Akon is is not just making good music and making money for himself, The Senegalese-American musician, had set up a project with Samba Baithily and Thione Niang in 2014 to bring electricity to Africans. The “Akon Lighting Africa” initiative is set to launch this summer and will be based out of Bamako, Mali’s capital city.
The new Solar Academy is to equip African engineers and entrepreneurs with the skills needed to develop solar power as an alternate but viable power supply in tropical Africa.
This project is being introduced under the patronage of Solektra international, a partner of Akon Lighting Africa, in collaboration some European experts who will supply training equipment and programs. Expatriates would be brought in to teach and train on installation and maintenance of solar panels. “The academy will aim to teach people how to install and maintain solar-powered electricity systems as well as micro-grids, which are really taking off in rural Africa,” Akon Lighting Africa said.
“We have the sun and innovative technologies to bring electricity to homes and communities. We now need to consolidate African expertise and that is our objective” explained Samba Bathily at the SE4All. “We are doing more than just investing in clean energy. We are investing in human capital. We can achieve great milestones and accelerate the African transformation process on condition that we start training a new generation of highly qualified African engineers, technicians and entrepreneurs now”
This Project would not only be solving energy problems in Africa but creating entrepreneurs. The training center targets future African entrepreneurs, engineers and technicians.
Launched in February 2014, Akon Lighting Africa has one goal- “to bring electricity to African villages by a clean and affordable solar energy solution.”.
Just over a year since launching, the company has operations in 11 nations, including Guinea Conakry, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Benin and Sierra Leone.
Thank you Akon for Lighting up Africa!
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