, Akon Lighting Africa, now operating in 15 African countries, the
Senegalese-born social entrepreneur aims to bring light to the nearly 600
million people living in the dark in sub-Saharan Africa.
Earlier this year, Akon and his partners announced the launch
of the Solektra Solar Academy, an initiative establishing a pipeline for
solar power to be engineered, installed and managed by locals. Courses are
staged in different modules which include both theoretical and practical
classes focusing on issues specific to the continent. Topics include the
development of decentralized rural electrification systems, general dynamics of
the solar market and more. By the end of the year, Solektra Solar Academy aims
to train 200 people in Bamako, Mali.
We spoke with Akon about the academy, his future vision for
being a resource to create programming in India and Latin America, and how he
plans to scale the impact of lighting communities through training local people
at all skill levels.
TriplePundit: The Solektra Solar Academy launch is a
small part of a big initiative to train, employ and empower various African
countries through solar generation. Why does the academy development matter to
your initiative as a whole to bring light to Africa?
Akon: There is a collective awareness on the subject of the energy crisis
that the African continent is currently going through. Solar solutions seem to
be the answer that governments and local authorities are willing to develop all
across the continent, but it was obvious to us that to achieve this objective a
long-term strategy had to be adopted. Indeed, many projects in different sectors
have failed because after few years people were not able to maintain the
installations, and didn’t really feel like that they should take care of this
equipment.
Our idea, with my partners Samba Bathily and Thione Niang,
when we launched Solektra International as a company and the Akon Lighting
Africa initiative, was to promote inclusive development by bringing light to
Africa. Creating the first African institute entirely dedicated to solar
technologies in Mali, and welcoming students coming from various countries
around Africa, is a way to anticipate and accompany the solar revolution — now
we will need more and more expertise and skill across the whole continent.
By providing latest simulations equipment to our trainees and
making sure that they get the best practical training thanks to an experienced
team, we will lay the foundation for a sustainable future. To us, trying to
bring light to Africa without supporting youth empowerment and skills
development could not be sustainable over the long term. The Solektra Solar
Academy is the logical extension of our ambitions, and we hope to be able to
identify amongst trainees future employees for Solektra International.
3p: Can you explain a bit more as to how you and your
partners developed the concept for the academy?
Akon: If we work to develop sustainable solutions to face the energy
crisis in Africa, we will for sure need people to deploy those solutions, to
install and maintain them.
We realized that we have the opportunity to create jobs in
the markets in which we operate but that we need to hire people with a
background that meets our specific needs in the solar industry. We wanted to
develop a sustainable business model with Solektra International following the
idea that African youth can play a key role in developing renewable energy in
Africa.
3p: What are the options for employment for people that
complete their training at the academy?
Akon: In 2016 during the first academic year, all the tuition fees and
related expenditures will be covered by Solektra International.The ultimate
objective of the Solektra Solar Academy is to create a strong network of
African skills workers, technicians and engineers capable of supporting the
development of the solar industry across the continent by working for solar
energy companies and also by becoming solar entrepreneurs setting up their own
business. The solar academy training will fill a gap by addressing the
needs for technical expertise. Our trainees will be in a good position to find
jobs at Solektra International, in other companies, and within regional
electrical agencies.
3p: In terms of scalability and the ambitious plans to bring
the academy to other continents, what are your overall goals and potential
timeline for achieving them?
Akon: For now, we focus on making the academy successful and fostering
exchanges with other technical/energy institutes throughout Africa. It is true
that we are currently exploring opportunities to develop our business model in
other regions of the world, including Latin America, India, Asia … We might be
in the position to open other academies outside Africa, but this is not our
immediate objective.
3p: What lessons are you learning in this business about
renewable energy and social entrepreneurship?
Akon: When you hear that 600 million Africans do not have access to
electricity, you may think it may be too complicated to change that situation.
However, we realize that this huge energy crisis could be solved quickly by
adopting a long-term and 360-degree vision. Concrete solutions are there; they
need to be financed and supported by public and private investors. African
people need to believe in their own potential and future. As social
entrepreneurs, we try to have a positive impact on climate change and on
communities thanks to solar energy. We work to make people realize that their
daily life can change for good without leaving Africa and their mother country.
3p: What do you believe will be the long-term impact of this
project? (On citizens, communities, government, business, etc.)
Akon: By providing a qualified workforce in the sector of solar energy,
this project will support the growth of the solar industry across the continent.
We will give to our students a better access to the labor market and make sure
that communities feel that every equipment belongs to them and participate in
its maintenance. Promoting youth training in an expanding sector is also a way
to concretely support government action regarding education.
3p: How can others support your work? Are you currently
seeking out resources or references for partnerships, etc?
Akon: For the Solektra Solar Academy, we have already decided to partner
with Lucas-Nülle — a German company specializing in the manufacture and
marketing of high-quality, state-of-the-art training systems and education
equipment for further and advanced technical, engineering and vocational
education. Lucas-Nülle training systems are used all around the world; they are
considered as a benchmark for quality, efficiency and technology. We are also
working on setting up academic partnerships with international universities and
some international organizations.
On the business front, for example, the Center for Renewable Energy and
Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) of the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) has accepted to partner with the Akon Lighting Africa
initiative through the installation of solar microgrids in rural areas of each
member state, thus creating additional jobs.
Original Post: Sherrell Dorsey
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